The survey of  Non-Profit Private Social Assistance Entities in Brazil (PEAS) (PEAS) 2014-2015 - 2014-2015 - Units Rendering Social Assistance Services of IBGE identified 13,659 units which render social assistance services in activity in the country. They form a group of orphanages, retirement homes, rehabilitation centers, halfway homes, mother's clubs, support groups and other social initiatives. More than half of these units are found in the Southeast, and 28.7% of these, in São Paulo state. In seven out of every ten units (70.0%), the staff has a higher education degree; 53.6% of the units provide more than one type of social assistance service, being the most common one, developed by 75.4% of the units, Coexistence and strengthening of Ties. The regulation of the services rendered, the forms of access of the persons cared for, the selection criteria, the offer of benefits and feeding and other characteristics of social assistance units are detailed in the publication.

The objective of PEAS 2014-2015 is investigate the activities of units that render Social Assistance Services, and to present information on: the profile of their target public; forms of access of users and of persons who recommend them; existence of selection criteria for receiving the service; activities developed and objectives of the services; coverage and form of registration of the services rendered; offer of social assistance benefits and feeding; physical infrastructure of units; accessibility conditions; and occupational profile of the human resources, among other aspects. The complete publication is available here.

The Southeast concentrates 52.5% of social assistance units and the South, 25.9%, whereas the participation of the Northeast, Central-West and North Regions, together, was 21.6%. Among the states, São Paulo (28.7%), Minas Gerais (17.1%) and Paraná (10.8%) have the highest percentages.

Workers with a formal contract are present in 68.1% of the units

In 68.1% of the investigated units the staff is composed of hired workers with a formal contract, whereas in 29.8% of the units there are service providers, that is, seconded part-time workers, temporary, self-employed workers or workers without a formal contract; 25.4% of the units have seconded employed workers from public administration. Only 22.4% of the surveyed units have interns. Conversely, volunteer work is present in approximately 77.1% of the units (10,537 ones) and, in 80.4% of them, these workers assist, on average, up to 10 hours per week. One same unit that renders social assistance services can operate with more than one type of employed personnel, in addition to interns and volunteers, as seen in the table below:

Among the 13,659 social assistance units analyzed, 70.0% reported having employed persons (hired workers, service providers and/or seconded workers) with higher education. The presence of a social worker and a psychologist in the teams of social assistance services is determined by the National Council of Social Service and the most common majors among hired workers, service providers and seconded workers in units are social worker (63.8%), educator (54.2%) and psychologist (52.0%).

75.4% of the units provide Coexistence and Tie Strengthening Services

According to the three levels of complexity of the Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS), social assistance services are classified as Basic Social Protection Services (for frail persons) or Special Social Protection Services (for victims of violation of rights). Special Social Protection Services can be of Medium Complexity (assistance to families and individuals integrated in their nuclear family) or of High Complexity (care for persons who are separated from their nuclear family).

Basic Social Protection encompasses Coexistence and Tie Strengthening Services (provided by 75.4% of the investigated units) and Household Basic Social Protection Services for Disabled or Elderly Persons (14.4%) as shown below. We highlight that the same SUAS unit can perform more than one type of service.

82.3% of units provide food

Besides services, the supply of benefits and food in the units was also analyzed. Food is supplied by 82.3% of the units surveyed, a much higher percentage than the other two types of provision: occasional social benefits, funded and regulated by the public authorities (15.7%) and benefits donated on one’s own, with resources from units (48.9%). One single social assistance unit can grant occasional benefits, donate benefits on its own and provide food.

In addition to the services in the National Classification were also analyzed Advising/Defense and Assurance of Rights, provided by 21.5% of the units, and 'Other' services, present in 20.7% of the units and covering non-regulated provisions and coverage or provisions and coverage regulated by municipal or state classifications.

The percentage of units that provide services listed in the National Classification of Social Services, a legal instrument which embodies the Unified Social Assistance System – SUAS (a public system which organizes the social services in Brazil in a decentralized way) under the National Social Assistance Policy - PNAS. Considering the number of services that each unit holds, it is observed that 46.4% of the investigated units perform only one type of social assistance service, in a similar proportion to the units which provide two or three types of service (42.6%), whereas 11% of them perform four types or more.

A total 65.5% of the units with Institutional Sheltering have elderly persons as their target public

PEAS investigates the target public for different health care services. Among the units that provide Coexistence and Tie strengthening services, 59.9% deal with children and teenagers aged 7-14, and 58.4% deal with youngsters and adults between aged 18-59.

In the Specialized Service of Social Approach, 72.8% of the units have as target audience young persons and adults age 18-59. This service is aimed at reducing the number of homeless persons, identifying right violation occurrences and providing social protection to persons who live and survive in public spaces.

The elderly aged 60 or over are taken care of by 65.5% of the units with institutional sheltering listed in the National Classification of Social Assistance Services, called Casas-Lar (Homes), institutional shelters or long-stay units for the elderly.

Users get to the analyzed social assistance services by means of an active search, performed by traveling teams, social visitors and the like; of the spontaneous demand from persons treated and/or transported by social assistance agents or of other public policies, such as health, education and housing, associations for the defense of rights, and of the legal system. One single unit of social assistance services can receive users in more than one way, and to be assisted by one or more types of service.

Vulnerability or social and personal risk is the most common selection criterion

PEAS also provides information on the criteria used by units for the sorting of services provided in relation to the Coexistence and Tie strengthening service (planned social intervention that organized in a way as to help increase culture and experience exchange, develop a sense of belonging and identification, strengthen family ties and encourage both socialization and community life), the Household Basic Social Protection Service for Disabled and Elderly Persons, Special Social Protection Service for Disabled and Elderly persons and their families and the Institutional Sheltering (for the full protections of families and persons with broken or weakened family ties).

In these services, a significant proportion of the units (between 42.7% and 50.0%) reports not establishing any selection criteria to provide assistance. Among the units that do establish criteria, the most common criterion is the degree of vulnerability or social and personal risk of users (from 31.4% to 39.2% of the total of each service), as a way of detecting the social differences and of getting to know the individual cases, the circumstances and the social requirements for the target public of these services: