Statistical processing

Source data

Municipalities report data on disability compensation measures for children and young people to Statistics Denmark.

Data is reported either through system-to-system solutions from the municipalities’ administrative specialist systems or via the web reporting solution, IDEP.

Municipalities can access the reported data through the web reporting interface for the statistics, available via Virk: webindberetningsløsning.

Frequency of data collection

Data are collected continuously from the 98 municipalities in Denmark. In some few cases, the data are collected on a monthly or yearly basis.

Data collection

Data are transmitted primarily through the computerized administrative systems of the municipalities, which transmit data directly to Statistics Denmark. As an alternative, the municipalities can use a web-based platform, provided by Statistics Denmark: [webindberetningsløsning, IDEP](https://www.dst.dk/da/Indberet/oplysningssider/handicapydelser-til-boern-og-ungehich can be accessed via the link or Virk.

All reported data is collected daily in IDEP, which is also accessible to the municipalities.

Data validation

The data in the statistics are validated annually in cooperation with the municipalities. At the start of the validation process, Statistics Denmark produces municipality-specific reports containing a summary table with counts of the number of children and young people receiving each type of compensatory disability-related intervention, as well as the number of interventions by intervention type. These data are extracted from the sequence register without information on service providers.

The reports are used by each municipality to validate and approve that the reported data correspond to the municipality’s own records. The municipalities can access the lists daily through the web reporting solution IDEP. If a municipality does not consider the summary table to be accurate, Statistics Denmark and the municipality enter into dialogue and work to resolve the discrepancies until both the municipality and Statistics Denmark can approve the data.

As a general rule, non-approved data are included in the publication, but with a note indicating which municipalities have not approved the data. If discrepancies are very large, data from the municipality in question may be excluded from the publication. If a municipality is unable to approve the data before publication, cooperation continues after publication to achieve consistency in the data before the next release.

The validation process has a particular focus on ensuring that municipalities have reported all compensatory disability-related interventions for children and young people that have been granted at the municipal level.

Data compilation

The validated data, partly from the municipal administrative systems and partly reported through IDEP, Statistics Denmark’s web reporting solution, are integrated. Across the different reporting solutions, the reports must comply with the requirements set out in the data order. The standardisation according to the requirements in the data order enables simple integration of data into a basic dataset. Basic data from the registers are linked into sequences, which are enriched with information from Statistics Denmark’s population register. Errors in personal identification numbers are listed in an error report, and duplicate checks are carried out before the data are prepared for publication, for example through the creation of sequences.

Adjustment of intervention codes: From 2026, one adjustment has been made prior to the creation of sequences in the statistical intervention codes, and this adjustment also applies retrospectively. Reports concerning special day care services now appear as two intervention types instead of one, depending on whether the legal basis is the Danish Social Services Act or the Danish Children’s Act. The change provides a more accurate representation in light of the transition to the Danish Children’s Act in 2024. During the transition, most intervention codes remained the same (002–007) regardless of legal basis, but one new intervention code (008) was introduced. The new element in the 2026 publication is that another intervention code (001) has been split into 001 and 009. More specifically, interventions with intervention code 001 and a start date after 31 December 2023 have been changed to intervention code 009. The following applies:

• Intervention code 001 covers special day care services and other services granted under the Danish Social Services Act or the Day Care Act before 2024, cf section 32 of the Danish Social Services Act. The interventions may still appear in 2024 and onwards as long as they have not ended or a new or revised decision has not been made under the Danish Children’s Act, since the interventions continue under the legal basis on which the original decision was made. This intervention code has existed since the beginning of the statistics, but has been divided into intervention codes 001 and 009 in connection with the 2026 publication.
• Intervention code 008 covers other services granted under the Danish Children’s Act or the Day Care Act from 2024 onwards, cf section 82 no 4 of the Danish Children’s Act. This intervention code was added with the 2025 publication.
• Intervention code 009 covers special day care services granted from 2024 onwards, cf section 82 no 1 of the Danish Children’s Act. This intervention code was added with the 2026 publication, but should have been implemented with the 2025 publication.

Sequence creation and overlap processing: Statistics Denmark performs overlap processing on the reported data, which form the basis for the sequence registers. This is done because municipalities have different registration practices. Some municipalities register one long intervention, while others register many short consecutive interventions. To harmonise the municipal reports, overlap processing is carried out. The overlap processing includes, among other things, the creation of sequences in cases where a child or young person receives the same intervention with overlapping periods within the same municipality. Sequences are also created in cases where a child or young person receives the same intervention in the same municipality if there are 15 days or less between the two interventions. In these cases, the earliest start date and the latest end date found in the reports will apply.

In the sequence dataset containing the variables production number and department_UUID, sequences are also created according to the same rules as above, but with the addition of the two new variables. Sequences are created in cases where a child or young person receives the same intervention in the same municipality and at the same physical location if there are 15 days or less between the two interventions. This means that if a child or young person receives the same intervention in the same municipality, and there are 15 days or less between two identical interventions, but the production number and/or department_UUID differ, no sequence will be created. Therefore, this sequence dataset contains more observations than the original dataset.

The above changes to the mentioned intervention codes affect the sequence creation in both sequence datasets regarding intervention codes 001 and 009. Interventions that were previously merged across the turn of the year 2023/2024 because they had intervention code 001 are now no longer merged because they have separate intervention codes. As a result, the number of interventions has increased, while the number of interventions with intervention code 001 has decreased because some have been recategorised as intervention code 009.

Children and young people above 18 years of age: Some interventions continue after the young person has turned 18 years old, even though this is contrary to the applicable legislation. This may, for example, be because financial arrangements are linked to the interventions and only end after the 18th birthday, meaning that the interventions cannot be changed. In these cases, the interventions are excluded from the tables in StatBank Denmark, but can still be found in the register. This applies broadly across the legal provisions, but is not estimated to have a major impact on the overall levels.

Adjustment

No corrections are made besides those corrections described in the chapters on data validation and data processing.