Sickness/Health Care Function: This function must include two types of benefit:

• Monetary benefits that substitute the loss of income due to illness.
• The provision of health care regardless of the reason that caused it. This criterion implies that the care provided due to disability or maternity are included in this function instead of in disability or family / children respectively. By contrast, health care provided to the worker in the company is not included as it is considered a necessary input in the production process, from which the employer obtains profit.

Disability Function. This function includes different benefits that may be classified in two large types:

• On the one hand, economic benefits earmarked to compensate the beneficiary for the reduction in income due to the total or partial loss of capacity to carry out labour activity, in the terms established by the legislation.
• On the other hand, rehabilitation and other services, except for health care which is classed in the function sickness / health care.
  It is important to say that only disability pensions received by beneficiaries that have not reached the retirement age are counted in this function. After this age, the benefit is attributed to the old-age function. In the same way, economic and care benefits in periods of labour incapacity (in accordance with the criteria established by law) are not included here, but in the sickness / health care function.

Old-age Function: Covers the whole of the benefits designed to mitigate the consequences of old-age, including loss of income, loss of autonomy in carrying out everyday activities, or the reduction in social activity. As a consequence, included in this function are both pensions and other care type benefits.
This function includes retirement and old-age pensions and disability pensions whose beneficiaries are aged 65 or older.

Survivors Function:This function includes all the economic benefits granted to individuals who have lost the relative or person who is the main breadwinner for the beneficiary. All the survivors pensions are included.
In this way certain compensations are included directed at covering charges originating from death, such as funeral expenses.

Family / Children Function: Incorporates financial aid awarded to households with the aim to reduce the load represented by birth and upbringing of children, in addition to the maintenance of other family members. This includes the maintenance of income for working women in the period prior to and/or following childbirth.
In addition, this function includes all those social services earmarked to protect the family institution and children in particular, such as accommodation in special centres or private homes or nursery services.

Unemployment Function: This function includes, in accordance with a classification common to employment policies, passive measures, i.e. those destined to reduce the consequences deriving from the lack of paid employment - specially those that are related to the deprival of a sufficient source of income -, and also, active measures directed at preventing or alleviating unemployment situations.
Therefore, this function is composed of unemployment (partial or complete) benefit, subsistence income, or early retirement pensions provided that the cause of retirement lay in the labour market situation, and also subsidies to professional training and all kinds of aid and benefits directed at improving current and future employment possibilities for the beneficiary. In addition, this function includes contributions to the Social Security that the SEPE (Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal) carries out to ensure the rights of the unemployed that are under their charge to receive certain benefits.

Housing Function: In this case it is aid provided to households to cover the household costs. The aid must be directed at the occupants, whether they are owners of the home, or tenants, and not constructors or owners who do not occupy their homes. The ways to acquire aid are basically current transfers destined to alleviate the costs of renting or payment of mortgage interest.
With regard to previous editions, this includes in this function expenditure derived in exercising responsibility in the area of housing by the Basque Government. In this sense, the complete series has been modified to maintain the temporary homogeneity of the results. For methodological reasons we have only included the amounts derived from direct subsidies and subsidies for interests that benefit home buyers, as well as aid to developers and the purchase of housing to be rented out.

Social Exclusion not elsewhere classified Function: This function provides for a residual character within the configuration of the functional scheme presented in the ESSPROS Manual. In it we find those benefits related to risks and needs that are not incorporated in any other function. Logically, the function covers a heterogeneous series of benefits whose common characteristic lies in that they try to avoid or alleviate social exclusion situations linked to a lack of economic resources, or the presence of problems relating to health, education or employment.