Social services have become in recent times, characterized by atomization and prolonging human life, an important element of social policy in developed countries. Their availability and quality indirectly influences health outcomes and quality of life. If these services are provided on the formal market outside the family and the informal sector, the question of funding and access to the population arises. Additionally, complexity and nature of these services, in some cases limits or excludes 'amateur' provision of these services. The paper deals with these characteristics, aims to identify the dominant trends in social services and examines their socio-economic consequences. Special attention will be paid to health care links, which cannot do well without their availability and where social services are a precondition for good treatment.