Response to interpellation 2022/23:411 on the Social Insurance Agency's appropriations
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M argues that Försäkringskassan is responsible for its own operations and that the agency has chosen a savings program to achieve a balanced economy 1. M emphasizes that the government has increased the appropriation credit and that the agency is working on efficiencies and new technology 1. M believes that the state must lead by example by having a balanced budget. M argues that it is not true that the money for the administration of the electricity support was insufficient 2 and that the savings program is about accountability 2. S argues that it is inefficient to recruit and then lay off staff 3 4. S claims that the staff shortage leads to longer processing times 3 5. S believes that the government is prioritizing incorrectly 3 and that the current appropriation credit is insufficient 4. S argues that the government lacks a clear plan for households with difficult finances 6 and that the social insurance system must function 6. S believes that the government is not in the same reality as families who have to wait for decisions 7 and that the queues remain long because money is lacking to retain fixed-term employees as processors 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! Åsa Eriksson has asked me how I and the government intend to act so that Försäkringskassan will have the necessary funds to be able to carry out its mission and not have to lay off necessary staff.
The agency's management is responsible to the government for the operations and shall ensure that they are conducted efficiently and in accordance with applicable law and the obligations that follow, among other things, from Sweden's membership in the European Union, that they are reported in a reliable and fair manner, and that the agency manages the state's funds well. The agency's management also has the employer responsibility for the agency's staff.
The Social Insurance Agency's forecast from May 2023 showed a significant deficit in the agency's operations. The Social Insurance Agency's management therefore decided already in the beginning of the summer of 2023 on a savings program in order to eventually reach a balanced economy.
Since I took office as Minister for Social Insurance nearly eleven months ago, my staff and I have had a continuous dialogue with Försäkringskassan. Naturally, I will continue to do so, not least given that these are matters that need to be followed up.
The Government also decided on 31 August 2023 to increase the appropriation credit for the current year in accordance with Försäkringskassan's submission.
Mr. Speaker! I have great confidence in the management of Försäkringskassan and in the savings program that has now been developed. They have prioritized and moved forward on various points with determination. I have no reason not to trust the agency and the Director General, but rather am proud of the work they have done.
Åsa Eriksson (S)
Mr. Speaker! I would like to thank the Minister. It is pleasant to be here again. And it is interesting to see that also Moderate colleagues have signed up for the debates and are here in the chamber. The Minister may perhaps need a little fire support.
Mr. Speaker! The Minister and I are in complete agreement that the social insurance, which covers virtually everyone who lives or works in Sweden, is an important part of the public security systems. They are of great importance for individuals and for the entire economy of the country. For many people, the compensation from Försäkringskassan is completely life-saving.
Mr. Speaker! In an interpellation debate regarding the appropriation to Försäkringskassan which the Minister and I had on December 13 last year, Minister Anna Tenje said: "It is of great importance that the funds allocated to the agency are used in an efficient manner to fulfill the requirement for an efficient operation." Very good! There we are in complete agreement. But then something happens.
During the summer, we have, as is known, received reports that Försäkringskassan has been forced to lay off temporary staff, approximately 450 people, because the agency has not received the administrative appropriations that have been requested from the government.
Mr. Speaker! It means that the authority has spent a massive amount of money and time on recruiting people and on training and educating staff in the operations. But then one is forced to lay off staff, not because they are not needed, but because the government has not provided enough money to pay the staff's wages.
Mr. Speaker! In our previous debate on the subject, the Minister also said that the problem is not only a lack of money but that a lack of competence or high staff turnover can also be a problem. I truly agree. But a lack of competence is not solved by dismissing necessary staff who have just been found and hired.
Mr. Speaker! For me, it is difficult to understand that the government has not given the agency the money it needed, neither in the autumn budget for this year nor in the spring revision budget, which the Minister signaled in our previous debate. The Minister must nevertheless reasonably have realized that it meant that Försäkringskassan would need to lay off staff.
Money has obviously existed to lower taxes for the richest but not to retain necessary staff at Försäkringskassan. I think that is a strange prioritization. Is it really an effective prioritization?
Mr. Speaker! The dismissed were demonstrably needed in the operations, because processing times are now increasing. Competence is difficult to find. It costs money to recruit. And it costs a lot of money to train staff, up to 1 million before one is self-sufficient, according to the union representatives I have spoken with. And the Minister usually says that curbing fraud and inaccuracies is an important priority. I agree with that. But how is the staff who remain supposed to manage to do that when they are fewer?
Mr. Speaker! The government's flowery words about efficiency do not seem to be anything other than just flowery words and pious hopes. I would therefore like to ask Minister Anna Tenje: What is the Minister's view? Does the Minister mean that the dismissal of 450 temporary employees is an efficient use of state funds?
Jonathan Svensson (S)
Mr. Speaker! Both the Minister and Member Eriksson described in their first speeches the importance of the Swedish social insurance system. I can only agree with that. It is so central to many people's everyday livelihood in this country. I would like to build a little further on that description.
During the early summer, we could all read that Försäkringskassan needed to make savings on the personnel side. Slightly more than half of all temporary positions were terminated with short notice. This is extra unfortunate as many new recruitments had been made in many places in the country during the spring.
Fewer employees with an equally large workload is not a calculation that adds up. It will obviously have consequences. It may possibly mean that sick people who apply for sickness benefit will have to wait even longer for their decisions. Often, it is people who already have tight margins. They will find it even harder to put food on the table, pay the rent, and buy Christmas presents for the children.
It may mean that parents who apply for additional cost compensation for their child with a disability will have to out-of-pocket more money for medicines, special food, and expensive assistive devices for even longer.
It may mean that next of kin to people with life-threatening illnesses who apply for next of kin allowance will have to consider whether they can actually afford to stay at home with their dying family member.
I am fully convinced that the government is fully aware of the cost-of-living crisis that is hitting many Swedish households incredibly hard, of ordinary families who are struggling to make ends meet every month. That in such a situation, having to wait for Försäkringskassan's ever-increasing processing times is an impossibility for many in this country.
Mr. Speaker! I would briefly like to highlight a number of examples of compensations and benefits where I, and guaranteed large parts of this chamber, think the processing times are far too long. It concerns proximity allowance and sickness allowance. There we are talking about 30 days. When it comes to costs for care abroad, we are up to approximately three months. When it comes to assistance allowance, we are talking about five months. When it comes to sickness benefit, we are up to a full seven months.
It should also be noted that the measures that Försäkringskassan has taken on the personnel side have probably not yet had full effect. It can therefore be expected that the processing times will become even longer.
Mr. Speaker! We all in here understand that this is not a sustainable situation and that it will put many people in our country in a difficult position. I would therefore like to ask the Minister how she and the government will ensure that ordinary Swedish households who are in the midst of the burning cost crisis will manage when they have to wait even longer for decisions on compensations that they likely are entitled to.
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! I would like to already thank Member Eriksson for having submitted an urgent interpellation on this, which is quite important to follow.
The government attaches great importance to the fact that operations at our state agencies are efficient but also have a budget that is in balance. Försäkringskassan is a central part of our welfare state. There is no doubt about the matter; the employees at Försäkringskassan are truly an important resource and actually constitute the foundation upon which the entire operation is built.
I have made many study visits to the social insurance agencies and service centers around the country. I am impressed by the employees I have met there. They have great knowledge and many wise views on how one can work better, more efficiently and smarter, and how, in many cases, handling times can be shortened. They adopt new technology and use AI to a large extent, precisely to shorten the long handling times. This work is ongoing around the country, at all of our offices and also at the service centers.
I am impressed by the work being carried out. But I am also impressed by the management's way of handling a difficult and troublesome situation. The savings program that is now presented seems just right here and now. Hopefully, it will also have positive consequences, so that a balanced budget can be achieved but also the operations can continue in a more efficient way in the future as well.
It is not just about getting rid of temporary employees. It is a broad savings program with careful priorities from the management, which, as I have said, I have full respect and confidence in.
I want to remind the members participating in this debate that it is not the case that the authorities are isolated islands unaffected by our surrounding world. We have a tough situation generally speaking in our regions, municipalities, and companies - and of course also in households, where it perhaps in most cases hurts the most. But the authorities are not free from this, and it is also not the case that the deficit has arisen in a vacuum, as Member Eriksson perhaps wanted to let it appear. It is about inherited transgressions with costly reforms that have been underfunded for a long time.
We naturally have a partial legacy from the pandemic with increasing caseloads in certain areas, while other areas may have been sidelined since earlier. But we also have an inflation that hits quite hard directly into all of Agency Sweden. Now, Mr. Speaker, when households and companies are carrying a heavy burden and the municipalities and regions are doing their best to pull their weight and not fuel inflation further, it would be very strange if not also the state sphere and we from the state's side lead by example? In that case, it is important to do a good job, work with efficiencies and ensure that we achieve a balanced budget.
Åsa Eriksson (S)
Mr. Speaker! Let me first deviate from the subject and congratulate Member Svensson on his maiden speech here in the chamber after only two days as a Member of Parliament. I am impressed.
Unfortunately, I heard no answer to either my question or Member Svensson's question from Minister Tenje in her speech here. I assume that is because Minister Tenje agrees with me that it is not an efficient use of funds to first recruit staff and then dismiss them. I also assume that Minister Tenje has no good answer to Member Svensson's question about how to support households in their economic problems when they do not receive the money they are waiting for from Försäkringskassan. Please correct me if I am wrong, but that is how I interpret the missing answers.
Mr. Speaker! I also want to remind the Minister of what the Minister said in our debate on December 13, 2022. At that time, there was no talk of any old transgressions or any inflation. Then the Minister pointed out that Försäkringskassan itself projected a small surplus for the year 2022. Reality therefore seems to change depending on when we discuss these issues.
Mr. Speaker! I have spoken with representatives from the two unions at Försäkringskassan - ST and Saco - and they say the same thing. A year ago, Försäkringskassan focused on stopping the flight of competence, reducing staff turnover, and creating stability to be able to develop the operations. It was about streamlining, digitizing, and finding smoother processes. But today, Mr. Speaker, many of the newly hired employees are being dismissed. There is practically an employment freeze, and it creates gaps in the organization. It stalls development processes, and it prevents the efficiency work that is so necessary and would be so welcome.
Both sectors also mean - and I have also read from the Director General in the reports from Försäkringskassan - that the money that Försäkringskassan received from the government to pay out the electricity price support was not enough. Försäkringskassan had to redistribute funds and take from other grants instead in order to be able to issue the electricity price support. That they do not have the money and the staff they need affects the processing times, of course, just as Member Svensson pointed out.
Mr. Speaker! For the business development, it seems it has been a lost half-year. The layoffs bring with them anxiety and the turnover of staff is increasing again, and it leads to overhead costs. A union representative says that the situation is extremely worrying for the employees but above all for all those people who have the right to compensation from Försäkringskassan and to prompt processing of their cases but who now have to wait.
Mr. Speaker! This is serious. The appropriation credit that Försäkringskassan has received is just a small bandage on a large, bleeding wound. The Government must reach a decision and give notice to Försäkringskassan and other agencies that need to know what they have to work with next year in order to not have to lay off even more staff. It is truly important for ordinary people.
I want to ask the Minister again: Is this an efficient use of state funds? Will Försäkringskassan receive enough administrative grants in the autumn budget so that they can process cases and pay out compensation to those who are entitled to it within a reasonable time?
Jonathan Svensson (S)
Mr. Speaker! I note that there is no clear plan from the government's side for ordinary Swedish households that are struggling to manage their finances every month. The Försäkringskassan's reduced staffing has already begun to have consequences.
When I am not sitting here in the Riksdag – I am in as a substitute now – I work at the very agency we are discussing. I and several of my colleagues notice how more and more ordinary people call in and wonder about their cases and when they can receive the next payment. Often it is about the final payment date on the rent bill approaching and the money in the bank account running low.
In Sweden, we have for a long time seen how the population overall has had great confidence in our common social construction and felt that society has been there for those in need of help. If we want it to continue to be that way, the social security system must be able to function when ordinary people need it most.
I want to ask the Minister again how she and the Government intend to act to secure the ability of ordinary Swedish households to make ends meet when they have to wait even longer for the Försäkringskassan's decision.
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! I must also congratulate Jonathan Svensson on a very good choice of first debate to participate in and also on a good choice of work to do when he is not sitting in the Riksdag.
I will begin by addressing Member Eriksson's claim regarding the electricity support. I do not know if it is a pure lie that Eriksson is trying to push here in the speaker's chair or if it is de facto the case that she is misinformed, but I choose, of course, to interpret it charitably because it would be appalling if one wanted to spread such lies.
So it is not true and was in no way the case that the money for administration and payment of the electricity support was insufficient and that one therefore had to take from other areas and that one could thus explain the deficit with the payments of the electricity support. That is not true at all. It was even the case that there were money left over. Now I think we have straightened out that small discrepancy.
It is of course true that no one looks forward to a savings program. That is also what no one believes, is it? Something good often comes out of the bad, but it is clear that no one looks forward to a savings program. It naturally has negative consequences in several cases.
I can only state that the deficit as such arose during the first three months in the first forecast. It did not look like it was going to be a budget that was out of balance when we had our last debate on the issue. Things happen! That things are constant, as Member Eriksson tries to make it seem, is a crazy approach.
Things and events have truly happened in our world. We have a situation, not least when it comes to vabben – the temporary parental leave – which has stuck at a fairly high level. We had the covid rules; when the child had the slightest cold, they were to be kept at home. The rules applied during covid, but it is an attitude that still applies. Children stay home to a greater extent, and parents take out temporary parental leave to a significantly greater extent than before. Obviously, this affects both the caseload balance and, for that part, also the economy.
The same applies to the assistance. A fairly extensive reform has been made to strengthen it, and it is clear that it has consequences. The transition support and the agreement between unions and the business sector have, however good they are, also had consequences. If one then has not added enough funds to begin with, or if it simply costs more than what was calculated, it naturally has consequences.
I was on to the inflation. We recently adjusted the price base amount by 9.14 percent. We have very high inflation and increased costs. If one does not believe that this has consequences for the authorities' finances from one month to another and further into the future, and that it de facto increases the deficit, one is living in a reality that is quite far from the one that we others find ourselves in here and now.
It is true that a savings program is never something that will go through completely painlessly. It has consequences, but it is about taking responsibility. I have full confidence in the management of Försäkringskassan, in the director-general, and in all the capable employees who work daily to achieve a more efficient and also more service-oriented social insurance system.
Åsa Eriksson (S)
Mr. Speaker! There is much that can be said about that statement. For the first thing, there is a difference between administrative grants, i.e., costs for the payment, and the support funds themselves. Instead of accusing me of lying, I mean that the Minister needs to have a dialogue with Försäkringskassan and trade union representatives. It is they who report that the support received for the payment of the electricity price support did not cover the costs.
Mr. Speaker! Secondly, the Minister says that I should not be in the same reality as "the rest of us." I would like to say that it is the government that does not seem to be in the same reality as the families who now have to wait for five or perhaps up to six months for a decision on whether they are entitled to assistance support for their children with disabilities or not. Processing times are so long now. If you apply for assistance, you are told that it can take up to six months before you receive a decision. Half a year is an incredibly long time to wait for a decision on whether you receive support or not if you are a family living in a financially vulnerable situation, which many are. This is the reality that I want us to talk about.
Furthermore, it is the case that Försäkringskassan has employed retired, experienced case officers on fixed-term contracts to handle, among other things, complicated LSS applications, in order to process cases, improve the balance, and shorten the queues. But this summer, these case officers were informed that they were no longer needed because there was no money. This means that the queues continue to be long. What does the Minister intend to do about that?
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! I would like to thank you again for the interpellation. This is an important issue. It is undeniably a very pressing matter to follow, and I will also do so. I intend to do so in a close and near dialogue with the director-general and the management but also with the trade union representatives, because this is a whole.
Mr. Speaker! I have great confidence in Försäkringskassan, in the management and in the savings program that is now presented, but also in the employees' fantastic ability to work with efficiency, adopt new technology and constantly work continuously to improve the work they contribute. Thank you for the debate!
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.