Response to interpellation 2023/24:430 on the end of telephone queue positions for the Social Insurance Agency
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 in a pressured economic situation due to previously underfunded reforms, inflation, and the effects of the pandemic 1 2 3. The government prioritizes a balanced and efficient budget, which means that the agency has limited telephone hours to prioritize case balances 4 1. M emphasizes that they have increased the appropriation credit and strengthened the management to mitigate the consequences for the citizens 4 2 3. S argues that the government has cut administrative appropriations, which has led to people not even being able to join the telephone queue 5 6. S criticizes that the control work has decreased and that the IT budget is being cut 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 what general measures I intend to take so that people can get in contact with staff at Försäkringskassan.
The Social Insurance Agency's operations shall be legally secure, efficient, and characterized by good service and high availability. The agency's management has initiated a savings program to bring the economy into balance. As part of the savings program, the agency has limited telephone hours to prioritize working through case backlogs within different types of benefits. It is always a trade-off, but prioritizing working through case backlogs can, in the long run, reduce the pressure on the telephone system.
The Government attaches great importance to the fact that operations in state administration are efficient and have a balanced budget. But the development we are now seeing with low availability in telephony is very concerning.
With that said, I am very keen that the measures taken affect the individual to the smallest extent possible. To mitigate the consequences of the savings program, the government has therefore decided on an increased appropriation credit during 2024. The development of the operations is also followed up monthly through a special assignment in Försäkringskassan's regulation letter. I also follow the development through a close dialogue with Försäkringskassan's management.
Åsa Eriksson (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
These are headlines that I did not think, in any case, I would have to read in the Swedish press. People are furious that one cannot even get in a telephone queue to get in contact with an authority. We have grown accustomed to long telephone queues. But that one cannot even get a place in a queue, because the government has cut the administrative appropriations, I did not expect that.
Mr. Speaker! It is not only I who say it or headlines in the media, but the Director General of Försäkringskassan, Nils Öberg, says it himself. In Försäkringskassan's annual report for 2023, he writes: "Major cuts and savings have affected the entire operation. The insured have been affected in the form of reduced accessibility and increased processing times." It is a very honest statement. It falls back on the government, which has not given Försäkringskassan the administrative appropriations that have been demanded.
Mr. Speaker! Last year, Försäkringskassan paid out 248.9 billion kronor. That is a lot of money. It requires a lot of processing. But the alarm reports have been frequent. Despite hard and very good work to get all those payments out and process all the cases, one cannot keep up with the assignment. The case backlogs are increasing, and it does not get any better because the agency last summer was forced to lay off recently recruited and employed staff because it did not receive the appropriations it had requested and hoped to receive in last year's healthcare reform budget.
That the telephone queues are so long that people cannot even get in line is bad in itself. It is especially bad for those who do not have BankID or feel comfortable emailing. In those cases, one has no means of contact to reach one's case officer.
When the Director General last visited the Social Insurance Committee, he told that this also leads to increased response times once one has finally reached a case officer. People are, in fact, frantic when they finally get through. The case officers must start by calming people down before they can get to the matter. Processing times are increasing within several types of cases.
Mr. Speaker! The social insurances exist for everyone in our society. They must be there when we need them. We pay into some of them when we work. Others are there for us all. We must be able to trust that we can get in contact with a case officer when we need it. For many people, the compensation from Försäkringskassan is life-saving.
It is good when operations are streamlined. I believe the Minister and I agree on that. It is good if it can be streamlined so that the operation functions just as well or better. But when people do not have time to complete their work tasks or when the operation deteriorates to the point that one cannot even get into a telephone queue, it has gone too far.
I want to ask the Minister if she thinks this is a good situation.
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! As I began in my previous speech, it is important that Försäkringskassan's operations are legally secure and efficient and characterized by good service and high accessibility. I know that Försäkringskassan's employees do their utmost every day to provide as good a service as possible to our citizens. Being able to get in contact with Försäkringskassan in different types of matters is very important. Long telephone queues or, for that matter, not even being able to join a telephone queue is concerning.
As the member surely knows, Sweden is in a very difficult economic situation. We have system-threatening crime and continued high inflation, although one can still say that it is moving towards somewhat brighter times. It is important, just as the member himself pointed out, that we have cost-effective authorities even in times of high inflation, given that otherwise it means even greater cost increases further ahead.
Försäkringskassan is in a pressured economic situation. It is something that I have discussed before in this chamber and which we have had reason to bring up on several different occasions. For me, it is extremely important that there is order and clarity in the authorities' finances. Without order and clarity, there are no good conditions for a long-term sustainable operation for either citizens or staff.
Clearing the case backlogs - which is now prioritized - can in the long run also contribute to reducing the pressure on the telephone system. It resembles what we were discussing earlier. Försäkringskassan's ambition is now that 75 percent of all calls should be answered within 30 minutes. I assume that work is being done to achieve that, but I believe that both the member and I can agree that it is not the ultimate situation.
Åsa Eriksson (S)
Mr. Speaker! The Minister says that Sweden is in a difficult situation, and it truly is, for all kinds of different reasons.
Sweden has over 300 billionaires, and the government wants to lower taxes even further. But there is no money to give one of the most important authorities - which pays out amounts of support to people who are dependent on it - so that they can arrange for people to be able to stand in a telephone queue and get in contact with a caseworker. It is a strange prioritization.
Mr. Speaker! It is not only the telephone queues and processing times that are affected. Even Försäkringskassan's control work has been reduced. The Minister and I usually, when we debate, are in complete agreement that it is of the utmost importance to find and prosecute fraud and incorrect payments. Nevertheless, the number of cases reviewed in random spot checks in Försäkringskassan's internal control work has decreased from almost 41,000 cases in 2021 to fewer than 18,000 last year. Less than half as many spot checks are therefore being conducted. Is the Minister satisfied with that?
Mr. Speaker! Both the Minister and I have previously stated that we welcome an increased digitalization of the authority. That is good. The more that can be automated and proceed quickly, and the more inaccuracies and uncertainties that can be identified, the better. Försäkringskassan has previously had a fairly high IT budget. I have received the impression that they have been quite far ahead when it comes to digitalization, but this year the IT budget is being cut to a completely different level. What will that lead to?
We heard just a moment ago that the coordination associations still have not received any new system to follow up on individuals since SUS was scrapped at the turn of the year 2022/23. We have also heard that initiatives for important development must be postponed for the future because money is lacking. And one cannot account for planned efficiencies. This worries me. If one is to achieve efficiency through more digitalization, there must be money to make that investment, to get over the hump and find systems and routines so that as much as possible can be automated.
Mr. Speaker! Does the government think this is a good situation?
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! I thought I was clear in answering that question earlier. The reason for the reduced telephone hours at Försäkringskassan is the strained economy. Försäkringskassan itself has highlighted this.
I believe the member listened carefully to the Director General when he visited the committee. It became clearly evident then that the agency highlights that there is a structural deficit in the economy and that certain reforms that were decided upon during the previous mandate period were underfunded. This applies, among other things, to the transition support and the work on assistance. Obviously, inflation and the lingering effects of the pandemic also remain. Inflation is felt here and now, and the effects of the pandemic persisted to some extent after it subsided.
The previous government underfunded Försäkringskassan by hundreds of millions. It is a major contributing cause to why we are where we are today. Försäkringskassan must therefore move towards a balanced budget. There must be order and clarity in the agencies' finances, just as with the municipalities, regions, and households, which we have already discussed. It is at least as important for the state agencies.
The authority is working hard to ensure measures and that the consequences of the measures taken affect the individual and the authority's staff to the smallest extent possible. It is important that Försäkringskassan is given the conditions to conduct good and sustainable operations. Therefore, the government took a number of different measures during last year and additionally in the budget bill for 2024 where additional funds were added. Recently, we have also increased the appropriation credit to 6 percent.
The government has, in addition to this, strengthened the management through a new board. An important task for it will now be to work towards a balanced budget and to safeguard the core mission, which concerns deciding on and paying out compensation to those who are entitled to it. The main part of that work must take place within the agency. I know that Försäkringskassan is actively working to review and streamline the processing as well as to redistribute resources from different benefits. That work obviously needs to continue moving forward. I assume that the management will take the measures required to handle, both here and now and in the long term, the imbalance in the operations that we are now seeing.
Åsa Eriksson (S)
Mr. Speaker! Försäkringskassan also spent more funds than it received during the Social Democrats' time in government. That is correct. It is also correct that not all changes were fully financed. But I want to remind the Minister that in 2022, the year we handed over government power, Försäkringskassan reported a positive bottom-line result. That has since been used. Since then, there have been no positive results. On the contrary, they have been forced to use the appropriation credit. Several times, the government has decided to expand it so that Försäkringskassan can stay afloat despite the large cuts and savings that have been made. We see the consequence of that now: long telephone queues. They are so long that you cannot even get in the queue.
Mr. Speaker! This is serious. The appropriation credits are just a small bandage on a huge wound. The Government must leave the empty words behind and say it as it is. Either you disregard the fact that people are forced to wait for decisions on their applications and do not have the opportunity to join a telephone queue, or you tell Försäkringskassan what they should stop doing. This is about things that are truly important: getting an answer on one's application in a reasonable time, getting a well-elaborated assessment, and having the opportunity to get in contact with the person who decides whether one should receive money or not.
What does the Minister intend to do so that all highly valued employees at Försäkringskassan will get a chance to perform their core mission in a reasonable amount of time?
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! I must begin by thanking you for a spirited debate on this important issue. It pleases me that there is also in this issue, which falls within my area of responsibility, a great interest from this chamber.
It is clear that unfunded reforms tend to have their full effect some time after they have been introduced. When it comes to the assistance and the transition support, it did not appear during the previous mandate period, but it occurs when they take effect. The same applies to inflation. Then, one already had a lingering effect from the pandemic from the beginning.
I am confident that the government has acted and taken responsibility, among other things by providing more funds and strengthening the management, so that people who depend on a well-functioning social insurance agency are not affected to such a great extent. This also applies to the hard-working staff in the daily operations, who need good conditions to be able to continue doing a good job.
I will, of course, follow this matter very closely going forward in close contact with the management of Försäkringskassan. This is important, and the situation we are currently in is concerning.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.