Response to interpellation 2024/25:599 on obstacles to voluntary engagement
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M views positively on people with sickness or activity compensation engaging in association life 1 2. M argues that voluntary work does not affect the right to compensation as long as it cannot be equated with gainful employment 1 3. M wants to promote a uniform and transparent application of the regulatory framework at Försäkringskassan 3. M considers that voluntary engagement is meaningful and can be a gateway to work, community, and inclusion 4. S argues that current rules are interpreted narrowly and create anxiety among people with disabilities 5 6. S considers that Försäkringskassan's application is too restrictive and difficult to interpret 7. S wants the regulatory framework to be reviewed based on democratic rights and the UN Convention 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! Agneta Nilsson has asked me how I view the fact that people with disabilities do not dare to participate in voluntary assignments for fear of losing their compensation. She has also asked me whether I will take the initiative so that people with disabilities' right to community engagement does not affect their sickness or activity compensation. Finally, she has asked me whether I intend to take any general measures so that Försäkringskassan's interpretations regarding leisure time and compensation shall be clarified and to follow up that the assignment is performed according to the regulations.
The government naturally views involvement in association life and the like positively for persons with sickness benefit or activity benefit. Such involvement also does not affect the right to sickness benefit or activity benefit as long as it cannot be equated with gainful employment. It is also important that insured persons receive clear information about the regulatory framework.
Already in the late 1990s, it was stated in the preparatory works for the Act (1962:381) on general insurance that it is not the presence of salary or fee that determines whether the insured is judged to have work capacity. In principle, unpaid work is not judged in any other way than paid work. Ideal work, political assignments, and studies of the magnitude that professionals perform in their spare time should, however, according to the preparatory works, not cause the right to compensation to be questioned.
Those who have full sickness benefit also have a certain scope to engage in tasks that can be equated with work without the right to sickness benefit being affected. The scope corresponds to one-eighth of normal full-time. For those who have been granted sickness benefit according to the rules that applied before July 1, 2008, special rules apply, as it became a delimitation issue there.
The Government is working to facilitate activities during the period of sickness benefit and activity benefit. The report A sickness insurance with prevention, rehabilitation and security (SOU 2021:69) is currently being prepared in the Government Offices. One of the proposals in the report is that it should be possible to have sickness benefit and activity benefit partially suspended during the time one studies. It also appears from the budget bill for 2025 that the Government will review the possibility of partially suspended sickness and activity benefit during studies. According to the Government, it needs to be facilitated for persons with sickness or activity benefit to study and thereby approach work and self-sufficiency.
Agneta Nilsson (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank Minister Anna Tenje for the answer.
It sounds good that the government views engagement in association life positively for persons with sickness or activity compensation, and that the report *En sjukförsäkring med prevention, rehabilitering och trygghet* from 2021 is being prepared in the Government Offices. The report is about facilitating work, studies, assignments, and so on during the period with sickness and activity compensation.
That the government is working to facilitate activities is welcome. There is, after all, a big difference between having a leisure activity and having gainful employment. If one has a voluntary assignment, one can decide the times oneself as well as how much effort and energy one can manage to put in. One can take a break when one wants, and if, due to one's diagnosis or illness, one cannot manage the assignment for a period, one can let it go for a while and recover when one is able. That is where it differs from professional work, because then one has an employment where it is required that one performs every day based on one's work tasks.
Mr. Speaker! From Neuroförbundets latest member survey, one can read that members decline voluntary and political assignments that take more than five hours a week out of fear that the assignment will be equated with work. The association's members thus feel such a great concern over losing their disability compensation that they do not dare to organize themselves in leisure activities for fear that it will be interpreted as proof of work capacity. According to Neuroförbundet, a fifty-fold of members have lost their disability compensation because they had a voluntary assignment. Even at the Funktionsrättsriksdagen in April, which this year was about leisure and health, Funktionsrätt Sverige, which is a collaborative organization for over 50 disability rights associations, took up that many people with disabilities for the same reason do not dare to engage voluntarily.
Mr. Speaker! Being isolated from society can lead to involuntary loneliness and to feeling abandoned, which in turn can lead to negative mental health. A voluntary assignment can instead create meaning in life and improve quality of life. A voluntary assignment can also provide routines that might otherwise be difficult to establish. Involvement in association life or an opportunity to study can be health-promoting and rehabilitative and, in the long run, even lead in the direction of work.
Mr. Speaker! For those who have the strength and energy to engage and who want a meaningful life and, for example, want to be active in children's associations, fight for their positions in a political context, or find an outlet for an artistic vein, these rules, which are interpreted narrowly, are a limitation. They are a limitation for the individual, for associations, and in the long run also for society, because people who want to be active do not dare.
What does the Minister think, from their area of responsibility, about the fact that the disability rights organizations see this – that people do not dare to get involved – as such a major problem?
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! There is no doubt that the member and I have quite similar views on this issue and that we both view it positively that people with sickness and activity compensation have the opportunity to engage in association life and in other non-profit activities. It is good for people that they, despite their situation otherwise, can engage, get out and meet others to share experiences with. It is also good for association life and other engaged members.
An engagement of this character also has a positive impact on the return to work for very many. That more people get the opportunity to return to work and work community is a central part of the government's policy. Among other things, we are working to facilitate activities during the period with sickness and activity compensation.
The report we are talking about, A health insurance with prevention, rehabilitation and security, is being prepared in the Government Offices. One of the proposals in the report is, as mentioned, that it should be possible to have sickness benefit and activity benefit partially suspended for a period during studies. It also appears in the budget bill that we intend to proceed with this and that we will review the possibility of a partially suspended sickness and activity benefit. This means that one, without the risk of losing their sickness and activity benefit, has the opportunity to try out studies and to dare to take the step.
This is a way to lower the thresholds and to reduce the risk for people with sickness and activity compensation and give them greater opportunities to approach the labor market. We want more people to dare to take the step and try out how it feels to study without risking losing their compensation if it should be the case that one does not manage it just then and there. This is yet another piece of the puzzle that we from the government's side are now presenting so that one can approach work and self-sufficiency.
Recently, we also moved forward with a proposal that those receiving sickness allowance should be able to undergo work assessment without requirements for performance or loss of sickness allowance. This is yet another example of how the government thinks and how the government is concretely working to lower the thresholds and create more paths back to working life and to self-sufficiency.
There is no doubt that these are important issues. I agree with the interpellator's starting point that it is important to have more ways back and more opportunities to engage voluntarily in association life and in civil society.
Agneta Nilsson (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Minister!
In volume 2 of the report A health insurance with prevention, rehabilitation and security, which is being prepared in the Government Offices, one can read the following: "Leisure activities that correspond to the extent that a person in professional activity usually performs in their free time, such as participation to some extent in association life or course activities etc., shall however not be taken into account in the assessment of the individual's work capacity."
Mr. Speaker! Everyone who lives in a democracy has the right to participate and influence in interest organizations, for example, the disability rights movement. In the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which Sweden has adopted, it states in Article 29 that the States Parties undertake to "actively promote an environment where persons with disabilities can effectively and fully participate in the management of public affairs, without discrimination and on an equal basis with others, and encourage their participation in public affairs, including by participating in private organizations and associations active in the country's public and political life."
Mr. Speaker! In the Försäkringskassan's guidance for sickness benefit, it states under secondary occupations, assignments, voluntary work, and leisure activities that participation in association life, course activities, and the like, in the same way that a professional person normally does in their spare time, does not affect the right to sickness benefit.
That is consistent with our democratic rights, Article 29 of the UN Convention, and the report that the Government Offices are preparing. However, it becomes difficult to know what to hold oneself to if one has sickness or activity compensation when reading further. It states that leisure interests normally do not affect the right to sickness compensation, but if the scope, income, effort, or assignment can be equated with gainful employment, the sickness or activity compensation can be affected.
Mr. Speaker! From Försäkringskassan, this can be interpreted as that people with disabilities are not allowed to have any leisure activities, and according to a Court of Appeal decision from December 6, 2017, a chairmanship in a non-profit association can be equated with work. It is then understandable that one does not dare to engage in a disability association even if one wants to.
Mr. Speaker! Now that the disability rights movement has highlighted this problem, I wonder when the government will present a proposal based on the committee report to make it more predictable and simple for people with disabilities who receive sickness or activity compensation to be able to have a leisure activity.
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! As I began by saying, such engagement as board work in an association or other voluntary assignments does not affect the right to sickness or activity compensation as long as it cannot be equated with gainful employment.
We are all probably aware that voluntary commitment can involve different amounts of work. A chairmanship in an association, as the member exemplified, can very well be extensive and burdensome. There is therefore a problem of drawing boundaries, and however we choose to formulate legal texts or regulatory frameworks, individual assessments will be made. But the problem of drawing boundaries makes certain cases difficult to assess.
The organizations I meet and speak with, which are very many, are completely on board with the order that one should be able to have a voluntary commitment and be active, and that the sickness benefit and the activity benefit shall be for those who cannot work.
We must safeguard our social insurance system, but at the same time, it must of course be possible to be active voluntarily in civil society. Our sickness insurance system is for those who, due to illness and disability, cannot work.
It can be complicated, but it is important to point out that there is a certain scope for those who receive sickness benefit to engage in tasks that can be equated with gainful employment without the right to benefit being affected. The limit is at one-eighth of a standard full-time position.
For the individual, clarity and predictability are important, and I believe that is what this is really about. When I speak with the organizations that mention that their members sometimes do not dare to engage and take on assignments, it is often about knowledge, interpretation, and clarity rather than examples of where Försäkringskassan has judged that it is gainful work and that one has therefore lost their compensation. It is fundamentally the fear of making a mistake that prevents many from taking a voluntary assignment, for example in a board, which is regrettable.
Therefore, Försäkringskassan, in its capacity as a state administrative authority, shall, among other things, work to promote a uniform application of the sickness insurance. This is extremely important. It should be easy to do the right thing, it should be clear, and it should be transparent. This is an ongoing process, and according to Försäkringskassan's directive letter for 2025, it shall, among other things, report which measures have been taken to ensure that the regulatory framework for the assessment of work capacity and the right to compensation is applied uniformly and in a legally secure manner, as well as what results these measures have led to. This is why I maintain a continuous dialogue with Försäkringskassan, precisely because it is important.
Agneta Nilsson (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.
In recent weeks, I have met with several organizations and associations for people with disabilities, and at every place I have been, people have raised with me how the rules are written and how they are interpreted by Försäkringskassan.
In one of the associations, I met a young man in a wheelchair with fairly significant physical disabilities. He was active and engaged in society and in issues concerning disabilities and wanted to become more involved, but he was held back by Försäkringskassan's strict rules. His wish was that the rules should encourage voluntary engagement instead of limiting it.
It means, therefore, an uncertainty for people with disabilities who want to participate in voluntary assignments that the legislation is difficult to interpret and that Försäkringskassan's application is too restrictive.
I agree with the Minister that it is important that the insured receive clear information about the regulatory framework. But it is also important that the regulatory framework is not interpreted arbitrarily. The opportunity to participate in association life should be equal for everyone. It therefore needs to be defined more clearly what counts as voluntary work, how it affects the right to compensation, and what constitutes gainful employment.
Based on democratic rights and the UN Convention, it is of importance that the regulation and interpretation of the same are reviewed. I therefore look forward to what the government will conclude based on the report, not for my own sake but for the associations and people who need to receive clarity.
Statsrådet Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! I would like to thank the member for the interpellation and the debate.
Association life and voluntary engagement are meaningful and can be a gateway to work, community, and inclusion for those receiving sickness or activity compensation. I am keen to keep all doors open and lower all conceivable thresholds so that more people can achieve a work community and self-sufficiency.
As I have mentioned during the debate, the government is now taking several measures. Among these is giving persons with sickness benefit or activity compensation the possibility of having partial rest compensation during studies. We will return to this, which I believe can become an important piece of the puzzle moving forward. I do not, however, rule out more pieces of the puzzle so that more people can enter the workforce.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.