Response to interpellation 2025/26:108 on economic conditions for persons with disabilities
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M argues that sickness and activity compensation is indexed annually with the price base amount to compensate for increased costs 1 2. The Government wants to lower the tax for persons with guaranteed compensation through an enhanced tax reduction 1 2. M emphasizes that the Government has taken measures such as lowered VAT on food and lowered tax on labor to strengthen household finances 1 2. M admits that the processing times are far too long 2. S argues that the guarantee level is too low to provide a dignified standard of living and that persons with disabilities risk falling into poverty 3 4. S wants the compensations to be reviewed so that these persons can live like others 3 4.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! Jessica Rodén has asked me whether I consider that today's guarantee level in the sickness and activity compensation provides an economically secure and dignified standard of living, and whether I and the government intend to take any measures to strengthen the finances for persons living on the guarantee level in the sickness and activity compensation.
Mr. Speaker! People should feel secure that there is a sickness insurance that provides financial compensation if they, due to illness or disability, cannot work. Sickness compensation and activity compensation are adjusted annually with the price base amount, which follows the price level according to the consumer price index. It is an appropriate arrangement that sickness compensation and activity compensation, in accordance with current law, are indexed with the price base amount to compensate for increased costs.
The housing supplement, which is tested against, among other things, income, is an important supplementary benefit to sickness and activity compensation. Single persons can receive at most 6,550 kronor per month. The extra cost compensation shall compensate for extra costs linked to disability.
In the budget bill for 2026 (prop. 2025/26:1), the government focuses on strengthening households' finances, including for persons who receive sickness or activity compensation in the form of guarantee compensation. Against the background that sickness or activity compensation is taxed higher than the corresponding wage income, the government has proposed that this difference in taxation be abolished through a strengthening of the tax reduction for persons who receive sickness compensation or activity compensation. In short, the tax shall be lowered.
Other measures that the government has taken to strengthen household finances are a temporary reduction in value-added tax – that is, VAT – on food, increased housing allowance for families with children, and reduced tax on earned income and pension. The tax reduction according to the proposal on reinforced tax reduction is in 2026 approximately 1,700 kronor per year for those who have full sickness benefit in the form of guarantee compensation and have reached the age of 30.
Jessica Rodén (S)
Mr. Speaker! I want to begin by thanking the Minister for the answer.
When the rent, electricity, food, and medicines are paid, what do you actually have left to live on? For many who have sickness compensation at the guarantee level, the answer is a few hundred kronor, and for some, not even that. For those who have the guarantee level in sickness compensation, it is about receiving 13,622 kronor a month before tax if you are over 30 years old. After tax, it leaves between 10,000 and 11,000 kronor to live on, month after month, year after year.
Stadsmissionen describes poverty as an example of a lack of standard of living. FUB describes in its report Trapped in Poverty? persons with disabilities who go into deficit by up to 2,000 kronor a month and who are dependent on relatives chipping in money. These are people who cannot influence their situation. These are people who do not have a labor market to go to. They have no possibility of negotiating up their income. Therefore, the level of the compensation is not just a question of economics but also of living conditions.
The Minister referred in his answer to the fact that the compensation follows the price base amount. But people cannot make the money last because the compensation is too low. It is not enough to keep one's nose just above water. One must be given the opportunity to live, not just survive.
The government usually mentions the work line as the solution to most things in society. But the work line means nothing for those who do not have a job to go to or even a labor market to turn to. For them, a security line built on solidarity, human dignity, and justice is needed.
We already have a law today that states what the ambition should be, and that is the LSS Act. In it, it is stated that the goal should be that the individual is given the opportunity to live like others. But how can one live like others when one goes into debt every month? The Minister refers to the housing supplement, but then we need to be honest about reality. The processing time is now over five months. For people who are already living on the margin, it is an unacceptable wait.
We Social Democrats are clear. Those living with long-term illness or disability should be able to live a good life. We want security to accompany development. That was why we commissioned an inquiry to review how the sickness and activity compensation should be calculated. The intention was crystal clear. Those who have become ill or have a disability should not be pushed into poverty while everyone else moves forward. But Anna Tenje shelved the inquiry. She closed the door to the security people need.
Mr. Speaker! My question to the Minister for Social Insurance is: Does the Minister consider that today's level of the guarantee level for sickness and activity compensation gives people with disabilities the opportunity to live like others?
Äldre- och socialförsäkringsministern Anna Tenje (M)
Mr. Speaker! Many thanks for your opening remarks, Jessica Rodén!
It is important that people can feel secure that there is a sickness insurance that provides financial compensation if one becomes ill or if one cannot work. Sickness compensation and activity compensation are adjusted annually with the price base amount, which I have already touched upon. They also follow the price level according to the consumer price index.
I think it is an appropriate order that the sickness benefit and the activity benefit, in accordance with current law, are indexed in relation to the price base amount to compensate for increased costs. It has also worked very well. Or rather: It has worked – "very well" might be an exaggeration. It has worked for a long time regardless of which government has been in power.
For those people who have such compensation, it is important that the compensation keeps pace with price developments. We saw this, not least during the years with record-high inflation, which the government inherited from the Social Democrats. If the sickness and activity compensation had not been adjusted upwards by 9 percent in 2023 and 2024, people who were already economically vulnerable and dependent on these supports would have had significantly tougher years. Workers did not receive at all the same increase in wages as the adjustment that was made to the sickness and activity compensation.
The government has been firmly determined to fight inflation and the high interest rates that followed in its wake. This has been very successful. Now, of course, there is other concern in our global environment in the form of tariffs, trade wars, and not least war in our vicinity. One can still state that the government during the toughest years has worked actively to support households. Lowered tax on work, lowered tax on pension, lowered tax on fuel, lowered VAT on food, and lowered tax on electricity are just a few examples of measures that the government has taken during this time to strengthen households. Now we are also moving forward with lowering the tax on sickness and activity benefits.
If one looks at the effects on households' economic standard as a result of the government's proposals and notifications during this mandate period, one sees very clearly that the economic standard increases most in percentage terms in the tenth of the population that has the lowest economic standard and least of all in the two top income groups. But that being said, it is not about any luxury life, but it is very tough even continuing. Therefore, I am happy that we are moving forward with a tax cut that provides 1,700 kronor per year.
Regarding the processing times, Jessica Rodén, I completely agree with you. They are far too long, and the mandate is clear, which the accompanying allocation of funds also shows. The processing times must be reduced, the service must increase, and the accessibility must increase, because this is not okay.
Jessica Rodén (S)
Mr. Speaker! I did not hear any answer to my question as to whether the Minister considers that today's levels give people with disabilities the opportunity to live as others do in accordance with the intentions of the LSS Act. The Minister may perhaps return to that question in his next statement.
We are talking here today about people who are born with or have developed a disability early on that excludes them from the labor market. These are people who want to work, contribute, and have the opportunity to apply for vacation, but they have never been admitted. Many of them live their entire lives on the guarantee level of the sickness benefit. As I said earlier, it is 13,622 kronor before tax if one is over 30 years old.
For this group, life is not about making choices but about the lack of choices. Today, organizations such as Majblomman and Stadsmissionen testify that more people with disabilities are seeking support for food and necessary purchases, not because there is no state aid, but because it has become increasingly difficult to obtain and covers less and less.
We Social Democrats believe that the compensations need to be reviewed so that people with sickness and activity compensation do not remain in the mire of poverty while the rest of society moves forward. It is not about benefits but about rights, about human dignity, and about being able to live like others.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.