The government wants to tighten its work against welfare fraud. As part of this, an investigation has been appointed that is now presenting a partial report in the labor market area.
Hard-working people must be able to trust that their money goes to what it is intended for, says Minister of Social Insurance Anna Tenje (M) at a press conference.
According to the proposal, anyone who is careless or cheats by providing incorrect information to the Swedish Employment Agency, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency or the unemployment funds may be subject to a penalty fee.
Penalty fee
This may involve incorrect information relating to, for example, unemployment benefits, wage subsidies, start-up jobs, activity support or establishment allowance.
The sanction fee will be decided by the authorities and is proposed to be 25 percent of the incorrectly paid amount. The maximum amount should be SEK 73,500.
This will lead to changed behaviors that will eventually reduce incorrect payments, says investigator Mikael Westberg.
According to Westberg, 55 billion kronor is paid out annually in the areas of labor market policy and unemployment insurance. Of that, 2.6 billion is estimated to be incorrect. About half is believed to be due to carelessness and the other half to deliberate fraud.
The idea is that the penalty fee should serve as a punishment for those who deliberately cheat and as a wake-up call for those who are not careful enough.
Smaller share
According to the investigator, incorrect payments could be reduced by 5-10 percent if the proposal is implemented.
He proposes that it should come into effect on July 1, 2027.
The first part of the investigation into benefit fraud was presented this spring. At that time, a 25 percent penalty fee was also proposed within social insurance.
