Changed circumstances – ineffective processing in the social insurance system
(RiR 2026:4)
Summary
Insured persons who receive social insurance benefits from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency or the Swedish Pensions Agency are obliged to report changed circumstances that could affect their right to compensation. This obligation does not apply to information already held by the agencies. Government agencies’ possibilities for sharing information with each other has increased over time, making it difficult for insured persons to know which information agencies have or need.
Previous estimates by the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Pensions Agency show that a significant number of incorrect payments from social insurance systems occur because the insured person had not reported changed circumstances. The Swedish National Audit Office has examined whether the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Pensions Agency efficiently process changed circumstances, to reduce the risk of incorrect payments. The audit covers how the agencies, in their processing of sickness compensation and housing supplement, collect and process information concerning changes.
Inefficiencies in processing changed circumstances
The overall conclusion of the Swedish National Audit Office is that the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Pensions Agency have numerous shortcomings in how they manage changed circumstances. The audit shows deficiencies in their work on prompting insured persons to report changes. It is a matter of shortcomings in information about the reporting obligation, a need for better e‑services and of inadequate support for insured persons with special needs.
The audit reveals inefficient processing of changed circumstances at both agencies. For the housing supplement, there are recurrent case backlogs, and for sickness compensation, changes are processed to a limited extent.
The audit also shows that the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Pensions Agency do not fully harness possibilities for effective information sharing on changed circumstances. Even though these agencies can retrieve relevant information from both internal and external sources, processing is largely based on the insured person having to report changes themselves during an ongoing entitlement period. The Swedish National Audit Office notes that such an approach still carries a high risk of incorrect payments.
Swedish Social Insurance Agency and Swedish Pensions Agency should share more information on changed circumstances
Today, there are both legal and technical means for improving information sharing – developments that are expected to continue. It is the assessment of the Swedish National Audit Office that there will be a continued need for these agencies to obtain information on changed circumstances from insured persons. By harnessing possibilities for sharing information, the agencies could ease the reporting burden on insured persons. This is particularly important for groups that – due to age, disability or language difficulties – face particular challenges from the reporting obligation.
The Swedish Social Insurance Agency is a large agency that administers numerous benefits. It has the potential, in its processing of various benefits, to collect information on changes and should ensure that relevant information is shared. The Swedish National Audit Office considers that there are inefficiencies because the Swedish Social Insurance Agency has not taken a comprehensive approach to how information concerning changed circumstances should be collected and shared within the agency and with other agencies. Nor has the Swedish Social Insurance Agency taken a comprehensive approach to developing functions in its processing systems that enable greater automation.
The Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Pensions Agency currently lack the legal means for developing digital solutions for more automated use of monthly data on earned income at the individual level from the Swedish Tax Agency for several income-based benefits. Such data could be used to produce precise indicators of changed circumstances during the insured person’s ongoing entitlement period, thereby reducing the risk of incorrect payments.
Recommendations
The Swedish National Audit Office makes the recommendations presented below.
To the Government
- Provide the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Pensions Agency with the legal means for enabling direct access to the Swedish Tax Agency’s monthly data on earned income at the individual level for more social insurance benefits than today.
To the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Pensions Agency
- If legal means are granted for direct access to the Swedish Tax Agency’s monthly data on earned income at the individual level:
- Design digital services within relevant social insurance benefits for the systematic exchange of information on changes in income, for example through automated triggers.
- Develop information about the notification obligation that is adapted to groups with special needs.
- Provide case officers with guidance on how processing should be adapted to insured persons with special needs.
To the Swedish Social Insurance Agency
- Take a benefits-wide, comprehensive approach to developing e-services on “My pages” to make it easier for insured persons to:
- access the information on which disbursed social insurance benefits are based
- report any changed circumstances.
- Develop functions for automatic information sharing within the agency to ensure that information about changes is shared between the social insurance benefits concerned. This applies in particular to changes reported by the insured person.
- Develop monitoring of incorrect payments to identify problems related to managing changed circumstances, and integrate monitoring into operational development.