The National Audit Office has examined benefits such as sickness and activity compensation and guaranteed pension, the benefits reviewed amounted to 97 billion kronor last year.
The audit has focused on payments to individuals with income from abroad, which affects the size of the benefit one can receive. It shows that working methods, routines, and controls of the cash flow are deficient in several areas – and that large amounts may have been paid out incorrectly.
The deficiencies consist of the fact that the Tax Agency cannot systematically share information about foreign income with the Social Insurance Agency and the Pensions Agency. The two latter agencies also largely rely on individuals reporting information about income from abroad themselves.
The National Audit Office has examined data from 2022 on Nordic pensions and found that the authorities lacked information from approximately 12,500 individuals. For guaranteed pension, this meant that 2,200 individuals received a total of 21 million kronor too much in payments.
"The estimate only applies to one of several reviewed benefits and is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Especially considering that the problems with information exchange about foreign income are greater with countries outside the Nordic region," says Auditor General Helena Lindberg.
The National Audit Office urges the government to establish an automatic information exchange between the authorities, for the Social Insurance Agency and the Pensions Agency to increase cooperation with other countries, and to conduct systematic follow-up checks.
The audit covers sickness and activity compensation, housing supplements to sickness and activity compensation, housing supplements, and old-age pensioners' maintenance support, guaranteed pension, income pension supplements, and certain survivor's benefits. The costs for these benefits were approximately 97 billion kronor in 2023.
Source: The National Audit Office
