Report back from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency concerning case management when the individual has a representative

Summary of the decision: Having long been critical of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency’s deficient handling of cases in which the individual has had a representative, the Parliamentary Ombudsmen have followed up the agency’s work in this regard. Among other things, deficiencies relate to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency sending decisions and communications directly to the individual rather than their representative.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman notes that there has been no stable, tangible improvement in case management, which is troubling. He emphasises that the Swedish Social Insurance Agency has a duty to address the identified shortcomings.

While the Parliamentary Ombudsman takes a positive view of certain measures taken by the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, he questions how extensive this work has been. In his estimation, the agency has still not fully come to grips with the problem nor taken it sufficiently seriously.

According to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, it currently lacks the financial wherewithal to develop its case management system in the necessary manner. However, the Parliamentary Ombudsman notes that, from the point of view of legal certainty, lack of resources cannot serve as a mitigating circumstance in the judicial review that the Parliamentary Ombudsman is tasked with conducting, and states that it is of great importance that the Swedish Social Insurance Agency addresses the problem within the foreseeable future.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman is highly critical of the facts that have emerged in the case and finds reason to send a copy of the decision to the Government for information.