TV4 Nyheterna reported on Wednesday morning that of the approximately 190,000 sickness benefit payments that Försäkringskassan would make in May, around 7,000 people have not received their money.
According to a source from within the authority, Försäkringskassan has known for some time that 6,000 would have their payments handled manually – and that many will be delayed.
– It does not feel good. It feels tragic. Because I know we could have solved it in a different way. Because there are alternative ways to solve the payments, direct payments, to people who are in a bad situation. But management has chosen not to make such payments, he says.
“Very vulnerable people”
According to the source, the reason for the problem with the payments is that the authority replaced the old payment system with a new one in the middle of the payment week.
– The defense after that has been that you couldn’t know how delayed the payments would be.
What the source particularly reacts to is that Försäkringskassan has actively chosen to let a large number of people wait for their payments.
– The management could have notified people in advance, so that the people could have postponed bills and asked for a postponement in other ways from their creditors.
At the same time, the source reacts to the fact that the authority’s press secretary promised payment to everyone on Friday, when they are still waiting for the IT problem with payments to be resolved.
– There are people who will not get their money then. They are also very vulnerable people, where 100 kroner makes a big difference.
People threaten to kill themselves
According to the source, some people have threatened suicide to get their money.
– They have called several times a day. They threaten to take their lives and then such a direct payment has been made.
When do you think everyone will get their money?
– No idea, I don’t know, says the source.
The answer from Försäkringskassan
Marcus Nordlund Wadström, project owner at Försäkringskassan, says that everyone affected will receive their payments this week, certainly by Friday at the latest.
He further says that the authority did not know that the payments would be delayed, but that they were aware that the risk existed.
When asked why the authority did not communicate that there was a risk that the payments would be delayed, he replies:
– Informing in advance would rather have raised a lot of concerns. It applies to 7,000 out of 190,000, and if we had gone out and informed that all payments would be delayed, or a certain number, we would have scared off a much larger part than that.
We have reports of people calling in and threatening to kill themselves to get this money?
– That people are so worried and concerned that they threaten to take their own lives is of course unfortunate. It is extremely regrettable.