Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

Employment Injury Benefits Convention, 1964 [Schedule I amended in 1980] (No. 121) - Sweden (Ratification: 1969)

In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to explain the new design of the employment injury benefit covered by sickness insurance and work injury compensation, as well as the trends showing substantial reduction in the number of claims submitted and accepted for compensation. In this connection, the Committee notes an extract from the Annual Report 2005 of the new Swedish Social Insurance Agency, which has administered the national social insurance schemes since 1 January 2005, and the other publications supplied by the Government together with its report. Concerning compensation for incapacity for work, the Annual Report states (page 18) “the Government’s long-term target is to halve absence from work due to ill health by 2008, based on the figure for 2002. At the same time, the number of new cases of sickness benefit and activity allowance should decline”. The statistics show that the number of work injury annuities, which dropped sharply after 1993 due to the introduction of much stricter criteria for approval of a work injury, continued to decline. However, the Report concludes (page 19) that “the result development for occupational injury insurance is unsatisfactory. The Swedish Social Insurance Agency has not achieved its target of consistency in decision-making on annuities and the processing time in the country as a whole is unacceptably long. The work of change has been going on throughout the year under the management of the new collective authority”. In view of the ongoing changes in the organization and management of the employment injury branch in Sweden, the Committee would like the Government to request the Swedish Social Insurance Agency to explain its targets and criteria in administering the schemes concerned as regards both the quantity and the quality of the benefits provided.