Objectives and visions for social insurance

Parental insurance and benefits for parents

The objective is for financial family policy is to contribute to good financial living standards for all families with children and reduce the differences in economic conditions between households with and without children. Financial family policy is also to contribute to gender-equal parenting.

The Government wants financial family policy to contribute to good financial living standards for all families with children and to reduce financial disparities between households with and without children. Financial family policy will also contribute to gender-equal parenting.

General welfare that benefits everyone, gender-equal parenting and the principle of the best interests of the child are the foundation for the Government's view of financial family policy. General welfare balances financial resources and living conditions, and includes everyone.

Pensions

The objective for this area is that women and men with low income-related pensions, or none at all, will be guaranteed index-linked basic protection. Surviving spouses will be given reasonable financial support to help them adjust following the death of their spouse. The old-age pension system will be administered and managed at low cost and in a way that benefits pensioners and pension savers. The information provided will put pension savers in a good position to assess their future pension and the factors that affect it. Women and men are to have greater knowledge of the importance of lifetime earnings for their future pension.

The promise that, even in the future, there will be a basic pension is an important reason for general and obligatory pension insurance. A broad political agreement and a financially sustainable system are essential to the credibility of this promise. Sweden has a system of this kind, and the conviction that the essential parts of the system will endure when the young people of today retire rests on a very solid foundation.

Sickness insurance

The objective of sickness insurance is for the level of absence from work due to illness to be low and stable in the long term.

This means, more specifically, that:

sickness absence should not vary more than is attributable to normal seasonal variation,there should be no unjustified regional disparities in sickness absence,the level of sickness absence should be in line with equivalent systems and benefits in the EU and the OECD.

Swedish sickness insurance is to be more humane and predictable. It is to provide security during the time it takes a person to rebuild their capacity for work. A good work environment where the employer takes its full share of responsibility, and a well-functioning health and medical care system are fundamental to achieving the objective. The work-first principle is to apply within sickness insurance. People should be offered rehabilitation and, when needed, adaptation support to make the most of their capacity for work. It is also necessary to have a clearer gender perspective as women's sickness absence is substantially higher than men's.