The Swedish government has taken the next step in the work of reviewing basic security benefits within the public pension system, appointing two experts to prepare the ground for a formal inquiry.
The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (Socialdepartmentet) announced on Friday that a working group was being appointed to start the first stage of the review — a new reform process that received the backing of the all-party Pensions Group at the end of May.
Johannes Hagen, associate professor in economics at the Jönköping International School of Economics within Jönköping University, has been appointed to lead the working group, which includes several civil servants, and Hannes Nilsson, head of the Swedish Pensions Agency’s analysis department, is to be the group’s secretary, according to the ministry.
Summing up the need for reform, the ministry said the pension system’s basic protection currently consisted of five benefits that, in part, served different purposes, which created a complicated whole and made it hard to know whether it was effective and reached those most in need.
Anna Tenje, minister for Older People and Social Security, said: “The pension system exists for pensioners, so it is of utmost importance that it is understandable and effective.”
“I am pleased that Johannes Hagen and Hannes Nilsson, with solid expertise in the pension area, are taking on this complex but important assignment,” she said.
Hagen said basic security in Sweden’s public pension system affected 1.5 million pensioners in one way or another.
“Many people think that the current system is too complicated and therefore needs to be simpler and more efficient,” he said.
With a deadline of 15 June next year to submit its final report, the working group has been tasked with analysing the problems within the current system and providing proposals and goals for the reform process.
Once the preparatory work is complete, a government inquiry will be appointed, which will develop one or more concrete proposals for reformed basic security for pensioners.
“The biggest challenge here will be to define goals, objectives and a direction that all parties agree on,” Hagen said.
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