Triple the number of young people with disabilities who lose compensation

In February this year, SVT's review "A real job" attracted a lot of attention. It was about young adults with a disability losing their compensation from the Social Insurance Office and instead being referred to the Employment Service and the open labor market. Over 300 people shared their personal stories.

Read the full review and share your experiences in our chat here.

The investigation led to the Minister of Social Security asking questions to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency about the activity allowance. And in August this year came three government assignments that are about improving support for young people who get rid of their activity allowance.

- My picture is that things have gotten worse since then. I have had contact with several members who have fallen ill since they lost their compensation. Some become depressed, they are left at home or taken care of by relatives. Many people quit their daily operations, says Elisabeth Ingvarsson.

It is often about people who have an "invisible" disability, for example an intellectual disability or autism. Some have managed to get a job, so-called daily business, in a workplace.

- They need a lot of support, but on the surface it may look like they could do a regular job. But that conclusion cannot be drawn. In my opinion, the Social Insurance Office is far too quick to deduct the compensation and refer to the Employment Service. This is a long process, says Elisabeth Ingvarsson.

But despite the attention and criticism that so many young people get rid of the activity allowance, the Social Insurance Agency does not report how many people it is about. SVT Nyheter has asked for statistics for a whole year, but received the answer that a "development work" is in progress and that the statistics are therefore not public.

Nor does it appear in the quality follow-ups or in the Swedish Social Insurance Agency's annual report how many young adults this is about.

The Swedish Social Insurance Agency's analysis department has now produced the figures, on behalf of SVT and against payment. The statistics show that this is a significantly larger increase than previously known. Between 2016 and 2018, there was a tripling of the number of young disabled people between the ages of 19 and 29 who got rid of their activity allowance.

- It's scary, but I'm not surprised, says Elisabeth Ingvarsson at FUB.

Nearly 1,500 young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 have lost their activity allowance during the first eight months of this year. It shows the figures that SVT has ordered from Försäkringskassan.

This year, as many people have been denied so far as in the years 2013, 2014 and 2015 together. This has increased by 450 percent compared to the same period in 2015.

The big change took place in 2017. That year received as many rejections as during the previous three years together.