Last autumn, Kommunal announced industrial action for privately employed personal assistants. One of the demands was that extra time should be replaced as overtime.
Unions and employers have now agreed to equate overtime compensation with overtime compensation within the collective agreement for personal assistance from 1 October. It will have major financial consequences for an already hard-pressed industry.
Personal assistance is in an acute financial situation. The compensation has year after year fallen behind salaries and real costs, while the costs of running assistance are increasing.
For people with the greatest need for help, the situation becomes particularly serious. When the assistance must be available around the clock, high costs for evenings, nights, weekends and highly qualified staff follow.
And now comes another blow to the economy: overtime becomes overtime and gives the right to such financial compensation. The employers' organizations Fremia and Vårdföretagarna have both warned that the assistance compensation does not provide financial coverage for the increased costs.
For many businesses, this can be the final straw. Therefore, action must be taken now – not after the next investigation, not next year and not when more serious organizers have already given up.
In the hearing "Save the assistance" with the parties in the Riksdag before the election, the question was asked whether the government should change the Social Insurance Agency's directive so that people with extensive OB costs can more easily receive an increased hourly amount. A majority of parties say yes.
The Left Party is positive about reviewing the rules. The Green Party may consider changing the directives. The Liberals are open to change. The Center Party wants to review the restrictive application. The Christian Democrats are positive that more people should be able to receive an increased amount. The Sweden Democrats want to clarify the regulations so that, as a general rule, extensive OB costs can result in an increased hourly rate. The Social Democrats are open to amended directives if the current rules do not work as intended.
So this is no longer a question of whether the politicians see the problem. They do. The question is whether the government is prepared to do something about it before it is too late.
Sweden needs to rethink. In Norway, a model has been chosen where the compensation must cover the actual salary costs for personal assistance, including allowances for inconvenient working hours. It is a much more reasonable principle.
Inconvenient working hours are not an optional cost. It arises because a person needs their assistance in the evenings, nights and weekends. That cost should not have to be taken out of the same compensation that will pay for the regular assistance.
We therefore want the OB cost to be lifted from the template and fully reimbursed based on the actual cost. It would create fairer and more predictable funding and, above all, protect those with the greatest aid needs and the highest staffing costs.
The need for assistance does not disappear when the clock strikes 7 p.m. Then neither should the funding.
The long-term solution is a substantial increase in the assistance allowance and an indexation that follows wages and costs. But the long-term reform does not help the business, which is already facing increased costs.
The state demands collective agreements, higher wages, better working conditions and safe staffing - but the funding does not follow.
In practice, then, three options remain:
● The business is running at a loss.
● The assistance deteriorates.
● Or the organizer shuts down.
This is not about how big the profit for an assistance provider should be, but about whether it is possible to conduct personal assistance at all. And ultimately, it is about something even more important: whether people with extensive disabilities will be able to get the assistance they are entitled to.
October 1st is just a few weeks away. Therefore, we call on the government to:
● Change the directives to Försäkringskassan already this autumn.
● Ensure that OB costs are fully reimbursed according to actual costs.
● Ensure that the assistance allowance covers the increased personnel costs.
And above all: Don't let people with the greatest needs pay the price for a funding system that no longer works.
Politicians have been asked the question ahead of the election on 13 September and several have pointed to the problem. Now the government needs to act.
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