Nav pays unemployment benefits without checking whether recipients meet the requirements

NAV unemployment unemployedNAV logo, Photo: Norway Today Media

The Office of the Auditor General has reacted to the NAV offices they have spoken with not checking whether unemployment benefit recipients meet the requirements of a job seeker.

The benefits shall replace lost income due to unemployment. In order to receive unemployment benefits, you must be a real job seeker, which means that you are willing to take any work, anywhere in the country.

The OAG’s latest report points out that Nav pays unemployment benefits without checking whether these requirements are met.

“We note that the Work and Welfare Administration’s evaluations of unemployment benefits are not of good enough quality,” says Per-Kristian Foss, Auditor General.

The number of unemployment benefit recipients increased by 13 per cent from 2015 to 2016, from 67,100 to 75,800 recipients. Last year, the Work and Welfare Administration paid NOK 15.45 billion in unemployment benefits. Foss reacts to the fact that they  cannot guarantee that this money has been paid to people entitled to unemployment benefits.

The Office of the Auditor General also notes that the Work and Welfare Administration does not have sufficient procedural quality, which can also lead to the result that applications for unemployment benefits are incorrectly rejected. Much also indicates that a large proportion of recipients have incomes they do not reveal.

“The Work and Welfare Administration must ensure that the management of the scheme is of good quality, in order to maintain the trust in unemployment benefits as an important part of the social security network,” says Foss.

 

©  NTB Scanpix / Norway Today

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