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19,000 in the Alfakassan queue: half will be rejected
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The father of young children, Marcus, 31, became unemployed for the first time in his life when the corona pandemic broke out.
Since June, he has been waiting for information from the unemployment insurance fund.
– I think it’s catastrophic, he says.
The father of young children, Marcus, 31, from Åmotfors in Värmland, had a month of paternity leave left when he was informed that he had been fired due to the corona pandemic. For Marcus, who worked as a technical salesman, it was the first time he had been unemployed.
– I registered directly with the employment service, I just received the message.
Marcus and his wife were expecting their second child and he wanted to do everything possible in time so that the process at the unemployment insurance fund was not unnecessarily delayed.
The same day that he was unemployed, June 2, he made a severance report to Alfakassan. He called to check how long the process took.
“They said it would take eight weeks and I thought it wasn’t that dangerous,” says Marcus.
After eight weeks of silence, Marcus called again. Then he got a new message.
– So they said twelve weeks. When twelve weeks had passed, they said twenty. They said it was because they had so few people and that there was nothing to do but wait.
Marcus is disappointed and worried.
– You pay taxes and fees and then the day comes when I need help. And then there is no safety net, he says.
Photo: TOMMY PEDERSEN
The father of young children, Marcus, 31, was unemployed when the pandemic broke out. Since June, he has been waiting for information from the unemployment insurance fund.
How did you manage?
– We were lucky to have fixed the finances and to have been able to save money, so we had a couple of monthly salaries in reserve.
It’s been five months since Marcus was unemployed. Savings are exhausted.
– Everything is over, what we reserve for the holidays, for the house.
Anxiety and uncertainty
Three weeks ago, the couple had their second child and Marcus’s wife is on maternity leave.
– What you receive as parental benefit is not much and you cannot live.
Then Marcus got in touch with Alfakassan again.
– So they said I had no idea to call before the end of November. My case was not even opened, they said they were working on cases since April.
The couple has had to turn to their parents for help.
– I think we are lucky to have had the opportunity to save money and that we receive help from my dad now that the savings are gone. Not all those affected suffer from it.
Photo: TOMMY PEDERSEN
Three weeks ago, the couple had their second child and now Marcus’s wife is on maternity leave.
The long processing time and lack of communication have created uncertainty and anxiety for the future, says Marcus.
– They haven’t even opened my case and they say they can’t even check if I filled everything out correctly. I am afraid that the day the case is opened they will say that some information is missing and that the whole process will start over.
Marcus says he fully understands that they have a lot to do in the unemployment insurance fund.
– But there must be an opportunity to help more than them. The safety net should last, I think this is catastrophic.
Photo: TOMMY PEDERSEN
“We were lucky to have organized the finances and we were able to save money so we had a couple of monthly salaries in reserve,” says Marcus.
Alfakassan: We apologize to Marcus
Aftonbladet has previously written about Andreas, 44, who has been waiting for information from Alfakassan for 18 weeks. At that time, more than 10,000 people were waiting for an answer.
Olle Åkerlund, treasurer of Alfakassan, says there are now 19,000 people waiting for a decision and that just over half will be turned away when they apply without even knowing if they are entitled to compensation.
– This unemployment insurance fund has a broader social responsibility than all other unemployment insurance funds, since it has the task of taking care of all those who are not members of anyone. This pandemic has shown how big that responsibility really is, no one was prepared for that, says Olle Åkerlund.
He says the number of severance reports has more than doubled since then, from 40,000 last year to 100,000 this year.
What are your wait times now?
– I still don’t have the October figures, but for September it was 22 weeks.
Have you made any changes due to increased pressure?
– We have, during the year we employ 60 people. In one year we have grown from 100 to 180 people.
Doesn’t that seem to be enough?
– Insurance is very complicated, it takes a long time with training and education before the newly hired manager can work independently.
Olle Åkerlund says there is room for self-criticism.
– Of course, we should be self-critical, as it is a completely unacceptable situation. We were not prepared, the pandemic greatly affected almost all unemployment funds. In the future, we must make sure that we can deal with a situation like this.
He also says Alfakassan is working to robotize parts of the business to free up time for administrators.
What can you tell Marcus? Is there a prognosis?
– Of course, we must apologize for waiting so long. So I cannot comment on your specific case. We can’t promise when we can make decisions about the money, but we make everything in turn, we also borrow help from other unemployment funds right now. This is not acceptable and we will not put ourselves in this situation again.
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