An 87-year-old Swedish woman was nearly stripped of her housing supplement after the Swedish Pensions Agency (Pensionsmyndigheten) made a data entry error showing she had suddenly earned 3.6 million kronor in monthly income. Solvig Karlsson received a shock notification that her housing supplement would be withdrawn at the end of March, according to a report in Expressen.
Karlsson immediately contacted a case officer to inquire about the sudden change. "Then he says: 'You understand, Solvig, when you have a monthly income of 3.6 million kronor, we don't pay out any supplement,'" Karlsson recounted. However, she didn't recognize the figure at all. "I don't see that money in my accounts," she said.
Then he says: 'You understand, Solvig, when you have a monthly income of 3.6 million kronor, we don't pay out any supplement,'
When the case officer reviewed the information again, he realized the agency had made a calculation error by adding extra zeros. The Pensions Agency corrected the mistake once it was identified, and Karlsson's housing supplement was paid out as usual. However, Karlsson expressed concern that the agency didn't notice the discrepancy themselves before nearly cutting off her benefits.
Johan Andersson, press secretary at the Pensions Agency, explained that the error occurred when two amounts were placed consecutively in a field. "It's the human factor in an input chain from our side," he said. Andersson noted that the housing supplement is a complex benefit requiring significant manual handling, and the agency is working technically to reduce human error factors.
I don't see that money in my accounts
"It was good that the customer contacted us so we could correct it quickly without interruption in the payment," Andersson added, noting that changes can also be made on the Pensions Agency's website.
It's the human factor in an input chain from our side
It was good that the customer contacted us so we could correct it quickly without interruption in the payment