According to sources, the national absence register will be a common state database where educational activities report students' attendance and absence. The purpose is to follow up school attendance and give authorities better grounds to detect incorrect benefit payments. The proposal is estimated to save hundreds of millions for the state by preventing incorrect payments within parental benefit schemes and enabling recovery through increased control when settling abroad.
However, part of the funding for the national absence register is proposed to come from the state grant to school social teams during the years the register is built up. In Gothenburg, the funding cut would correspond to the financing of three to four positions during 2026 and 2027. The Grundskoleförvaltningen (Elementary Education Administration) is critical of the proposal to fund the national absence register by cutting grants to school social teams.
She can push us into lessons.
" School social teams, such as the one at Gamlestadsskolan in Gothenburg where youth counselor Jenny Ohlsson Hagby works, provide direct support to students. Jenny Ohlsson Hagby eats lunch with students, hangs out in corridors, and sometimes accompanies them all the way to the classroom door when someone wants to skip school. " It is unclear how the reduction in funding for school social teams will impact student support services and attendance rates in Gothenburg and nationally.
Additionally, the specific criteria or thresholds that will trigger investigations into incorrect benefit payments using the national absence register have not been detailed. The proposal aims to enhance oversight, but its implementation details remain under discussion.
We believe it is incorrect to take money from an intervention that supports students with high absence, to finance a register that primarily helps with statistics and preventing incorrect payments.