The Swedish Public Employment Service is criticised for failing to consider necessary measures to fulfil its service and investigation obligations in a case involving a person with a disability

Summary of the decision: A woman registered as a jobseeker with the Swedish Public Employment Service in March 2022. On registration, she noted that she had a visual impairment that meant she needed considerable support to be able to find, get and hold down a job. Furthermore, it was noted that she had registered medical grounds. Despite the woman contacting the authority on several occasions to explain her need for help and support, no concrete measures were taken with regard to the matter. It was not until November 2022 that she was invited to a meeting and a disability code was registered. In January 2023, the code was removed, despite the fact that there was probably sufficient medial grounds. There was then a delay until November 2023 before the woman was given an appointment with an eye specialist and an assessment was made that there were grounds for a new registration. The Parliamentary Ombudsman notes that the woman was left without help and support for far too long and states that the Swedish Public Employment Service should have considered which measures the authority needed to take in order to meet its service and investigation obligations when the women first registered as a jobseeker.

The Swedish Public Employment Service also reached a number of sanction decisions as the woman had not submitted her activity reports to the authority. The Parliamentary Ombudsman states that, given its knowledge of the disability, the Swedish Public Employment Service should have informed her of the possibility of reporting activity orally when she first registered. According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, as a rule the Swedish Public Employment Service should consider contacting jobseekers who fail to report on time, which it did not do in this case.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman criticises the Swedish Public Employment Service for administrative shortcomings.