The Swedish Pensions Authority (SPA) has revealed that it paid out an estimated SEK 1.6bn in incorrect payments in 2025, equivalent to 0.33 per cent of its total payments that year.

The report, Incorrect payments within the SPA’s benefits, reviewed the authority's incorrect payments last year and found that of this SEK 1.6bn, payments of housing supplement and income support for the elderly accounted for just over SEK 1bn.

“Many of the SPA’s benefits last for years because they are paid out for life,” SPA head of analysis, Kristian Seth, explained.

“This means that large amounts of money can be stopped when we discover the inaccuracies. At the same time, we need to make it easier for beneficiaries to be able to do the right thing when they apply and update their information.”

The report highlighted the types of cases at highest risk of incorrect payments, with several “most obvious” risk factors including improperly reported assets and liabilities, residence abroad and stay abroad, incorrectly reported income and pensions from another country.

The estimated amounts attributable to improperly reported assets and liabilities total SEK 315m, followed by residence abroad at SEK 312m, incorrectly reported income at SEK 253m, and pensions from other countries at SEK 249m.

The SPA noted that a common feature of these cases is that the beneficiary is responsible for providing accurate information and for regularly reporting any changes that affect their benefits.

SPA head of the control unit, Lisa Nordenhäll, said SPA’s benefit recipients bear a great responsibility to report correct information to the authority, both prior to decisions being made and subsequently to update it on an ongoing basis if, for example, they receive a housing allowance.

Nordenhäll argued that errors involving housing allowances are largely attributable to the recipients themselves.

Although she suggested that cases of gross negligence and deliberate abuse of the social security system do occur, incorrect payments are usually the result of recipients failing to understand their duty to report changes in their circumstances or failing to do so.

According to Nordenhäll, such errors are rarely intentional.

The SPA previously has called for reforms to help combat benefit fraud and incorrect payments, for which it is responsible.

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