In parallel with the sharp increase in the number of people in
employment in the 1990s, the number of people out of work has fallen,
after unemployment levels increased towards the end of the 1980s and
peaked in 1993. The number of long-term unemployed people has fallen
considerably in recent years. Among young people, however, participation
in the labour force is lower and unemployment levels higher compared with
the average levels for the working population. The same also applies to
handicapped people, refugees and immigrants from non-western countries.
There has also been an increase in the number of people experiencing
problems in the labour market for health and/or social reasons. The number
of people receiving invalidity pensions has increased more sharply than
the rise in the average age of the population would tend to indicate. The
average age of people who retire from the labour force owing to invalidity
has fallen. In addition, there have been increases in sickness absenteeism
and in the number of people in rehabilitation. The number of people who
take early retirement has also increased in the 1990s. Although this has
something to do with improved opportunities for taking early retirement,
it may also be a sign that the requirements of occupational life have been
too stringent for some older employees.
The differences in employment patterns among people with low and
high levels of education appear to have increased in the 1980s and
1990s. People with a low level of education are more exposed to
occupational upheaval during periods of recession, and to changes in
occupational patterns. There are many indications that more people with
a low level of formal education are falling outside of occupational life
and receiving benefits at an earlier stage of life than was commonplace
earlier.
3.3 Health
In a long-term perspective, the population’s general state of
health has improved. The life expectancy of both men and women has
increased continuously since the Second World War. Other measurements of
the population’s state of health such as self-experienced health,
level of functioning and the individual’s assessment of his/her state
of health, however, remained relatively unchanged between 1985 and 1995.
Muscular and skeletal diseases and mental illness are the two dominant
ailments suffered by the population.
There are clear differences regarding health and gender. While women
generally live longer than men do, women also report more frequently that
they have health problems, and more women than men report long-lasting
illnesses that reduce their quality of life. Women, particularly women
among the younger age groups, receive invalidity pensions more often than
men, they have a higher level of sickness absenteeism, consume more
medication and use health services more frequently than men.
Studies indicate that in certain areas social inequality with
regard to state of health may have increased in the 1980s and 1990s. The
gap appears to have been reduced among the working population, while the
disparity between the economically active and economically inactive
sections of the population has increased.
The state of health of people who are economically inactive and receive
public subsistence benefits (the long-term unemployed, recipients of
social welfare benefits etc.), and particularly recipients of social
security benefits for reasons of illness, is reportedly worse than the
state of health of people who are economically active. The state of health
of the working population has improved, while the state of health for
people who are economically inactive shows no improvement or has
deteriorated. The causes of this are complicated, but possible
explanations may be different behaviour with regard to health and the more
stringent requirements of occupational life, which means a higher
threshold for participation in the labour force.
3.4 Housing
Developments within the housing sector in the 1980s and 1990s have
resulted in good living conditions for most people. In particular, the
standard of housing has improved. Most people also live in a safer local
environment.
Some people have far poorer housing conditions than others in one
or more areas, often owing to high living expenses and low incomes.
Single individuals and some single parents have poorer housing
conditions than couples with and without children. Single parent
households have by far the highest living expenses in relation to their
income, primarily because they have relatively low incomes. Families with
small children generally have the highest mortgages, and these families
have seen the greatest increase in mortgage levels in the 1990s.
Recipients of social welfare benefits and the long-term unemployed are
distinguished by their relatively poor housing conditions, and the housing
situation for non-western immigrants is generally poorer than for the rest
of the population. For immigrants, housing problems may be due to
discrimination in the housing market and/or the fact that they reside in
specific urban areas where the housing stock is of a low standard. The
housing standard for young, single individuals receiving invalidity
pensions who do not reside with a family is poorer than for people within
the same age group who are not disabled. The problems experienced by
handicapped people in relation to housing are primarily related to the
lack of accessibility to and proper adaptation of dwellings. Around 6,200
persons were registered as homeless in 1997.
3.5 Regional distribution – economic living standards in urban
areas
Levels of income within the population are clearly lower in rural areas
than they are in towns and urban areas, while the housing situation is
often better in rural areas. There are minor inequalities between rural
areas and towns/urban areas as regards employment and unemployment. It
would appear that there has been an equalization of overall living
standards between urban and rural areas, even though income differentials
have increased somewhat in favour of the urban areas.
It is in the larger towns, particularly in Oslo, that one finds
people with the worst and best living standards. Norway’s housing
problems are also concentrated here.
The greatest geographical differences in incomes and living standards
are found within the larger cities, particularly between inner east Oslo
and inner west Oslo. Inner east Oslo has a high percentage of inhabitants
with low incomes, unemployed people, many recipients of social welfare
benefits, recipients of invalidity pensions, single parents receiving
transitional benefits, children in care and a concentration of immigrants.
Inequalities in the distribution of income have increased more sharply
within the larger cities (particularly in Oslo) than they have nationwide.
3.6 Accumulation of living standards
Good and poor living standards have a tendency to accumulate among
sections of the population. The share of those people whose overall living
standards are good has increased a little in the 1980s and 1990s. The
share of the population whose overall living standards are poor has
remained constant or risen slightly in certain groups during this period.
People whose overall living standards are poor have complex problems.
They have low incomes and are often marginalized in relation to the labour
market. They also have a low level of education, relatively poor housing
and are often disadvantaged in other areas, too. One typical feature of
the living standards scenario in the 1990s is that poor living conditions
and marginalization do not encompass entire social groups, but apply to a
small and variable minority within different groups.
contents
This page was last updated November 18, 1999 by
the editors
4. Goals and strategies
A society without major economic and social inequality is an asset in
itself, and may help to prevent social conflict. The Government is
concerned about the increase in inequality and the fact that a minority of
the population has poor living standards and is trailing behind the rest
of the population as far as developments in welfare are concerned. The
Government wishes to implement measures that will help the most
disadvantaged members of society, through the redistribution of income
from people with the highest incomes.
With the publication of the White paper, the Government wishes to
announce strategies and initiatives aimed at reducing inequalities in
economic resources and living standards, with a particular focus on
improving conditions for those people who are most disadvantaged.
By means of measures announced in this White paper, the Government
wishes to address the causes of these problems. The Government will
therefore assign priority to measures that can lead to improved
affiliation with the labour market, and services that can support the
medium-term objective of making individuals as self-sufficient as
possible. The Government also aims to secure good housing conditions for
all since this is an important condition for ensuring good living
standards and quality of life. For a number of people, participation in
the labour force and improved services will represent an unrealistic
solution to their problems. The Government therefore wishes to produce a
more finely-meshed social safety net, with a view to providing these
people with a more secure income.
The greatest challenge facing income distribution policy is that of
reversing a trend that leads to the permanent marginalization of certain
social groups. These groups are the principal target for the Government’s
strategies and income distribution policy measures.
Target groups for the reform measures
One common feature of the target groups is that the problems they face
with regard to living standards are more or less permanent, and often
relate to several aspects of living standards at the same time. Many
people in these groups have a permanent low income and financial problems.
A low income means that they experience problems in the housing market.
These groups have little or no affiliation with the labour market and many
people suffer from health or social problems as well. The groups are not
mutually exclusive; rather they overlap one another to a greater or lesser
degree.
• Households with permanently low incomes
• Economically disadvantaged families with children
• Economically disadvantaged immigrants
• People with psychiatric problems
• Substance abusers
• The homeless
• The long-term unemployed and occupationally handicapped workers
• Economically disadvantaged people receiving invalidity benefits
and handicapped people
Strategies and measures in income distribution policy
The Government’s principal strategy for reducing inequalities in
incomes and living standards, and for improving conditions for those
people who are most economically disadvantaged, is primarily to continue
to develop welfare through
• Fair and effective taxation
• More flexible welfare-to-work schemes
• A more socially-aware housing policy
• Improved public services
• A more finely-meshed social safety net
The Government is also committed to a simpler, more user-oriented and
better coordinated system of social welfare.
A stable and healthy economy is a necessary condition in order to ensure
that these strategies are successful. The country’s economic policy
must support stable economic development, the objective of employment for
all, and sound and stable framework conditions for individuals and
companies. The Government will attach particular importance to securing a
basis for permanent full employment and a low level of employment.
4.1 Fair and effective taxation
The Government attaches importance to the principle of taxation
according to one’s ability. The analyses contained in the White paper
demonstrate that this principle is not always fully applicable today. The
Government will consider making changes to the tax system, among other
things in the light of these analyses and Norwegian Official Report (NOU)
1999:7 «On Flat-rate Taxation». The Government wishes to
attach considerable importance to the redistributional effects of the tax
rules.
The Government will work to produce tax rules that will improve
the distribution of income between those with high incomes and those
with low incomes.
4.2 Labour-market and the work approach in welfare policy – more
flexibility
The Government’s objective is for as many people as possible
to take an active part in the labour force, to pursue an education and
to receive training so that they are able to care for themselves through
their own work. Everyone shall enjoy equal rights to an adequate
education regardless of their social background, place of residence,
gender and financial ability. A policy that promotes education, a high
level of employment and good and secure jobs for all is a fundamental
strategy for equalization and good living standards.
In cooperation with the employers’ and employees’
organisations, the Government wishes to continue and to strengthen the
recent positive trend in respect of employment. In order to achieve this,
it is important that the size and content of the labour-market programmes
are such that they correspond with the needs of those who still face
problems in the labour market. The level of measures must always be
considered in the light of labour-market developments.
In respect of unemployed people with complex problems, a coordinated
effort from several authorities is required. Among those groups that find
it difficult to gain access to the labour market are certain groups of
young people and the long-term unemployed. This is also true of
non-western immigrants/refugees, owing among other things to inadequate
Norwegian language skills, or because of occupational discrimination. The
Government therefore wishes to continue its prioritization of and efforts
in respect of these groups so that more people may find employment.
The basis of the work approach in welfare policy is that work shall be
the natural first choice of all people of working age. In the opinion of
the Government, the work approach is primarily a correct choice since it
signalises that the right to work shall also apply to groups who, for
various reasons, may experience problems in the labour market. A high
level of participation in the labour force is also necessary in order to
finance the increase in future expenditure on pensions and to provide
essential, good-quality health and care services without imposing too high
a tax burden.
It would appear, however, that many people of working age today are
unable to give full service or participate in the labour force on a
full-time basis, owing to poor health or social problems. Some of these
people are sufficiently fit for work that they are not entitled to an
invalidity pension. Many people nevertheless end up on invalidity pension,
often after a long period spent drifting between various short-term
transfer schemes. The analyses presented in the White paper also show that
the number of handicapped people in employment has fallen in the 1990s.
The Government wants the labour market to provide greater room for
people with permanent health problems or various types and degrees of
occupational handicaps. The Government will pave the way for a more
flexible and permanent arrangement that will allow more people to be in
employment.
The Government would like to see more flexible welfare-to-work schemes,
and will therefore implement a number of goal-oriented measures in respect
of groups that today have difficulty in gaining a permanent foothold in
the labour market:
• Permanent wage supplements for people with a reduced and
variable capacity for work
The Government wishes to introduce a five-year wage subsidy trial with
a view to permanent integration into ordinary working life. The target
group for this measure is occupationally handicapped job seekers with a
reduced and variable capacity for work owing to chronic muscular and
skeletal ailments and psychiatric illness, with limited prospects of
permanent improvement.
• Lower degree of occupational disability as a condition for
receiving invalidity pensions
The Government wishes to initiate a three-year trial for granting
invalidity pensions with a degree of occupational disability as low 30
per cent disability. Initially, this trial will apply for a limited
period of three years and include a few counties. The objective is to
give a greater number of people the opportunity to use more of their
capacity for work while at the same time allowing them to enjoy
financial security in relation to their reduced capacity for work.
With a background in, among other things, the sharp rise in the number
of new occupationally handicapped people in recent years, the Government
does not wish to see a general liberalisation of the medical conditions in
the invalidity pension scheme.
• Network project for the reactivation of recipients of
invalidity pensions
The objective is that people who are occupationally handicapped shall
support and motivate one another to be self-sufficient through their own
work. The Government wishes to implement trials involving such
networking projects/self-help groups in three–four counties.
• Municipal responsibility for occupational programmes for
long-term recipients of social welfare benefits
The Government wishes to implement trials in which selected
municipalities will be given overall responsibility for securing all
forms of active help to recipients of social welfare benefits. The
purpose of this trial is to provide a closer link between income
security and motivational schemes in order to assist more people into
employment. Selected municipalities will be given responsibility for
securing all forms for active assistance to recipients of social welfare
benefits who require help in finding employment. It is a requirement
that the terms and conditions for distributing social welfare benefits
may be used actively in this trial.
• Introductory benefits for immigrants
In order to improve immigrants’ ties with the labour market, it is
necessary to strengthen the link between public benefits and
participation in qualifying programmes for the labour force. The
Government therefore wishes to introduce a special form of benefit that
will be paid out to this group by the municipalities as financial
compensation for participation in an agreed qualifying programme. The
Government will appoint a committee to draft a bill regarding the
provision of benefits to immigrants who have recently arrived in Norway.
• Public committee to investigate sickness absenteeism and
access to disability pensions
In order to slow down access to illness-related benefits, and
preferably reverse this trend, the Government has appointed a
broad-based public committee to investigate, among other things, the
causes of the increase in sickness absenteeism and access to disability
pensions. The committee will present its recommendations by June 2000.
In the Rehabilitation White paper (White paper no. 21 (1998-99)),
importance is attached to the municipality’s responsibility for
rehabilitation of the health of the individual. In the Plan of Action for
Handicapped People (White paper no. 8 (1998-99)), the Government has paved
the way for the introduction of specific measures enabling more
handicapped people to enter the labour force.
In the opinion of the Government, it is also important to focus on
educational measures, so that more people may qualify for employment. The
Government proposes:
• Improved opportunities for vocational education for single
parents
The Government wishes to relax the education requirement for entitlement
to educational benefits in the National Insurance scheme, to give more
single parents the opportunity to secure for themselves adequate
vocational skills beyond upper secondary school.
• Improved upper secondary training for handicapped youths
The Government wishes to pave the way for a smoother transition for
handicapped youth to participation in the workforce and to paid employment
after upper secondary education. This was also discussed in White paper
no. 32 (1998-99). The Government will therefore make sure that an overall
plan is drawn up for handicapped youths who require assistance from
several authorities, with a view to giving them coordinated, planned
funding for training/rehabilitation.
• Follow-up of the Skill Reform
The long-term unemployed and people who have difficulty in achieving
permanent ties with the labour market often have a low level of education,
and often end up permanently isolated from the workforce long before they
have reached ordinary pensionable age. The Government wishes to follow up
the Skill Reform (White paper no. 42 (1997-98)), focusing in particular on
adult people with a low level of education. The Government wishes to
submit a bill concerning the right to free basic education and the duty of
the county municipality to provide an upper secondary education to all
adults who require one.
4.3 More goal-oriented social and health services
The Government wishes to secure an equal range of high-quality
public services for all individuals, independent of their residence,
age, income and social background.
Social services
The overriding objective of the social services is to promote financial
and social security, improve living standards for disadvantaged
individuals, to help to create increased equal worth and equality, and to
prevent social problems. One objective is to divert the present focus from
the passive transfer of income to active measures aimed at providing help
for self-help.
In order to improve the quality of the social services, the Government
will, among other things:
• Increase the competence and quality of the social services
In following the plan of action «Knowledge and Bridge-building»
(1998-2001), the Government wishes to implement measures intended to
strengthen skills in the social services, to reduce random discrimination,
to make the social services more user-friendly and accessible and to
strengthen its work with people with complex problems.
• Improve the quality of measures for substance abusers
The Government wishes to try out new, more caring measures for substance
abusers who are unable to avail themselves of other options, and to
encourage trials involving new aftercare initiatives. In addition, it is
important to assess measures that may help to reduce injuries and deaths
among the most serious cases of substance abuse. The Government will also
strengthen general preventive measures against substance abuse, among
other things in connection with the Plan of Action for Reduced Substance
Use (1998-2000).
Health services
A well-developed health service with a particular focus on preventive
measures and initiatives aimed at promoting health is necessary in order
to achieve a good general state of health among the population and is
important in relation to the goal of equal distribution of living
standards. The Government wishes to secure an equal range of high-quality
health services for all.
• Improved financial situation for patients in psychiatric
hospitals
The Government wishes to relax the condition that stays in psychiatric
hospitals of more than five months lead to a reduction in disability
pension from the second calendar month. The Government proposes that this
benefit should only be reduced if the stay lasts for more than one year.
The Government also wishes to increase the maximum income allowance, to
bring this in line with the amount that pensioners in municipal
institutions are allowed to retain.
• Better health services for handicapped people
The Government is aiming to raise the living standards of those
handicapped people who currently have the lowest living standards. This
will be done by, among other things, testing measures designed to improve
the monitoring of handicapped people who themselves do not wish to visit
the health service, and through development work intended to improve
accessibility to health services.
The Government wishes to establish a scheme whereby patients will be
assigned a regular primary doctor from the year 2001. This scheme is
designed to help provide better access to and distribution of high-quality
medical services. The scheme will improve health services,
particularly for people with long-term and chronic illnesses. A regular
primary doctor will also provide better options for people with complex
needs. The Escalation Plan for Mental Health 1999-2006, which the
Government presented in the spring of 1998, will in coming years lead to a
considerable escalation of services available to people suffering from
psychiatric illnesses.
In late1999/early 2000, the Government will submit a White paper
concerning the basic values governing the health service. The primary
focus of this report will be how the health service can assist in securing
an equal range of high-quality services for everyone in Norway in the
future.
Nursing and care services
The Government’s overriding objective for the nursing and care
services is to secure essential services for each individual in accordance
with his/her needs, to improve the range and quality of the services,
provide more flexible and equal services for all people and to allow
greater room for user-participation and personal freedom of choice.
The municipal nursing and care services shall secure the needs for
nursing and care services for elderly and handicapped people, including
mentally handicapped people and people with psychiatric problems.
Recruiting staff with the correct type of skills, improving the efficiency
of resource utilisation and the quality of the services offered are key
areas of focus in this respect. This shall be followed up in the Action
Plan for Health and Social Service Personnel (1998-2001).
In connection with the follow-up of White paper no. 50 (1996-1997):
Action Plan for Caring for the Elderly, the comprehensive expansion of
nursing home places and strengthening of the home-help services for
elderly and handicapped people in the municipalities has been planned.
The Government has submitted a Plan of Action for Handicapped People
1998-2000 (White paper no. 8 (1998-99)) which deals with objectives,
strategies and measures designed to improve conditions for people with
handicaps. Among other things, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs
will present a bill concerning user-controlled personal assistance. The
intention is that this service will be offered by municipalities in the
same way as other forms of practical help and support.
User charges have to some extent been introduced for a variety of public
services, within such areas as the health service, and nursing and care
sectors. The Government has begun the process of reviewing the use of user
charges in order to find schemes that may shield chronic patients in a
better manner.
The Government will present a White paper «Care 2000» in
late 1999/early 2000 which will discuss important choices regarding both
the underlying values of care work and its direction, in respect of
services, skills, recruitment and user participation.
4.4 A more socially-oriented housing policy
The overriding objective of this Government’s housing policy is
to create sound and inexpensive housing in a good living environment. In
addition, the Government also aims to support the notion that individuals
may own their own dwellings, alone or together with others, and to assist
in creating a differentiated rental market in accordance with the needs of
the population. It is the Government’s objective that the
distribution of housing shall be better than that provided by the
distribution of assets and income alone. It is an important objective for
the Government that everyone shall have the opportunity to obtain for
himself or herself a dwelling that is large enough and is functional and
healthy.
• Better housing support for disadvantaged families with
children
The Government is committed to making further improvements to the housing
support scheme for families with children. Initially, the Government will
adapt the housing support scheme to better suit the challenges in urban
areas by, among other things, raising the upper limit for housing expenses
in Norway’s four largest cities.
• Better housing support for single individuals receiving
social welfare benefits
The Government will also consider giving more single people the right to
housing support. In particular, this will help single recipients of social
welfare benefits. The Government will investigate more closely the
connection between housing support and social welfare, and the
consequences an extension of the central government housing support
schemes may have for social welfare payments.
• Better housing support for young disabled people
The Government aims to improve the housing support scheme for young
disabled people, by raising the upper limit for housing expenses in Norway’s
four largest cities.
• Special measures for the homeless
The Government wishes to assign priority to measures designed to prevent
homelessness and measures aimed at helping the homeless. As part of this
process, the largest cities in Norway will be invited to take part in the
development work with a view to offering the homeless a more coordinated
service. In order to strengthen initiatives directed at the homeless, the
Government will:
- Increase the amount of subsidies available from the State Housing Bank
for use by municipalities in their work with people with special
disadvantages in the housing market.
- Attach increased importance to the development of alternatives to the
use of hostels.
- Implement trials involving multi-occupied houses for the homeless, and
to view this in connection with the escalation plan for mental health.
- Develop good models for professional monitoring of the individual user
and systems for ensuring the quality of operations at the hostels.
- Strengthen the focus on tailored daytime activity measures for people
with limited opportunities to obtain their own dwellings, and to
strengthen cooperation between various parts of the social care service in
this area.
The Government wishes to provide a more comprehensive and
better-organised sheltered housing service for disadvantaged people. To
this end, the Government will follow up White paper no. 49 (1997-98)
«Concerning the Establishment of Dwellings for Young People and
Disadvantaged Individuals». The Government will also implement a
broad-based public investigation on housing policy and follow this up with
a White paper.
4.5 A more finely-meshed safety net
Transfers in the welfare system primarily have a good equalizing effect,
and constitute a large part of the income of groups with low incomes.
Social security
Social security provides financial security by securing income and
compensating for special expenses in the event of unemployment, pregnancy
and birth, for single parents, and in case of illness and injury, old age
and death. Social security also contributes to the redistribution of
income and help for self-help.
The increase in the basic amount will raise the income of pensioners who
receive only the basic pension from the National Insurance by a percentage
similar to that of the projected wage increase for the working population.
This is in keeping with those principles and objectives that otherwise
form the basis of the income policy programme.
The Government assumes that social security shall continue to be
the key element in the total system of pensions and benefits, because it
provides security for the individual and helps to equalize incomes in
society. The Government wishes to retain the main features of the public
pensions system.
Increased minimum pension 1998
At the Government’s suggestion, the minimum national insurance
pension was increased by NOK 12,000 per year from 1 May 1998. This
increase has raised the basic security of the national insurance
considerably, and has improved the incomes of a large group of pensioners
with relatively low incomes. A total of 330,000 people who receive only
the basic pension have boosted their incomes to varying degrees as a
result of this measure. The increase in income has been greatest for those
pensioners with the lowest incomes. For the 20 per cent of pensioners with
the lowest incomes and for single pensioners in particular, this has meant
a great increase in income. This is particularly true of women. The
increase in the minimum pension is thus a goal-oriented and good measure.
Even though the main features of the social security and benefits
schemes are firmly in place, there is a need for improved security for the
incomes of some groups.
• Increase the means-tested child allowance in the national
insurance pension
A number of disabled individuals, particularly younger people receiving
disability pensions with responsibility for children, have financial
problems and receive social welfare benefits over long periods of time in
addition to their pension. The Government therefore wishes to increase the
means-tested child allowance paid to old-age pensioners and people
receiving disability benefits with low incomes and responsibility for
raising children.
• Improved payments for women in part-time employment in the
event of an application for disability pension
Married and cohabiting people who work part time today receive very
little in relation to their previous income when they apply for a
disability pension, This is because they are assessed both in relation to
their occupational life and against the work they perform in the home. The
Government wishes to change this scheme, and would like to disregard the
assessment of work in the home when granting disability pensions to women
in part-time employment.
• Benefits of limited duration for married women who have cared
for family members
Married women who have for many years performed the heavy duty of caring
for sick members of their family may encounter difficulties when the
recipient of the care dies or moves, since they have few ties with the
labour force. Today these women fall outside the scope of those benefit
schemes that allow the recipient a period of adjustment after the period
of care has ended. The Government therefore wishes to introduce a benefit
scheme of limited duration for this group, similar to the scheme in place
for single parents.
• Better National Insurance survivor benefits for divorced
survivors
The Government wishes to improve the financial situation of elderly
divorced women whose divorced spouse dies more than five years after the
divorce. If the spouse dies before five years have passed, the survivor is
entitled to transitional benefits. This should also apply after long
marriages, where the survivor has been financially dependent on
contributions from the deceased.
• Improved assistance benefits for single parents with sick or
handicapped children
Single parents with children who suffer from a protracted illness or who
are handicapped today have their assistance benefits reduced if they also
receive supplementary child benefit from the National Insurance. The
Government wishes to amend this, so that single parents receiving
supplementary child benefit can also receive assistance benefits.
The benefit schemes for single parents were changed significantly in
1998, among other things in the form of shorter benefit periods, higher
benefits and a greater requirement regarding occupational activity. The
Government will evaluate possible changes in the duration of transitional
benefits in connection with re-evaluation of the reform in the year 2001.
• Improved basic benefit when using a vehicle financed by the
National Insurance
It often emerges that the basic benefit that handicapped people are
entitled to receive when they have a vehicle financed by the National
Insurance is not sufficient to cover the vehicle’s actual running
expenses. The Government wishes to provide better coverage of motor
vehicle expenses through a more goal-oriented system of basic benefits.
Social welfare benefits etc.
The Government is committed to the fact that social welfare
benefits shall continue to be a subsidiary scheme under the aegis of the
manipulates, and that this system is based on assessments of the
individual.
The Government nevertheless wishes to make certain changes to the social
welfare benefits scheme, in order to create greater equality and a fairer
scheme:
• A stronger normalization of social welfare benefits
The Government wishes to introduce recommended central government norms
for the granting of social welfare. Taking the municipal right of
self-determination into consideration, and because local adjustments often
represent good solutions, this means that the central government norms
should be recommended, and not binding.
When granting benefits, the Government will encourage greater use of
conditions, in order to encourage the recipient of social welfare benefits
to seek employment.
• Social welfare and family allowance
According to the principles that form the basis of social welfare
payments, family allowance counts as income when assessing the need for
assistance among families with children. Practices differ, however, from
municipality to municipality. The Government recommends that
municipalities treat family allowance payments as part of the income basis
when providing social welfare. The Government recommends that expenses
towards subsistence for children and expenses that follow from the duty to
care for children be taken into account when designing the recommended
norms.
• Social welfare and cash payments to families with children
The objective of providing cash payments for families with small children
is to give the parents of small children an improved financial position so
that they have more time to care for their own children and to provide
greater choice when it comes to care solutions. In order to make this
freedom of choice genuine, the Government recommends to the municipalities
that cash payments for families with small children shall be deducted from
the income base when assessing social welfare benefits. The scheme for
payment of cash payments to families with small children will be reviewed.
The Government wishes to see the improved safeguarding of income for
people who are permanent recipients of social welfare benefits.
• Improved support for people who have spent only a short
period of time in Norway
The Government wishes to introduce a new, supplementary support scheme
for people who have not lived in Norway for the required period or have
not earned the right to a pension in Norway. This scheme shall apply to
people who live in Norway and who meet the conditions for receiving
long-term benefits under the National Insurance scheme (with the exception
of the residency requirement). The scheme would provide means-tested
benefits with a view to securing a total income equivalent to the minimum
pension from the National Insurance scheme, and would be administered by
the social security offices.
• Guaranteed minimum income
The Government will appoint a committee to investigate the issue of a
guaranteed minimum income. The committee’s report shall be linked to
the social schemes that are currently in place and to the proposal in the
Equalization Report concerning the normalisation of social welfare, and,
on this basis, give consideration to improved coordination and
simplification of the benefits scheme.
4.6 A simpler, more user-oriented and better coordinated social care
scheme
The public assistance scheme is chiefly organised in accordance with the
sector principle. Many public agencies are responsible for various aspects
of people’s living standards, e.g. the social security agency, the
labour market agency, the health service, social services and the
follow-up service for upper secondary schools. Complex problems require
coordination and collaboration. An administration that is inaccessible and
lacks coordination will particularly affect the weakest members of
society, i.e. users with complex problems and needs.
The Government has implemented a number of measures to make the public
assistance scheme simpler and more user-oriented in order to help groups
that have problems in relation to the benefits schemes. Important
initiatives include improved coordination between public services and a
better user service. User-participation involves both a right and a duty
for the user. To a greater degree than is the case today, the Government
wishes to focus on the user of public services. Information and service
are two key concepts in this context. It shall be easier for users to know
where to go to get help.
Among other things, the Government wishes to:
- Implement initiatives with user offices
- Improve the level of service available to users by means of public
service offices
- Introduce service guarantees in all public agencies
- Continue to focus on the development and strengthening of voluntary
agencies
contents
This page was last updated November 18, 1999 by
the editors
