Activity grant or development allowance when you participate in a Swedish Public Employment Service programme
When you participate in a Swedish Public Employment Service programme, you may qualify for an activity grant or a development allowance. This is the case whether you are a jobseeker, student or someone starting your own business. Below, there is information about: applying; how much money you receive; and, the rules when you are ill or absent.
There are eight different Swedish Public Employment Service programmes that may qualify you for an activity grant or a development allowance:
- labour market training,
- work experience,
- preparation activities,
- the job and development programme,
- job guarantee for young people,
- project with labour market focus,
- support to start up a business,
- validation.
There is also an introduction programme for newly arrived immigrants. This may qualify you for an introduction benefit.
More information about the programmes is available on the Swedish Public Employment Service’s website.
Arbetsförmedlingen (arbetsformedlingen.se)
External link, opens in new window.
How do I apply?
Apply in the month after participating
You apply for money “in arrears”. In other words, you apply in the month after you participated in your programme. For example, if you participated in a programme in September, you apply for money in October. A blue button appears on My pages (Mina sidor) when you can apply.
Apply in time
There are two important things to remember when applying:
- Apply between the 1st and the 7th of the month. You then receive the money on the 26th of the same month.
You can apply later, but you then have to wait for the money until the 26th of the next month. - Apply no later than the last day of the month after you participated in your programme. If you apply too late, you may not receive any money at all.
Apply on My pages (Mina sidor)
If you do not have a bank ID, or if you are applying after the deadline, you must submit the application form 7114 application for activity grant, development allowance and introduction benefit.
Disbursement
Your money is normally paid on the 26th of the month. As soon as we have processed your application, you can see your provisional payment on My pages (Mina sidor). Your actual payment can be seen one banking day before the money arrives. You can choose to receive an SMS message about this.
If you fall ill
On the first day you are ill, notify the Swedish Public Employment Service. You can then keep your money.
Notifying absence when you are ill (arbetsformedlingen.se) External link, opens in new window.
When you apply for money, enter which days you participated in your programme and which days you were ill. Your first day of illness is a qualifying day for which there is no money. For the time you are absent owing to illness, you can then keep your money.
Ill longer than seven days
To keep your money if you are ill for more than seven days, you or your doctor must submit a medical certificate to the Swedish Public Employment Service. Tell your doctor that you are participating in a programme and ask him/her to complete the Swedish Public Employment Service’s medical certificate for participants in labour market policy programmes.
If you have to take care of your child (VAB)
You can keep your money if you cannot participate in your programme because one or more of your children are ill and you have to take care of them. If this happens, always notify the Swedish Public Employment Service.
When you apply for money, enter which days you participated in your programme and which days you were absent to take care of your child.
Other absence from your programme
You can keep your programme money in certain other circumstances (see below). In your application, enter which days you were absent and whether this was owing to a circumstance approved by the Swedish Public Employment Service.
- Temporary interruption in your job and development programme. For temporary interruption, you can receive money for no more than 20 days in a twelve-month period.
- Temporary interruption in a training programme or similar in summer. June – August, you can receive money for no more than 10 days’ interruption.
For participants in a job and development programme, other temporary interruptions are also possible (see below). In total, you can receive money for 30 days of temporary interruption in a 12-month period.
- Private matter. Examples include moving house or attending a funeral. Absence may be no more than three days.
- Care of someone who is close to you and seriously ill. If a family member or a near relation is seriously ill and may be near to death.
Incomes that affect money from Försäkringskassan
If you work and receive pay
If you work and receive pay for a day when you are also participating in a programme, your programme money has to be reduced. Thus, to receive the right money, it is important that, in your application, you enter how much you earned and how long you worked. This is also the case if you worked any evening or night after a programme day.
- If your programme is full-time, your money is reduced by exactly how much you received in pay. If your pay is higher than the programme money, you receive no money for the day(s) in question.
- If your programme is part-time, your money is reduced if your working hours together with your programme are more than full-time.
Inconvenient working hours supplement and commission are also regarded as paid work.
Other incomes that can reduce programme money
So that you receive the right money, you may have to inform Försäkringskassan if you have other incomes. Click the types of income below to read more about the rules for each one.
Försäkringskassan checks that you receive the right compensation
Before making payment, we sometimes check your application details to ensure that you are receiving the right money. If we find that something has gone wrong, we may also check earlier applications.
If you discover that you have received too much money, you can report this via My pages (Mina sidor) or by telephoning 0771 524 524.
If you receive too much money, you may have to repay it. If you submit incorrect details on purpose and receive money to which you are not entitled, we can report this to the police. Anyone submitting incorrect details to receive more money can be sentenced to fines or imprisonment.
