Nav director rejects claims that welfare system is out of control

A Nav caseworker told Dagbladet that Norway’s social assistance system was out of control. Welfare director Nina Tangnæs Grønvold rejects that description but acknowledges that the system must be debated.

The caseworker said people would be outraged if they knew how much some recipients received without working. The employee cited a family left with more than 50,000 kroner a month after Nav had paid its rent and electricity bills, as well as recipients who repeatedly applied for emergency assistance.

“Many people may feel frustrated in this work,” Grønvold told Dagbladet.

As welfare director, Grønvold is responsible for Nav’s welfare services, including social assistance and emergency aid, and for following up the country’s approximately 250 Nav offices. Her directorate sets the guidelines caseworkers follow and advises politicians on the regulations.

Grønvold said she had followed the debate during her holiday and welcomed the attention on Nav and public trust in the organisation.

“There has been a lot to do recently, including in the middle of the summer holiday,” she said.

Grønvold said she had great respect for employees and their experience, but did not recognise the claim that the frustration described by the caseworker affected Nav offices across the country on a daily basis.

“We often hear that many people empathise with those who are struggling and may feel they are not receiving enough help, or help quickly enough. But I do not experience a major focus on what is being described here,” she said.

At the same time, she said the issue was known and that no one benefited from employees staying silent about their experiences.

“We must have an open environment for sharing experience and proposing improvements,” she said.

Rejects picture of system without control

The central criticism was that the system relies too heavily on trust and that Nav employees lack the tools to respond when recipients spend money on things caseworkers consider unnecessary.

Grønvold said the picture was more nuanced.

“It is very important for Nav that we manage public funds in a safe and fair way. We must help vulnerable people in a trusting manner while also maintaining sufficiently strict controls and a system that can be reviewed,” she said.

She acknowledged that some cases could involve benefits perceived as “unfairly generous”.

“It is our responsibility to conduct such thorough case processing and assessment that we maintain confidence that we are managing public funds correctly and in line with their purpose,” she said.

Grønvold would not comment on the individual case involving the family whose housing and electricity costs reportedly exceeded 20,000 kroner while the family had more than 50,000 kroner left each month. She said the principle was that each case must be assessed individually and concretely.

“There is a strong focus on work always being financially worthwhile. In every case, we must make individual and concrete assessments of the recipient’s actual needs and situation, as well as a separate assessment of each child in the family,” she said.

Emergency aid and limited insight

The caseworker’s criticism also focused on the fact that employees cannot see what Nav clients spend their money on. The employee argued that this made it impossible to check whether recipients needed further assistance and described the emergency aid system as “almost limitless” because it could not be verified.

Grønvold said that description was inaccurate.

“You do not have a right to receive the money. You have a right to have your need assessed urgently,” she said.

To receive emergency aid, applicants must have an acute financial problem and show that they cannot resolve it themselves. When applications are repeated, follow-up becomes more intensive.

“Typically, the case processing will become increasingly thorough. It involves investigations and control on the one hand, and enabling the person to earn an income themselves on the other,” Grønvold said.