Swedish Code of Statutes SFS 1993:387

Act concerning Support and Service
for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments
passed on 27 May 1993.

In accordance with a decision by Parliament, the following is ordained.

Introductory provisions

1. who are mentally retarded, are autistic or have a condition resembling autism,
2. who have a considerable and permanent, intellectual functional impairment after brain damage when an adult, the impairment being caused by external force or a physical illness, or
3. who have some other lasting physical or mental functional impairments which are manifestly not due to normal aging, if these impairments are major ones and cause considerable difficulties in daily life and, consequently, an extensive need for support and service.

Section 2. Unless agreed otherwise pursuant to Section 17, each county council shall be responsible for measures pursuant to Section 9, first paragraph, subsection 1.

Unless agreed otherwise pursuant to Section 17, each municipality shall be responsible for measures pursuant to Section 9, first paragraph, subsections 2-10.

Section 3. What is prescribed for county councils in this Act also applies to municipalities that are not included in any county council.

Section 4. This Act does not constitute any infringement of the rights which a private individual may have by virtue of any other Act.

1) This is a translation of "Lag om stöd och service till vissa funktionshindrade".

2) Government Bill 1992/93:159.

The objectives and general orientation of the activities

Section 5. The activities pursuant to this Act shall promote equality in living conditions and full participation in the life of the community for those referred to in Section 1. The objective shall be for it to be possible for the private individual concerned to live as others do.

Section 6. The activities pursuant to this Act shall be conducted in co-operation with other public bodies and authorities. The activities concerned shall be based on respect for an individual's right to self-determination and privacy. As far as possible, it shall be ensured that the private individual concerned shall be allowed to influence the measures provided and to participate himself in what is decided.

For the activities pursuant to this Act, there shall be the personnel needed to enable good support and good service and care to be given.

Entitlement to measures

The measures shall ensure that a private individual shall have good living conditions. The measures shall be lasting and co-ordinated. They shall be adapted to the individual needs of the recipient and be framed in such a way that they are easily accessible for those who need them and enhance the ability of the latter to live an independent life.

Section 8. Only if he so requests, shall a private individual be provided with the measures pursuant to this Act. If the individual concerned is under the age of 15 or manifestly lacks the ability to form an opinion on the matter, a person having custody, a personal representative, legal guardian or trustee may request the measures on his behalf.

Measures for special support and special service

1. advice and other personal support that requires special knowledge about problems and conditions governing the life of a person with major and permanent functional impairments,
2. help from a personal assistant or financial support for reasonable costs for such help to the extent that the need for financial support is not covered by assistance benefit pursuant to the Assistance Benefit Act (1993:389),
3. escort service,
4. help from a personal contact,
5. relief service in the home,
6. short stay away from the home,
7. short period of supervision for schoolchildren over the age of 12 outside their own home in conjunction with the school day and during the holidays,
8. arrangements for living in a family home or in residential arrangements with special service for children and young people who need to live away from their parental home,
9. residential arrangements with special service for adults or some other specially adapted residential arrangements for adults,
10. daily activities for people of a working age who have no gainful employment nor are doing a training.

Measures pursuant to the first paragraph, subsection 2, do not relate to the period after the person entitled to the measures has reached the age of 65.

Care is also included in the measures pursuant to the first paragraph, subsections 5-8 and 10, as well as in the measure "residential arrangements with special service for adults". Recreational and cultural activities are also included in the measures "residential arrangements with special service for children and young people" and also in "housing with special service for adults".

Section 10. In conjunction with the granting of a measure pursuant to this Act, the person concerned may request that an individual plan, with approved and planned measures, is drawn up in consultation with him. Steps taken by others than the municipality or county council shall also be entered in the plan. The plan shall continually, and at least once a year, be reviewed.

The county council and municipalities shall keep one another informed of plans that have been drawn up.

Section 11 If anyone, as a consequence of infirmity due to old age, morbidity, the prolonged misuse of addictive substances, or for some other similar reasons, is not capable of dealing with the financial support provided by a municipality, such is referred to in Section 9, first paragraph, subsection 2, the municipality may decide that the benefit provided shall be paid to someone else to be used to defray the cost of personal assistance to the person entitled to support.

Section 12. The municipality may decide that the financial support granted by the municipality pursuant to Section 9, first paragraph, subsection 2, is to be paid back if the person having received the support or his deputy, by supplying erroneous particulars or in some other way, has caused the financial support to be given incorrectly or in excess. The same is true if the financial support has otherwise been supplied incorrectly or in excess and if the person who has received the support or his deputy should in good reason have realized this .

Section 13. The Government, or the authority the Government decides - in regard to activities pursuant to Section 9, first paragraph, subsections 6-10 - may issue regulations for the protection of the life of an individual, his personal safety or health.

Special duties for a municipality

Section 15. The duties of a municipality include

1. continually following up to ascertain who is covered by the Act and seeing what is their need for support and service,
2. doing what it can to ensure that persons, such as are referred to in Section 1, have their needs satisfied,
3. furnishing information regarding objectives and means relevant to the activities in accordance with this Act,
4. helping to see that persons such as are referred to in Section 1 have access to work or study facilities,
5. doing what it can to ensure that public recreational and cultural amenities become accessible to persons such as are referred to in Section 1,
6. notifying the chief guardian, on the one hand, when a person covered by Section 1 can be presumed to need a legal guardian, trustee or personal representative and, on the other, when the appointment of a guardian, trustee or personal representative ought to be terminated, and
7. collaborating with organizations that represent people with extensive functional impairments.

Common provisions concerning the responsibility of county councils and municipalities

Section 16. A municipality is responsible pursuant to this Act vis-à-vis those who reside in that municipality.

If a person such as is referred to in Section 1 intends to go to live in a certain municipality, the latter, when applied to, shall give advance notice regarding entitlement to measures on the part of the municipality pursuant to Section 9. When an application for advance notice is being considered, the provisions of this Act shall apply. The municipality shall, without delay, plan and prepare measures to which the advance notice entitles a private individual if he goes to live in the municipality. The advance notice remains valid for six months, counted from the date when the measures become available for the person concerned.

If a need for measures pursuant to this Act emerges during a person's temporary stay in a municipality, the latter shall give the support and the assistance that are needed immediately.

As regards a county council's obligations, what is stated in this section concerning a municipality applies instead to a county council.

Section 17. A county council or a municipality may, though still retaining responsibility, conclude an agreement with some other person or body regarding the provision of measures pursuant to this Act.

A county council and a municipality which is part of a county council may enter into an agreement to the effect that responsibility for one or several functions pursuant to this Act may be transferred from the county council to the municipality or from the municipality to the county council. If such a transfer takes place, the rules in this Act regarding a county council or municipality apply to the person or body to whom the duty has been transferred.

If a county council and a municipality have concluded an agreement in accordance with the second paragraph, the transferor may make a financial contribution to the recipient of an amount that is warranted by the agreement. If a transfer has been made from a county council to all the municipalities included in the county council, the municipalities may make a financial contribution to each other if this is needed in order to equalize the cost between the municipalities.

Charges and related matters

Section 19. From those who have a national pension in the form of a whole disability pension or a whole old age pension or have some other income of an equivalent amount, reasonable charges for residential arrangements, recreational and cultural activities may be imposed in accordance with the principles decided by the municipality concerned. The charges may, however, not exceed the actual costs incurred by the municipality. The latter shall ensure that a private individual may retain sufficient funds for his personal needs.

Section 20. If anyone under the age of 18 is cared for in a home other than his own by virtue of this Act, his parents are liable to contribute to a reasonable degree to the municipality's costs for this care. The municipality may in such a case receive a maintenance allowance in respect of the child concerned.

Section 21. In cases other than those indicated in Sections 18-20, charges or reimbursement for costs may not be requested for measures pursuant to this Act.

Committees

Private activities

Private activities shall be supervised by the committee or committees which are referred to in Section 22 in the municipality where the activities are carried out. If the responsibility for the duties is transferred to the county council pursuant to Section 17, second paragraph, the activities shall instead be supervised by the corresponding county council committee. The committee has the right to inspect the activities undertaken.

Section 24. If there is anything seriously unsatisfactory in a private activity such as is referred to in Section 23, the county administrative board shall issue an order to the effect that the person or body conducting the activity shall rectify what is unsatisfactory.

If the county administrative board's order is not complied with, the board may revoke the licence.

Supervision and related matters

Section 26. A county administrative board supervises in its county the activities pursuant to this Act and may in the process inspect the activities. A county administrative board shall also in the county

1. provide information and advice to the general public on matters relating to the activities concerned,
2. advise the municipalities in their activities, and
3. promote collaboration in planning between the municipalities, the county councils and other official bodies.

Appeals

1. measures for a private individual pursuant to Section 9,
2. payment to someone else pursuant to Section 11,
3. repayment pursuant to Section 12,
4. advance notice on entitlement to measures pursuant to Section 16, second paragraph,
5. a licence for private activities pursuant to Section 23, or
6. an order or the revoking of a licence pursuant to Section 24. A decision on questions concerning the first paragraph applies immediately. A county administrative court or an administrative court of appeal may however order that its decision shall not apply until the decision has gained legal force.

Penalties

Confidentiality

Rules regarding the entering into force of this Act are issued in the Act (1993:388) regarding the Introduction of the Act (1993:387) concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments.

On behalf of the Government

The Assistance Benefit Act passed on 27 May 1993.

Introductory provisions

Section 2. Questions concerning assistance benefit are dealt with by the National Social Insurance Board and the social insurance offices.

Decisions concerning assistance benefit are made by the social insurance office where the applicant is registered or would have been registered if he had fulfilled the age condition in Chapter 1, Section 4, in the Social Insurance Act (1962:381).

Assistance benefit

• has not reached the age of 65, and
• needs personal assistance for his daily life during an average of more than 20 hours a week.

Personal assistance has in this Act the same meaning as in Section 9, first paragraph, subsection 2, in the Act (1993:387) concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments.

Section 4. Assistance benefit is not to be provided for the time when the functionally impaired person

1. is cared for in an institution which is owned by the central government, a municipality or a county council,
2. is cared for in an institution which is funded by grants from the central government, a municipality or a county council, or
3. lives in a group home.

Applications, decisions and related matters

If anyone has applied to a municipality for help by a personal assistant or financial support for such assistance pursuant to the Act (1993:387) concerning Support and Service for Persons with Functional Impairments, the municipality - if the person concerned can be presumed to be entitled to assistance benefit - shall notify this to the social insurance office which is referred to in Section 2, second paragraph. In such a case, the insurance office shall consider the question of assistance benefit even without an application.

Assistance benefit may not be provided for longer than three months before the month when the application or notification was made.

Section 6. Assistance benefit shall be granted for a certain number of hours a week, when the person is in need of personal assistance in his daily life ("approved assistance hours").

The government or the authority which the government decides issues additional rules on the calculation of assistance benefit.

Section 7. The entitlement of a person to assistance benefit who receives such benefit shall be reviewed after the passing of two years since the question of entitlement to benefit was most recently considered and with essentially changed circumstances.

A change in the assistance benefit in the event of essentially altered circumstances shall apply from the beginning of the month when the reason for the alteration occurred.

Section 8. If it cannot be decided without a substantial delay whether a person is entitled to assistance benefit but there are probable grounds for such entitlement, the social insurance office shall decide that a reasonable amount of benefit shall be paid if this is of essential importance for the person who is functionally impaired. The same holds good if it is evident that a person is entitled to assistance benefit but that the amount of benefit cannot be decided until after a substantial delay. Special conditions for such benefit may be laid down.

If it is decided later that assistance benefit is not to be granted or that a smaller sum shall be granted, the person entitled to benefit is not liable to pay back the benefit paid in cases other than those referred to in Section 16.

Section 9. Anyone in receipt of assistance benefit, if his circumstances change in such a way that entitlement to the benefit is affected, shall immediately notify the social insurance office of this change.

If the person in receipt of assistance benefit has a legal representative by virtue of the Code of Parenthood and Guardianship, the legal guardian is liable to make this notification instead.

Payment

Section 11. If a municipality provides the person entitled to assistance with help by a personal assistant, the social insurance office may decide that the assistance benefit shall be paid to the municipality to the extent that the benefit corresponds to the municipality's charge for assistance.

Section 12. If as a consequence of infirmity due to old age, morbidity, the prolonged abuse of addictive substances or for some other similar reason, the person entitled to benefit is not capable of dealing with the assistance benefit himself, the social insurance office may decide that the benefit shall be paid to a municipal authority or to some other person to be used to defray the cost of personal assistance to the person entitled to benefit.

Routines, etc.

Section 14. The municipality in which the person who applies for, or receives, assistance benefit is resident shall, if this is necessary, be questioned about the matter pursuant to this Act.

Section 15. The municipality in which the person concerned lives shall be notified of a decision relating to assistance benefit and of a decision pursuant to Sections 11 and 12.

Repayment

When a payment is made later to someone who shall pay back the benefit pursuant to the first paragraph, the social insurance office may keep back a reasonable sum as a deduction for what has been given in excess.

Appeals and related matters

The review of such a decision by a social insurance office that has been carried out by an official in regard to a matter which relates to the obligation to pay back assistance benefit shall be undertaken by a social insurance committee if the sum that has been paid exceeds 10% of what is known as the official "base amount" pursuant to Chapter 1, Section 6, in the Social Insurance Act.

A decision on a matter relating to assistance benefit shall apply immediately unless something else is indicated in the decision.

Other provisions

Chapter 18, Section 2, regarding supervision by the National Insurance Board,
Chapter 20, Section 5, regarding limitation of time,
Chapter 20, Section 6, regarding prohibition of distraint and of transfer,
Chapter 20, Sections 8 and 9 regarding the liability to make returns.

This Act enters into force on 1 January 1994.

On behalf of the Government

BO KÖNBERG
BENGT WESTERBERG
(Ministry of Health and Social Affairs)