Sickness benefit
Sickness benefit is money you can receive if you are unable to work or take a job due to illness.
Temporary rules due to the corona virus
Some rules for compensations from Försäkringskassan have been temporarily amended due to the coronavirus. Therefore, please update yourself on the rules on this page:
Am I eligible for sickness benefit?
You are eligible for sickness benefit if you:
- are unable to work during your regular working hours due to illness
- lose income
- are insured in Sweden.
You can receive
25, 50, 75 or 100 percent sickness benefit.
How do I apply?
1. Report your sickness
If you are not participating in a Public Employment Service programme, you must report your sickness the first day you are sick. Report your sickness to your employer if you work part time.
2. Apply
After reporting your sickness, log in to My pages (Mina sidor) to apply for sickness benefit.
3. Send in a doctor's certificate
If you are sick for more than 7 days, you must send in a doctor's certificate with information about your illness or injury. In most counties, electronic certificates can be issued. You can then send in your certificate on Mina intyg on 1177 Vårdguiden. This speeds up the process and you then do not have to send the certificate by post.
Mina intyg, 1177 Vårdguiden (minaintyg.se)
If you have received your doctor's certificate on paper and for some reason it has not been sent electronically to us, send the original to Försäkringskassans Inläsningscentral, 839 88 Östersund.
4. Disbursement
The first sickness benefit disbursement is not paid on a fixed date. It is instead paid once we have completed the processing work. If your application is complete, this takes no more than 30 days.
After the first disbursement, sickness benefit is paid on a specific date each month. Which date applies for you depends on when you were born:
- If you were born between the 1st and the 10th: the 25th of each month
- If you were born between the 11th and the 20th: the 26th of each month
- If you were born between the 21st and the 31st: the 27th of each month
You can see all of your disbursements on My pages (Mina sidor).
Special disbursement dates
Special disbursement dates and processing times
If you want to change any aspect of your sick leave
Send in your new doctor’s certificate. You can do this digitally on Mina intyg on 1177 Vårdguiden.
Mina intyg, 1177 Vårdguiden (minaintyg.se)
If you answered yes when asked whether a new doctor’s certificate should serve to extend the sick leave when you applied for sickness benefit, then you do not need to do anything else.
If you answered no, an application form for extended sickness benefit will be sent to your home. You cannot apply for extended sickness benefit via Mina sidor (My pages).
What happens if I am sick for a long time?
If you are sick for a long time, you will be assigned a personal administrative officer to help you with all aspects of the sickness benefit. The administrator officer will contact you after you have received your first disbursement.
If you have received sickness benefit for 364 days, you need to reapply to continue receiving sickness benefit. There are two levels that you can apply for; sickness benefit at continuation level or sickness benefit at normal level. The level is determined based on your illness according to criteria from the National Board of Health and Welfare. Please talk to your administrator if you have questions about the levels or how to apply.
Sickness benefit at the continuation level is approximately 75 per cent of your sickness benefit qualifying income (SGI), while sickness benefit at the normal level corresponds to about 80 percent. You are entitled to sickness benefit at the normal level if you have a serious illness. What in this context counts as serious illness is described in the National Board of Health and Welfare's criteria for serious illness. The criteria can be found on the National Board of Health and Welfare's website.
