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Programmes for vulnerable young people

There are no current programmes for vulnerable young people. Two completed government initiatives in the area are described below.

Knowledge centre on unaccompanied young refugees

In 2017, the government tasked the National Board of Health and Welfare to establish a knowledge centre for unaccompanied children and young people. In early 2021, the centre was closed down. During the years that the Knowledge Centre has existed, the situation has changed for unaccompanied children and young people and for society as a whole. The number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in 2015 was just over 35,000 but has since then decreased every year. In 2020 the number was 500. 

During the period 2017-2020, the centre provided those who work in the social services and in the health care sector with up-to-date information concerning unaccompanied children and young people. Young people's needs, their mental health promotion and suicide prevention were highlighted in the centre's work. Efforts for developed cooperation between municipalities and regions were also a part of the work of the Knowledge Centre.

In the final report from 2021, the authors state that the current reception of unaccompanied children is significantly better than in 2015. That is partly due to the reduced number of asylum-seeking unaccompanied children, but also because of increased knowledge among the professionals within the social services, health care and other services who are in contact with young asylum-seekers. Any need for knowledge support concerning the reception of unaccompanied children and young people will again be handled in the National Board of Health and Welfare's regular organisation.

Delegation young people and newly arrived migrants to work

In December 2014, the government decided on a delegation for combating youth unemployment at the local level, the Delegation for the Employment of Young People (Delegationen för unga till arbete, Dua), for the period 2015–2017. The mandate has since then been extended through 2022. The delegation was tasked with promoting constructive and flexible collaboration between the Swedish Public Employment Service and municipalities in order to reduce youth unemployment. The overall aim was to to accelerate the implementation of the Youth Guarantee. 

The delegation received, in January 2017, an expanded mandate to promote collaboration between stakeholders who are important for labour market entry relating to newly arrived migrants, and in particular, young newly arrived. The name of the delegation was then changed to Delegation for the Employment of Young People and Newly Arrived Migrants.

The Delegation has, during 2015–2016, completed local agreements between the Public Employment Service and all 290 municipalities. During 2019 and 2020, the delegation has renewed these local agreements. The Delegation submitted its final report to the government in March 2023.

Evaluation

In 2020, Oxford Research evaluated how the Delegation has contributed to collaboration between municipalities and the Public Employment Service. The evaluation indicates that the delegation has contributed to moving collaboration from a latent phase to an emerging phase. The forms of collaboration between municipalities and the Public Employment Service have therefore been strengthened around young people and new arrivals. However, collaboration has not reached the final phase of the process. This is because the actors' collaboration is dependent on continued external support for further development.

According to the evaluation, the collaboration between municipalities and the Public Employment Service, to which the Delegation has contributed, risks weakening in the future. The reasons are due to the uncertainty surrounding the role of the Public Employment Service in connection with the authority's reduced organisation and ambiguity about what happens when the Delegation's assignment ends.

Funding

Since 2014, financial coordination takes place between the Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan), The Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen), municipalities and regions through Coordination Agencies. The target group is individuals in working age 16–64 years, having physical, mental, social and/or work-related needs, and who need coordinated support from two or more of the collaborating parties. The goal is to become self-sufficient.

At the end of 2022 there were 75 Coordination Agencies, involving 273 of Sweden's 290 municipalities. Half of the financing is provided by the state, the rest is divided between municipalities and regions. Interventions targeting individuals get 80% of the total resources, and interventions targeting local collaboration 20%.

In 2022, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and the Swedish Public Employment Service, as in previous years, had a special task to work to ensure that the co-ordinating unions prioritize funding for initiatives for the long-term sick, young people with disabilities and young people with activity compensation. At the end of the year, a total of 100 initiatives had been implemented, addressing young people with activity compensation and 77 for young people with disabilities without activity compensation. Most of the initiatives were individual oriented activities (Försäkringskassan, 2022).

The Coordination Agencies were in 2022 allocated 339 million Swedish kronor (30 million Euro) by the government, combined with an equal amount from municipalities och regions (Försäkringskassan, 2023).

Funding of inclusive programmes within the ESF

It is common among the Coordination Agencies to participate in projects financed by the European Social Fund (ESF). ESF has target groups consistent with the Coordination Agencies within several programme areas. During the entire programme period 2014-2020, the Coordination Agencies have owned, co-financed or collaborated in a total of 113 unique ESF projects. In 2022, the Agencies had budgeted for approximately SEK 47 million in ESF funds (Försäkringskassan, 2023).

Quality assurance

Coordination Agencies

the Swedish Social Insurance Inspectorate (Inspektionen för socialförsäkringen) has been commissioned by the government to evaluate the activities that the Coordination Agencies finance. The main question was whether the Coordination Agencies' financing of initiatives leads to different development among municipalities that are members  compared with municipalities that are not members of a union. 

The analysis of young people between the ages of 19 and 24 who are neither working nor studying (NEET) shows that the Coordination Agencies have significant effects on virtually all six follow-up years 2014-2020. This means that municipalities that are members of a Coordination Agency have a higher proportion of younger people who neither work nor study compared with municipalities that are not a part of the coordination. The evaluation finds that a sign of a more successful outreach to young people in a NEET-situation, who otherwise are seen as difficult to get in touch with.