2026-05-262025/26:SoU30 · p.1SoUHealth & social services
Government's legislative proposal
Benefit cap in subsistence support – limit for larger households
What's at stake: The decision affects how much financial assistance large families with children can receive beyond the statutory national norm, and how narrowly the exemption option is to be applied in individual cases.
Case texts and AI reasoning are AI-translated from the Swedish originals; the Swedish text is authoritative.
What the vote decides
The question is whether subsistence support for households with more than three resident children or students under 21 should be capped at the level covered by the national norm, with exceptions only for exceptional reasons, or whether this part of the legislative change should be rejected.
Yes Yes — the committee proposal
The committee shares the government's assessment that subsistence support for households with more than three resident children or students under 21 should be capped at the level covered by the national norm, since individuals will still have their needs met; exceptions should be granted only for exceptional reasons and applied very restrictively, so as not to undermine the incentive to work built into economic assistance. The committee also shares the assessment that departures from the national norm beyond this should be permitted in considerably fewer situations than today.
No No — the reservations
Reservation 1 (S)
The dissenter (S) wants to reject the legislative change capping subsistence support for larger households, since the proposal lacks proper impact assessments and the Riksdag therefore cannot judge the effects; lowering society's last-resort safety net risks increasing child poverty rather than moving more people into work.
Summarised from the committee report. Party labels in the summary come from the report, not from the vote.
V–
S–
MP–
C–
L–
KD–
M–
SD–
YesNoAbstainAbsent
What do the votes mean here?
Yes The committee proposal: adopting the government's legislative proposal and rejecting the motions (keeping things as they are).
No Backing the counter-proposal: reservation 1 by S.
Abstain The party marks a position of its own that is not one of the two final alternatives.
The plan's stance / Actual vote
AI
Vote
Confidence
Evidence
V
–
Abstain 0/0/21/0
Sown reservation
–
No 0/106/0/0
MP
–
Abstain 0/0/18/0
C
–
Yes 24/0/0/0
L
–
Yes 16/0/0/0
KD
–
Yes 19/0/0/0
M
–
Yes 65/0/0/1
SD
–
Yes 69/0/0/1
Committee proposal
The Riksdag adopts the Government's proposal for
1. an amendment to the Social Services Act (2025:400),
2. an amendment to the Social Services Act (2025:400) with the amendment that the heading immediately before section 12, chapter 2 a shall be written in bold.
Thus the Riksdag approves proposition 2025/26:201 points 1 and 2 and rejects the motions
2025/26:4017 by Fredrik Lundh Sammeli et al. (S) amendment 1,
2025/26:4028 by Maj Karlsson et al. (V) and
2025/26:4051 by Malte Tängmark Roos et al. (MP).
Original (Swedish)
Riksdagen antar regeringens förslag till
1. lag om ändring i socialtjänstlagen (2025:400),
2. lag om ändring i socialtjänstlagen (2025:400) med den ändringen att rubriken närmast före 12 kap. 2 a § ska skrivas med rak fetstil.
Därmed bifaller riksdagen proposition 2025/26:201 punkterna 1 och 2 samt avslår motionerna
2025/26:4017 av Fredrik Lundh Sammeli m.fl. (S) yrkande 1,
2025/26:4028 av Maj Karlsson m.fl. (V) och
2025/26:4051 av Malte Tängmark Roos m.fl. (MP).
Riksdag decision: A benefit cap shall be introduced to break benefit dependency and reduce social exclusion. The Riksdag approved the Government's proposal on reformed maintenance support.
The benefit cap consists of several partial proposals:
a modernization of the so-called national standard
a limitation of maintenance support for larger households
a limited scope for the social board to provide maintenance support above the national standard.
The proposal also means, among other things, that
those who have reduced work capacity due to illness shall provide a medical certificate to be able to receive maintenance support
those who rent a property as a second tenant shall only receive maintenance support for housing costs if the second-hand rental is approved
maintenance support shall only be provided to persons who are legally resident in Sweden.
The purpose of the proposal is for more people to move from maintenance support to employment.
The legislative amendments that introduce the requirement to provide a medical certificate come into force on July 1, 2026. Other legislative amendments come into force on January 1, 2027.
Counter-proposals
The counter-proposal wants to reject the proposal to lower subsistence support from an already low level. (S) — Reservation 1
Motion 2025/26:4017 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:201 Reformerat försörjningsstöd - bidragstak och ökade möjligheter till arbete av Fredrik Lundh Sammeli m.fl. (S)
Motion 2025/26:4028 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:201 Reformerat försörjningsstöd - bidragstak och ökade möjligheter till arbete av Maj Karlsson m.fl. (V)
Motion 2025/26:4046 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:201 Reformerat försörjningsstöd - bidragstak och ökade möjligheter till arbete av Christofer Bergenblock m.fl. (C)
Motion 2025/26:4051 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:201 Reformerat försörjningsstöd - bidragstak och ökade möjligheter till arbete av Malte Tängmark Roos m.fl. (MP)
Proposition 2025/26:201 — Reformerat försörjningsstöd - bidragstak och ökade möjligheter till arbete