WE BREATHE LIFE INTO THE CARE PAYMENT ACTION!

The Løvemammaene have been fighting for a fair care allowance scheme since 2017. Today, the care allowance scheme is far better than it was and works well for most of the families who need it. There are still some holes in the scheme that we believe need to be closed, which we highlight in this submission that we have sent to the Ministry of Labor and Inclusion, the Labor and Social Affairs Committee and its members, as well as all parties in the Storting.

Read the input in its entirety below.

Input for changes to the care allowance scheme. 

Løvemammaene has fought for a fair and sustainable care money scheme since 2017. We have subsequently established ourselves as an organization that works to improve the rights of sick and disabled children and young people in Norway, and has 3858 members as of 14.07.22. The care allowance scheme is today far better than it was and works well for most families who need it. There are still some gaps in the scheme that we believe need to be closed, which we highlight in this input. 

After the child's death:

If a child dies, you will receive care allowance for three months after the death if you have previously received care allowance for more than three years. If you have received care allowance for less than three years before the death, you will receive care allowance for six weeks after the death. This is unreasonable discrimination. We call it grief discrimination. Losing a child is painful regardless of how long you have received care allowance. We believe that all parents on care allowance should keep this for at least three months after a death. Three months is in itself a very short time to mourn without worrying about using up sick days. 

Salary increase:

Today, care allowance is one of several allowances/benefits that do not increase in line with general wage growth and price increases. Care allowance cannot be compared with any other benefits from Folketrygden. Caring allowance is the only benefit in the Norwegian Social Security Act that requires you to work - i.e. provide continuous nursing and care. Care allowance must have a normal growth in relation to more expensive rent, food, electricity, etc. every year. Over a period of several years, failure to adjust the care allowance in accordance with the consumer price index and wage growth could amount to an annual reduction of 2-4 %. Over a five-year period, the reduction could be as much as 15 %, and even more over a longer period. The average care allowance period in 2019 was approx. 40 days. In other words, this applies to a small number of parents who are on care allowance for a long time and/or who cannot work for one day in order to have their income base recalculated. It happens that parents lose their jobs or cannot be extended a temporary work placement if they receive care allowance over a longer period. These must also be able to follow normal price and wage growth.

Employers who (still) require you to apply for unpaid leave:

The Løvemammaen constantly receive inquiries from parents who feel that employers are pressuring them to apply for unpaid leave while they wait for a response to the care allowance application/during the care allowance period. The challenge with this is that, in the worst case, parents may lose their income base. Employers also do not have the right to demand that employees take unpaid leave during the period they receive care allowance, which according to the Norwegian Social Security Act is a "valid absence" on the same level as sickness allowance, parental allowance etc. Little knowledge of what care allowance is and unclear legislation seems to be contributing to this , as the absence is referred to as leave in the Working Environment Act. Despite clarification from NAV and answers from the then Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Anniken Hauglie, to a written question about this very issue, there are many employers who still try to impose unpaid leave on employees. There needs to be a clarification in the legislation/from the public sector towards employers, that employees should not apply for unpaid leave during care allowance periods. 

Fees:

Parents who receive care allowance must be able to get involved in voluntary work and organizational work in the same way as parents of able-bodied children can, be it in sports, peer work and other involvement in interest organisations, or politically. Such positions are performed alongside ordinary work. Carer's allowance is a substitute for just ordinary work, and then it must still be possible to maintain a position at say. It cannot be the case that you have to give up all of your own interests/volunteer positions just because you have a sick child. It is important that parents who have to go on care allowance can still get involved and be active contributors to society - and perhaps particularly important in such life situations. After all, it is not the parents who are sick, but the child. Parents must therefore be able to receive fees and/or remuneration for such voluntary positions up to 0.6 G. 

Postpone statutory holiday:

A holiday can be required to be postponed due to one's own illness, but unfortunately not a child's illness. There are some exceptions, for example parental leave. Caring allowance should also constitute an exception. As it is today, parents who receive childcare allowance will rarely have the opportunity to take statutory holiday due to the child's care and supervision needs. It is paradoxical to have to take a holiday without actually being able to have a holiday. When parents have to carry out care and supervision also during the intended holiday, and the condition for care allowance is met, the holiday should be able to be postponed until the care allowance period is over or the child dies. If the child dies, the employer cannot impose a holiday until the weeks of continuation of care allowance have been used up. 

Vacation money: 

Holiday pay paid from NAV amounts to 10.2 % of the first 12 weeks of the earnings year. If you are lucky enough to have an employer who advances salary, you will normally also receive holiday pay from the employer at a percentage of 12 %, but it is unfortunate that parents should be at the mercy of employers who advance childcare allowance. A better holiday pay scheme should be considered for recipients of benefits from the Norwegian Social Insurance Agency, both a higher percentage rate and more weeks included in the calculation basis. In a society with annual wage growth and price growth, benefits from National Insurance do not match this growth. 

Daily allowance:

In the National Insurance Act (Folketrygdloven) § 4-4 Requirements for a minimum income, care allowance is not equated with income from work and thus does not give the right to unemployment benefit. Unfortunately, it happens that people lose their jobs or that a temporary job is not renewed during the period they receive care allowance to take care of a sick child. When the care allowance period is over and you have to go back into the labor market, you have no income. This is discrimination against people who have chronically ill and disabled children. The only alternative is then to receive social assistance until they find a new job. 

AAP Beneficiaries:

Parents on AAP have basically not lost work income, which is a prerequisite for care allowance, and these parents are therefore not entitled to care allowance under the National Insurance Act as of today. AAP is a benefit that is given to people who are in a process of clarification due to their own illness or injury. As a general rule, the person's ability to work must be reduced by at least 50 %, and it must be reduced for all types of work, in order to receive AAP. As care allowance is a benefit that requires parents to provide continuous care and/or supervision, i.e. a type of work, it may appear difficult to argue that people on AAP should be entitled to care allowance. Both because they have not lost income in the first place, but also because they cannot actually work. On the other hand, we know that caregiving tasks do not end just because parents themselves become ill, so despite their own illness, many parents will still have to face difficult caregiving situations that both make ordinary work impossible and worsen their own health. Many parents have also become ill and ended up at AAP precisely because heavy nursing and caring tasks over time, and at the same time a lack of help and support from the public. There is no doubt that AAP recipients must be guaranteed rights in Folketrygden, which looks after the finances when parents on AAP have a sick child who requires the parents to provide continuous supervision and care. How this is resolved must be investigated, as care allowance is compensation for lost income and a temporary social security scheme. It must also be noted that parents at AAP must be assured of other arrangements, such as e.g. enough relief and other necessary assistance to make everyday life easier for these parents when both their own and their child's health deteriorates, but above all preventive measures must be put in place to avoid the parents ending up as AAP recipients at all. Sufficient help and support from the public when parents have chronically ill and disabled children can contribute to the parents being able to work at the same time as looking after their children and the challenges that come with it, over time without becoming completely exhausted and sick themselves . The public sector must take responsibility for the fact that they impose unnecessary health and financial burdens on parents of sick and disabled children over time, and create health, wage and pension losers in society. A scheme for AAP recipients can possibly be seen in connection with a scheme for students. 

Students:

Students who have a sick/disabled child during the study period fall somewhere between the two chairs when it comes to sustainable income security. Benefits from Lånekassen do not qualify for care allowance and are not an income that you can live on alone. You can apply for a sickness grant from Lånekassen, but as mentioned this is not a viable income and also only applies if the child is under 12 years old. This means that if you have a 14-year-old child who suddenly becomes seriously ill or injured, you will not qualify for a sickness grant either. It is also the case that if you have an extra job alongside your studies and then receive care money as income replacement for this - and you are entitled to a nursing grant - you only get the difference between the loan and the grant and the care money converted into a nursing grant. In other words, a system needs to be put in place that takes care of these parents in a better way financially during the period when they have to pause their studies to take care of the child. Such an arrangement can possibly be seen in connection with an arrangement for AAP recipients. 

The lion mothers ask for feedback on our input and we are more than happy to hold a meeting to shed further light on the issues. 

With best regards 
The hospital children's committee, Løvemammaene