Mellan handläggare och administratör - Om Försäkringskassans personliga handläggare och yrkesrollens svåra balans

The personal administrative officer (personlig handläggare) is a new professional role that recently has been introduced by the Swedish National Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan). This report concerns how this professional role is interpreted – covering both the official definition of the National Social Insurance Agency and the individual interpretations of the administrative officers working in this professional role. A look at the official definition and how it is communicated by the Social Insurance Agency reveals some inconsistencies: Firstly, the professional role appears to be designed as a rather administrative role in contrast to what job-advertisement and the recruiting process may suggest. Secondly, interviews with personal administrative officers show that the new professional role is perceived as a continuation of the previous professional role rehabilitation coordinator rather than an entirely new role. The interviewed personal administrative officers mentioned the ability “to read a person” and to put the client’s interest in focus as key elements of their professional role – hence highlighting value discretion rather than rule or task discretion. However, they also experienced that the recent working situation – e.g. administrative workload – pushed them towards a more bureaucratic role than they had expected. All together, the interviews indicate that the professional role of a personal administrative officer is interpreted quite differently by the holders of this role on the one side and by the Social Insurance Agency on the other side – a situation that may cause problems when it comes to efficiency and the legal rights of the clients.