The Swedish parliament, Riksdag, has voted to increase the guaranteed pension by SEK 1,000 a month before tax from August 2022.

The proposal, which was formed by a pension group consisting of members of the government, the Center Party, the Left Party and the Green Party, passed by the smallest possible margin: 174 votes to 173.

This change gives a new minimum guaranteed pension level of SEK 9,781 before tax for a single pensioner and SEK 8,855 a month for a married pensioner.

It also voted through an increase in the housing supplement of SEK 100 for single people and SEK 50 for cohabitants.

The changes will cost the state an estimated SEK 3.9bn in 2022 and SEK 10.5bn in 2023.

Guaranteed pension is calculated on an individual’s income-based pensions, income pension, supplementary pension and any widow's pension.

If they are single and have less than SEK 14,882 per month before tax, they can receive a guaranteed pension, or less than SEK 13,477 per month before tax if they are married.

Commenting on the changes in a blog, Alecta pension economist, Staffan Ström, said: “One can rightly criticise how the pension group has worked.

“For example, that they were a little too secretive in their work, that they did not adjust the retirement ages in time but now have to ‘run to catch up’ a life expectancy development that has been strong for many years and that they could have pressed even harder to educate about how the pension system works.

“But the solution is not to push it down as its current chairman has done through its constant solo performances, but to modernise it and work more forward-leaning.

“I expect the members of the Riksdag's pension group after a much-needed summer holiday to sit down and learn lessons from the last six months' political farce.

“It is time to look up, shake off the whale and put real, funded reforms in the lake. To succeed in this, all parties in the Riksdag need to be offered a place in the group.

“Today, more than a quarter of the Riksdag's mandate is outside the group, and then it will be tempting for them to succumb to pension populism. Raising confidence in pension policy will not be easy, but it is necessary. Both today's and tomorrow's pensioners are worth better than what we have seen now.”

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