Courts as guarantor for an individualized and need based eldercare?

Time period:

1 January 2020 – 31 May 2027

Project leader:

Karin Leijon

Project member:

Linda Moberg

Funder:

Forte

Type of award:

Unclassified

Total funding:

6,000,000 SEK

The right to appeal against decisions made by public authorities, such as denial of eldercare, is fundamental in a democracy. The administrative courts in Sweden have a particularly important role in assessing individuals’ right to different types of social care services since they do not only have the power to revoke decisions, they can also replace the appealed decision with their own. This means that courts can establish that an individual, for example, is entitled to nursing home care despite previously being denied this by the social welfare board. For Swedish eldercare, this means that the administrative courts can be understood as the ultimate guarantor for need based care. However, the role of courts has been problematized in the literature. Firstly, researchers have warned against transferring decision-making power to judges because they lack expert knowledge in the field. Yet another argument is that courts are not suited to make decisions on welfare efforts because it also means that courts affect the allocation of public resources, a question that the critics believe should be decided by elected politicians. In other words, which decisions the courts make in these types of legal cases have great importance not only for the individual´s right to social care but also for the design and financing of the social care system. However, knowledge regarding how courts act when deciding disputes between the state and individuals within the framework of social care is limited. To what extent do courts change the decisions made by the social welfare boards? How do judges assess the individual´s need for care? The aim of this project is to shed light on the role of the courts in determining the individual´s right to eldercare and bring clarity to the debate regarding how well-suited courts are to decide these matters. Empirically, the study aims to contribute with the first complete study of the courts´ handling of appealed decisions in the area of ​​eldercare.