Stricter conditions for the independent school sector
Published:
The Riksdag voted in favour of the Government's legislative proposal involving stricter conditions for the independent school sector. Among other things, a ban on value transfer will be introduced in three situations: for new company start-ups, changes of ownership and remedial injunctions in connection with supervision. The ban means that the money will remain within the operations.
Furthermore, the proposal involves more stringent requirements on an individual responsible entity’s long-term perspective and finances. This will be checked both in connection with applications for approval and with supervision. Individual responsible entities will, in certain cases, be obliged to repay grants received from their municipalities. Only legal persons will be able to be individual responsible entities within the education sector. An individual responsible entity that intends to close a school shall report this to the municipality in which the school is situated.
The Swedish Schools Inspectorate and the municipalities will be given extended authority in connection with supervision. A system of administrative fines will be introduced, for example, for breach of the ban on value transfer. It will be possible to impose the penalty government measures for correction of exceptional cases on independent schools. The central government will then take the measures, at the expense of the responsible entity, that are needed to address the error if the responsible entity has failed to comply with a remedial injunction in connection with supervision, and the shortcomings are serious.
The amendments will come into force on 1 July 2027.