Stine Solum is 40 years old and on disability benefits. Six years ago, she had one of her big dreams come true, when friends and family came together to make a bunad for her. – I got it when my son was to be confirmed. My partner at the time and my friends got together to splicing on everything possible, shawls, cuffs, shoes and buckles. There is a lot of care behind that bunade. That’s why what she has to do now is extra painful. The sole for the bunade which is now being sold. Photo: Private She has put the bunad up for sale. The price is NOK 25,000. Relatively low price, because she is desperate, and needs to get money in before the cold sets in. – When I published the print, I broke down in tears. I think anyone would do that if they were in my situation. Can’t work anymore because of the state. The money she gets in is to be spent on firewood. It is getting colder in Nordland, and she will not be able to afford to use electricity to keep the house warm. – It is hard financially. I live alone, am on disability benefits and the prices of almost everything are going up. Now winter is coming, and I must have firewood. I’ve lived a lot on credit cards, and it doesn’t help in the long run either, so now I just have to sell the bunad. – What do you think about having to get rid of it? – It’s sour, and it hurts. But I have no other choice. Solum says she would have liked to have earned more money. She has a nerve disease that makes it difficult. But the most difficult thing is the salary cap imposed on her by the state. Nordlandsbunade was given to Solum by friends. Now she has to sell it. Photo: Private – I only get to earn NOK 217,000 a year at work. I am paid around NOK 11,000 in disability benefits and NOK 8-10,000 a month from work after tax. Then I have fixed expenses of NOK 15,000 a month. It is not enough, and prices continue to rise. What she notices the most are the prices of food and fuel. Electricity prices are added, and then it becomes almost unbearable every month. – I wish that these ceilings and disability benefits could better follow the price increase in society. We, who do everything we can to be out at work, are forced by the state to sit in a poverty pit. Nobody wants to be disabled, and we are also punished for it. Solum believes that she could earn more if she had received 100 per cent disability benefits. Then she would have a more stable income and would not be afraid of going over the salary ceiling. – I refuse to do that. It means so much to me to be out at work. Many family and friends say that, but I say no. As long as I can fight to stay out of work, I will. – Worst for those who have the least Tomas Norvoll (Ap) is state secretary for the Ministry of Labor and Inclusion. He acknowledges that these are expensive times and that people are struggling. Especially those who have the least. – We see that it is a tough time for many now, with food prices rising and that there have been high interest rates. This is something we are looking at and working on, to meet these challenges that people have. When things become more expensive, it is worst for those who have the least, and for us it is most important to get the economy in order and reduce the price increase. Norvoll says that disability benefits and the salary ceiling for those who work a percentage are regulated in the same way as everything else in society. Tomas Norvoll (Ap) is state secretary in the Ministry of Labor and Inclusion. Photo: regjeringen.no – It is baked into the system. Those who depend on support from the public receive the same income development as the rest. At the same time, we understand that if you have little from before, then it is very tough – But the percentage increase for those with little is different than for those with a lot. Have you looked at whether it is possible to increase this in other ways than a percentage increase? – It is worth discussing the sizes of the low benefits. Most recently this year, there has been an extra payment, since we saw that it is extra difficult. One must maintain purchasing power and the opportunities to have a proper standard of living, says Norvoll. Norvoll says that it will not be the end of the world if you go over the salary ceiling when you are disabled. – If you go over the limit, you get a reduction in your disability benefit, but it does not disappear completely. You also don’t want to lose your degree of disability, it’s not like that anymore. What you can do, however, is reapply to update your income statement if you earn more than what you initially stated. – What do you think about selling bunad to be able to buy firewood? – I can say that if you are in an urgent situation, my advice is to go to Nav to see if it is possible to get supplementary social assistance for a period. Changes have been made in the last year and it will be a long way before people are asked to sell their possessions. We must help people overcome difficulties, and not ensure that they come out worse on the other side. Nav Nordland answers this Nav Nordland answers this in writing, head of Nav Indre Salten, Morten Pedersen writes the following: – These are demanding times for more and more people. At the same time, we know that it can be shameful to have to ask for help because financial problems, and we encourage anyone who needs assistance to contact us at Nav as soon as possible. Everyone must be met with respect and our goal is that we will find solutions together with those who need it adapted to the individual’s situation. – As the situation is now, we are concerned that more households will face financial challenges and problems. More and more people are contacting us, and we see that increased expenses for food, transport, housing etc. are hitting households and especially those who have the least to go on financially. Those with whom we are in contact and where we have a plan for assistance, I am not too worried. We are most concerned about households with challenges that should contact those they owe money to, or seek guidance from Nav, but let’s do this, says Morten Pedersen, head of Nav Indre Salten Many go to bed hungry Linda Tofteng Eliassen in Sparebank 1 Northern Norway says that it is good that people take action on their own finances. – When it comes to private finances, it is important to take action. Selling a caravan you bought two years ago, or car number two, is fine. But a bunad is extremely personal, and becomes something else. This case shows that fortunately people know how to take action. She believes that the support schemes have been increased recently, but that it is simply not enough. Linda Tofteng Eliassen, consumer economist at Sparebank 1 Nord-Norge. Photo: Marius Fiskum – I wish there wasn’t such a big difference between the allowance this woman receives and what we consider an acceptable standard of living. I see that support schemes are not being created at the pace that people need help now. The food center here in Tromsø is running out of food while people are queuing. Statistics Norway recently published new figures which show that 51 per cent of Norwegian households believe that they are secure in their own finances, also in the future. 32 percent are “exposed”. 11 percent are “struggling”, and 6 percent are “bad”. – In these surveys, it appears that the number of meals in the two groups that struggle the most has decreased. In Norway, at any given time, we have 10–13 percent of households that have a low income, either temporarily or in the long term. Food centers across the country have been busy lately. Here from Oslo. Photo: Hallgeir Braastad / news There are approximately 115,000 children in these households, says Eliassen. This means that there are many children in Norway who may be at risk of going to bed hungry. She says that she is surprised at how long Norwegians have taken to adjust to the price increases. The Swedes and Danes have been much smarter, she says. – They received the forecasts and began to reduce their consumption. The hope was that we would do it too, but it didn’t happen. If we had done that, we might have avoided such a high interest rate. I meet many people who have used up their savings and who have more consumer debt than they should. Now we must take action together to improve the situation.
ttn-69
Stine Solum has to sell the bunad because of high prices in society – news Nordland
