New software is causing problems in Seco. There are delays in the payment of unemployment benefits.
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The previous IT system, which was used, among other things, to pay out daily allowances to the unemployed, is old, and in the digital world it is even very old: the software was developed in the 1980s. This has been in operation since then and was only replaced on January 6th by the new IT system called “Asal 2.0”. And this causes problems. There are therefore delays in paying out daily allowances for the more than 140,000 unemployed people in Switzerland.
Politicians are concerned and summoned those responsible on Tuesday. They had to answer questions in the Council of States Commission for Social Security and Health for almost an hour.
Seco’s new software is causing problems. There are delays in the payment of unemployment benefits.
Keystone/ GAETAN BALLY/Symbol
Leftists and citizens alike then agreed that a political reappraisal was needed. “It cannot be that a digital project that has been developed for over 10 years fails again when it goes live,” says FDP Council of States Damian Müller. SP Councilor of States Flavia Wasserfallen added: “The situation is critical and very difficult, and the focus must now be on disbursing the funds.”
Multiple criticisms from the Federal Audit Office
It’s a debacle with announcement. The Federal Audit Office had repeatedly criticized weaknesses in the IT project in six reports. In January 2024, for example, she pointed out significant deficiencies in project management and management. And last May, they and an external body discovered significant deficiencies in IT security.
Those responsible at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs did not want to give interviews on Tuesday. In the afternoon they explained themselves at a background meeting with journalists. They have credibly demonstrated that the Seco and the unemployment funds are working hard to pay out the money as quickly as possible.
Time pressure, old programs, many interfaces
But self-criticism was hardly heard. The warnings from financial control were taken seriously. Rather, the IT problems are due to time pressure, old programs, the many interfaces, the failure of a server or even predecessors.
After all, many of the problems have been resolved in the last few days, so that almost 195 million francs had been paid out this month by Monday. This corresponds to 89 percent of the money that the unemployment funds would have had to pay out by then.
One thing is certain: the new payment system will continue to concern Seco and politicians.
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