Hans Christian Holte has been the top boss at Norway’s state welfare agency NAV since he was lured away as director of tax agency Skatteetaten in 2020. He was recruited to take over at NAV after a major scandal at the time, but now agrees that NAV is facing new and “serious” problems that left him obliged to resign.

Hans Christian Holte took over as director of NAV in 2020, but gave up his post immediately on Tuesday. PHOTO: Arbeids- og sosial departementet/Jan Richard Kjelstrup

“I received a clear message that the government minister (in charge of NAV) no longer had confidence in me as NAV director,” said Holte on Tuesday. “Then there’s only one conclusion I can draw, and that’s to withdraw from the job.”

The current problems stem from the state auditor’s discovery of serious flaws in NAV’s internal control apparatus. They include a lack of logging of cases into NAV’s information technology systems that manage huge amounts of money. NAV had also delivered incorrect information to both the state auditor’s office (Riksrevisjonen) and to the Labour Ministry that’s in charge of NAV (Arbeids- and inkludering departementet).

Labour Minister Kjersti Stenseng concluded on Tuesday that it was “serious” when a government agency delivers incorrect information, and that she must be able to rely on NAV’s internal control systems. Auditors have shown they were not good enough. Top leadership remains responsible, also when the mistakes were made farther down in the organization.

She’ll now be launching an external examination of the internal control, since there are “several things that must be improved.” She also criticized how long it takes for NAV to handle cases, its complicated rules and the need for new systems. “The result of the conversations we have had (with NAV’s top management) is that Hans Christian Holte is resigning as director now,” she said.

Holte confirmed he was resigning immediately, while noting at the same time that he would “very gladly” have continued in the job. He agrees, however, that the criticism from the state auditor was well-founded  and revealed weaknesses in internal control, “which NAV must continue work to on and make things right as quickly as possible.” He also agrees control needs to be sharpened around all the hundreds of billions of kroner that NAV handles. Deputy director Eve Vangsnes Bergli will take over as acting director until a replacement for Holte is found.

He won’t be leaving state service entirely, though, and will be assigned to another post until his six-year contract runs out next year. Holte, age 60, otherwise has a solid reputation as a top administrator, arriving at NAV after he all but transformed the tax agency and left with glowing reports. Some insiders told state broadcaster NRK on Tuesday that they think he’ll resurface in a new top quickly.

Holte himself wrote on social media Tuesday afternoon that NAV, which handles everything from retirement- to sick pay and unemployment issues, “gets a lot of criticism and is highly exposed (to trouble) … but I’m screwed together in such a way that I thought the job was really one of the most exciting and meaningful I could have.”

He wrote that he most enjoyed being part of efforts to help others find jobs, feel secure and be active. He said he’ll miss the “the folks who work at NAV,” especially those with a burning desire to help, and will clearly try to make himself useful in another role.

NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund