Public salaries and procurement: requesting records
Salaries of public employees, procurement contracts, recruitment documents and consultancy fees are often official documents you have the right to obtain. Insyna helps you write the request to the right registrar.
- Legal basis
- Freedom of the Press Act (Tryckfrihetsförordningen 1949:105) · Public Procurement Act (Lagen om offentlig upphandling 2016:1145)
- Response time
- Promptly (often 1–2 weeks)
- Contact
- The authority’s registrar
What can you request?
Salary lists for public sector employees, employment contracts for managers, documents in completed recruitments and contracts in completed public procurements are generally public. Insight into how tax money is used is a central part of the principle of public access.
Tenders in an ongoing procurement are subject to absolute confidentiality until the award decision. Trade secrets and personal references are not released.
How Insyna helps you
Chydenius drafts a clear request to the authority’s registrar and cites the Freedom of the Press Act and the Public Procurement Act where relevant.
How to do it, step by step
Describe what you want
Tell Chydenius which salary data, employment contracts or procurement records you want, and from which authority.
We write the request
Chydenius drafts a request for the public records, citing the right legal basis.
Send it anonymously
Salaries and contracts at public employers are generally public; the request is sent anonymously.
Get a reply
The authority must respond promptly; if refused, Chydenius helps you request an appealable decision.
What you can request
- Salary lists for public sector employees
- Employment contracts for managers and senior officials
- Documents in a completed recruitment (e.g. list of applicants, appointment decision)
- Tenders and contracts in a completed public procurement
What you cannot request
- Tenders in an ongoing procurement (absolute confidentiality)
- Trade secrets and business-critical information in tenders
- Information from union negotiations
- Personal assessments or references in a recruitment process
Frequently asked questions
Can I get the salary of a public employee?
Yes. Salaries of employees in central government, regions and municipalities are generally public information you can request from the employer.
Can I see the tenders in a procurement?
After the procurement is completed, yes — then tenders and contracts normally become public. During an ongoing procurement, absolute confidentiality applies.
Can I request the salary of a named individual, not just a job title?
Yes. You can ask for the salary of a specific named public employee — you do not need to know their exact title, only enough for the registrar to identify the right person.
Can I get procurement documents while the tender process is still open?
No. While a procurement is ongoing, absolute confidentiality generally applies to the submitted tenders — you can normally only request them once the contract has been awarded and the standstill period has passed.
The email we send
This is the actual email Chydenius writes and sends to the authority for you — in correct Swedish, anonymously (never in your name), always asking for a reply by email. You don’t need to write Swedish yourself.
Bästa Handläggare, Jag önskar ta del av en aktuell lönelista för de anställda vid förvaltningen, med angivande av befattning och månadslön. Denna begäran grundar sig på offentlighetsprincipen. Jag åberopar tryckfrihetsförordningen (1949:105) 2 kap. och erinrar om skyndsamhetskravet i TF 2 kap. 12-13 §§. Jag önskar ta del av handlingarna digitalt (via e-post) i första hand. I avvaktan på Ert svar, En Medborgare