Benefits available from Kela
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The benefits available from Kela cover a wide range of situations. For example, Kela provides financial assistance to families with children, students, people of working age, and pensioners. Kela can also provide benefits in the event of illness, incapacity and functional impairment.
Who can get benefits from Kela?
Most Kela benefits are available in situations where your ability to earn a living or to keep working has declined. You can also get benefits in specific situations of life, such as childbirth or when a young person starts studying.
Kela provides conscript’s allowances for persons performing their compulsory military or alternative civilian service and for their spouse and children. Conscript’s allowance can also be paid to cover housing costs for the conscript’s permanent home and interest on student loans.
If you have a small income and you need help to meet the housing costs, Kela can grant you housing allowance. Students can get the student housing supplement to help with their housing costs.
Learn more about housing benefits.
Learn more about the student housing supplement.
Kela can pay you a national pension if your earnings-related pension is small or if you receive no earnings-related pension. Persons receiving a small pension may, in addition, be paid a guarantee pension.
Pensioners can also apply to Kela for the following benefits: housing allowance for pensioners, care allowance for pensioners, child increase and front-veteran's supplement.
The purpose of rehabilitation is to preserve and improve the functional status and working capacity of incapacitated or disabled persons and to enhance their quality of life. The goals and length of Kela rehabilitation, as well as the types of services granted to you, will be determined according to your individual needs. Services can range from a rehabilitation assessment lasting just a few days to a longer-term rehabilitation process.
Persons undergoing rehabilitation can be paid a rehabilitation allowance. If an employer pays the employee a salary during a period of rehabilitation, the allowance is paid to the employer.
Employers can apply for occupation-specific rehabilitation for their employees, which is designed to maintain their work capacity.
Parents of a small child are entitled to pregnancy and parental allowances. Kela provides a child benefit for each child under 17 years of age. Higher rates of child benefit apply for single parents. To support the care of small children, Kela provides home care and private day care allowances. Financial assistance is also available towards the cost of adopting a child from abroad.
Persons living or working in Finland are usually eligible for social security benefits from Kela.
Someone moving permanently to Finland usually becomes eligible for Kela benefits immediately. When a person who has moved to Finland applies for benefits, Kela determines whether they are living in Finland permanently or whether they could be eligible for Kela benefits based on their employment status.
Persons who are living in Finland but are staying abroad temporarily are usually eligible for Kela benefits.
If a temporary residence abroad becomes permanent the eligibility for Kela benefits ends immediately.
For more information, see the Coming to Finland and Leaving Finland section.
Kela can provide financial aid to full-time students. Financial aid includes a study grant, a government guarantee for student loans and a housing supplement. Kela can pay the student housing supplement to students who qualify for student financial aid and live in rented or right-of-occupancy housing.
Student financial aid is available to students in upper secondary school/senior high school, an institute of vocational education or an institution of higher education and students who complete other separately specified studies. Students’ own income, and sometimes also that of their parents, may affect their eligibility and the amount of financial aid they can get.
Other benefits for students provided by Kela are, for example, the school transport subsidy, the student loan compensation and subsidised meals.
When a spouse or the father, mother or other guardian of a child dies, the surviving spouse and children are entitled to survivors’ pensions.
Surviving family members can get a survivor’s pension from Kela and from the deceased person’s pension provider. Survivors’ pensions are also provided as part of workers’ compensation and motor insurance plans.
Surviving spouses on a low income can also get a housing allowance or a housing allowance for pensioners from Kela.
For more information, see the Benefits for survivors section.
Kela provides reimbursement to patients for part of the fees charged by doctors in private practice and for part of the diagnostic and treatment charges of private-sector health care providers. Reimbursements are also available for the cost of dental services obtained from the private sector. In addition, Kela provides reimbursements for the cost of travelling to a healthcare provider and for prescription medicines.
Those who are unfit for work are entitled to a sickness allowance. The sickness allowance provides compensation for the loss of income resulting from the illness. If an incapacitated employee is entitled to sick pay from his or her employer, the sickness allowance is paid to the employer.
Persons covered by the Finnish social security system are entitled to medical care during a temporary residence in another EU/EEA EEA or in Switzerland. As proof of entitlement, a European Health Insurance Card – available free of charge from Kela - must be presented.
Kela compensates employers for costs associated with their employees’ paid sickness absences and family leaves, and for the costs of preventive occupational healthcare. Kela also compensates employers for part of general practitioner level services if obtained by the employer as part of occupational healthcare. Employers can also apply for a workplace-customised KIILA rehabilitation course to support their employees’ work capacity.
The general social security benefit (yleistuki) is an unemployment benefit paid by Kela. Kela pays general social security benefit to unemployed persons who do not belong to an unemployment fund (työttömyyskassa) or whose unemployment fund has paid them earnings-related unemployment allowance (ansiosidonnainen päiväraha) for the maximum period.
You can get general social security benefit only while you are registered as a jobseeker with the employment services. The employment services and the KEHA Centre will issue a statement to Kela on whether Kela can pay you general social security benefit.
Kela arranges interpreter service for the disabled. The interpreter service aims to promote the possibilities of persons with hearing impairment, with vision and hearing impairment or with speech impairment to be active members of society on equal terms with others.
Learn more about the interpreter service for the disabled.
Kela provides disabled and chronically ill persons with a disability allowance or pensioners' care allowance, the purpose of which is to help them to cope better with the challenges of everyday life. The amount of the allowance depends on the specific nature of the illness or impairment and the restrictions it imposes.
Self-employed persons are entitled to the same benefits as employees. The earned income under the YEL (Self-Employed Persons’ Pensions Act) or MYEL (Farmers’ Pensions Act) pension insurance schemes for self-employed persons affects the amounts of daily allowances, unemployment allowances and pensions.
Benefits in the Åland Islands
Åland is an autonomous region whose social security legislation differs in part from mainland Finland. If you live in the Åland Islands, you must apply for some benefits from Kela and some from municipalities and local operators in the Åland Islands. Local operators include:
- Kommunernas socialtjänst (KST)
- Ålands arbetsmarknads- och studieservicemyndighet (AMS)
- Ålands hälso- och sjukvård (ÅHS).
Kela's telephone service also provides service to persons living in the Åland Islands. There is a Kela customer service point in Mariehamn, which you can visit by appointment.
Persons living in the Åland Islands can apply for most benefits in the same way as persons living in mainland Finland. However, in the following situations, some benefits are applied for differently in the Åland Islands than in mainland Finland.
Apply to Kela for general housing allowance and housing allowance for pensioners. The general housing allowance is calculated differently for persons living in the Åland Islands than for persons living elsewhere in Finland.
If you are a student, you are usually not eligible for general housing allowance. The majority of students can get the housing supplement for students to help with their housing costs. You can apply for it either from AMS in the Åland Islands or from Kela.
You can apply to Kela for child benefit and child maintenance allowance. In the Åland Islands, the amount of child benefit is slightly higher than in mainland Finland and the parent is entitled to child benefit if the child lives permanently in the Åland Islands. Kela will adjust the amount of the child benefit automatically when the child's address is transferred to the Åland Islands.
You can apply for adoption grant and maternity grant from KST and child home care allowance from your municipality of residence.
Private day care allowance is not available in the Åland Islands.
More information about Kela benefits for families with children.
The financial aid for students consists of study grant, student loan and housing supplement.
If you have lived permanently in the Åland Islands before starting your studies, you can choose whether to apply for financial aid from Kela or AMS. If you get student financial aid from AMS, you cannot be granted student financial aid from Kela.
If you take out a student loan granted by AMS, you are not entitled to a student loan compensation from Kela. Kela also does not grant assistance with student loan interest on student loans granted by AMS.
If you move from mainland Finland to the Åland Islands to study, apply for financial aid from Kela.
School transport subsidy is not available for upper secondary school or vocational education in the Åland Islands. However, students can get travel subsidy from AMS.
If you travel to a healthcare provider in the Åland Islands, you can claim reimbursement for travel costs from Kela.
If you have to travel to treatment in mainland Finland or Sweden, you can only get reimbursement for the trip with a voucher issued by ÅHS.
The reimbursement practices for taxi journeys also differ in the Åland Islands from mainland Finland. Kela has an agreement with most taxi service providers in the Åland Islands, so you can choose with which service provider to book a taxi. In mainland Finland, you must book a taxi through a dispatch centre in order to get reimbursement from Kela for your trip.
You can apply for general social security benefit from AMS. You also register as an unemployed jobseeker with AMS.
Apply for an earnings-related unemployment benefit with your unemployment fund.
Social assistance can be provided to individuals or families whose income and assets do not cover their essential daily needs, such as food, housing and medicine.
If a family has expenses which the social assistance paid by Kela does not cover, the social services of the wellbeing services counties can provide supplementary or preventive social assistance after considering your situation.
Learn more about social assistance.