Call Kela

020 634 2550

Open weekdays 9−16.

• military or non-military service
• families with children
• housing
• social assistance
• students (healthcare fee for students in higher education)
• unemployment

Should I contact Kela or the employment services?

Contact Kela if you have any questions about the general social security benefit. You can send a message to us in the OmaKela e-service (in Finnish or Swedish) or you can call one of our customer service numbers.

Contact employment services if your question concerns one of the following topics:

• registering as a jobseeker
• the obligation to search for jobs
• a labour policy statement
• the mandatory waiting period for unemployment benefits
• employment-promoting services.

You can find contact information for employment services on the regional pages of Job Market Finland (työmarkkinatori.fi).

If you have questions about unemployment benefits, you can also contact the national unemployment security advice service (työmarkkinatori.fi).

020 634 2650

Open weekdays 9−16.

• disability
• European Health Insurance Card
• Kela card
• pensioners and housing allowance for pensioners
• rehabilitation
• sickness
• credit for medicine costs
• freedom of choice pilot for people over 65

How to book a Kela taxi

Each region have two service providers from which customers can book taxi rides reimbursed by Kela. You can choose from which one to book your taxi.

Dispatch numbers

020 635 3500

Open weekdays 9−16.

If you have a non-disclosure for personal safety reasons

If you have good reason to believe that your safety or the safety of your family may be at risk, the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV) can, at your request, order that information about your address and municipality of residence stored in the population data system can only be disclosed to certain other public authorities.

We recommend that you contact us online or by phone.

• The OmaKela e-service: If you have a non-disclosure for personal safety reasons, you can manage your Kela-related matters securely and easily online. Log in to OmaKela (in Finnish or Swedish) with your online banking credentials or mobile ID to see all your personal information.
• Phone service: The phone service is available in Finnish, Swedish and English. We recommend that you identify yourself in advance in the OmaKela e-service before you call us.
  • Submit a call request: You can submit a call request in OmaKela. The call request can be submitted for the same or next weekday.
• Service point: The specialists at Kela’s service points cannot view any of your information that is subject to a non-disclosure for personal safety reasons. As and when needed, our specialist will forward your contact request to designated staff who will then contact you. You can also use the self-service computers available at our service points to manage your Kela-related matters.

Information about your non-disclosure for personal safety reasons is transmitted together with your contact information.

• Authorities with information systems that are updated with your contact details are therefore also informed of the non-disclosure for personal safety reasons.

020 634 0200

Open weekdays 10−15.

• benefits available from Kela when you move to or leave Finland
• other international situations

If your questions concern housing benefits, housing allowance for pensioners, social assistance, financial aid for students or child maintenance allowance, call the service numbers for those benefits, listed above.

Read more about Kela’s Centre for International Affairs.

020 634 4940

Open weekdays 10–15.

• recovery of benefits
• collection of and exemption from payment of child support debt
• collection of and exemption from payment of government-guaranteed student loan debt
• collection of healthcare fee for higher education students

Contact the Overpayment Recovery Centre if you wish to discuss a payment plan or if you have questions about benefit recovery and debt collection. If you have questions about a decision on recovery, call the customer service number for the benefit that the recovery concerns.

Read more about Kela’s Overpayment Recovery Centre.

• customer service number for Finnish speakers
• customer service number for Swedish speakers
• phone service in North Sámi
• video service in North Sámi
• phone service in Skolt Sámi
• video service in Skolt Sámi

If necessary, you can also handle your matters with the help of an interpreter.

Our phone service is closed during weekends and midweek holidays:

• 6 January
• Good Friday (Easter)
• Easter Monday
• 1 May
• Ascension Day
• Midsummer’s Eve
• Independence Day 
• Christmas Eve
• Christmas Day
• Boxing Day
• New Year’s Day.

Our phone service is open:

• Maundy Thursday 9.00–13.00
• New Year’s Eve (31 December) 9.00–13.00

On Maundy Thursday and New Year’s Eve, the customer service number for social assistance, 020 634 2550, will take calls concerning urgent situations until 16.00.

Calls to Kela’s customer service numbers, including the wait times, are subject to charges.

Depending on your phone plan, the following rates apply:

• local network rate, when calling from a fixed line
• mobile network rate, when calling from a mobile phone
• country-specific fees charged for international calls, when calling from abroad

If you have a phone plan with limited talk, ask your operator if calls beginning with 020 are included in it.

Return call service is free of charge.

Our phone service offers a callback service. This means that you can leave a callback request while you are waiting in the queue for service. The number of callback request slots is limited. You will be offered the option to leave a callback request while you are queuing for the phone service if a callback request slot is available.

You can ask us to call the same number you are calling us from or to call another number.

After you have submitted a call request, one of our specialists will call you. If you do not answer, they will try to call you again one more time.

Phone calls from Kela to individual customers typically come from one of two numbers: 020 692 219 or 020 634 1611. When we call you back, the call is free of charge. 

You can also submit a call request in the OmaKela e-service. You can submit a call request for the current or next weekday.

We record incoming and outgoing customer service calls. Read more about what calls we record in our privacy statement.

We monitor customer satisfaction with the services we offer with feedback surveys. Feedback surveys are sent by SMS from the following numbers: 018 444 199, 018 444 033, 018 444 034 or 018 444 569. Participating in the survey does not cost you anything. You can read more about our feedback surveys in the About Kela section.