Infectious disease allowance
On this page
The infectious disease allowance provides compensation for loss of income for persons who have been placed in quarantine or isolation or who have been ordered to stay away from work in order to prevent the spread of an infectious disease.
Can I get infectious disease allowance?
You can get infectious disease allowance in the following situations:
- The doctor responsible for infectious disease control in your wellbeing services county has ordered you into quarantine or isolation or to stay away from work in order to prevent the spread of an infectious disease.
- You are the legal guardian of a child under the age of 16 and your child has been placed in quarantine or isolation or ordered to stay away from their day care or school. Infectious disease allowance can be paid to one guardian at a time. Guardians can take turns to stay at home with their child.
To qualify for the infectious disease allowance, you must, as a rule, be covered by the Finnish National Health Insurance scheme. Even if you are not covered by the Finnish National Health Insurance scheme, you may have the right to infectious disease allowance if you work in Finland and you are the citizen of an EU or EEA country, Switzerland or the United Kingdom.
You may also have the right to infectious disease allowance if you have the right to Kela benefits and you have been placed in quarantine or isolation in an EU or EEA country or in Switzerland. Where this is the case, you must submit a certificate from a doctor or a public authority authorised to issue an isolation or quarantine order in the relevant country with your application.
Quarantine is when the movements of a person who has been exposed to an infectious disease, or who may have been exposed to an infectious disease, are restricted for example by ordering the person to stay at home.
Isolation is when a person who has contracted a disease, or who with good reason is believed to have contracted an infectious disease, is cared for or monitored in a healthcare unit separately from other persons, to prevent the spread of the disease.
When is infectious disease allowance not available?
You cannot get infectious disease allowance for example if
- you are working remotely and you do not incur any loss of income
- you are working remotely, so there is no risk of spreading the infection
- you are on leave or you have been laid off temporarily and therefore do not incur any loss of income
- you are not working for some other reason (such as sick leave) and therefore do not incur any loss of income.
If you are unemployed or a student, you cannot get infectious disease allowance if you do not incur any loss of income. However, if a doctor finds that you are incapable of working due to an infectious disease, you can apply for sickness allowance.
If you work alongside your studies or sporadically while being unemployed and you are ordered to stay away from work due to an infectious disease, you may have the right to infectious disease allowance.
If your illness continues and you cannot return to work, you can apply for sickness allowance. Sickness allowance secures your income when you are unable to work due to illness.
How much is the infectious disease allowance?
The infectious disease allowance is a full compensation for the loss of income incurred. It can be granted for as long as the decision issued by the doctor responsible for infectious disease control is valid.
If you are a wage-earner, the allowance is determined on the basis of the wage or salary that you would have received if you had not been ordered to stay away from work. Tax-exempt per diem allowances and kilometre allowances, for example, are not considered part of your wage or salary.
Kela needs information about the loss of earnings from your employer. If the exact amount is not known, an estimate is sufficient. You can submit the information to Kela yourself or ask your employer to do it.
If you are a self-employed person, the allowance is determined on the basis of your annual income under the Self-Employed Persons’ Pensions Act (the YEL Pensions Act) or the Farmers’ Pensions Act (the MYEL Pensions Act) at the beginning of your absence from work. Your authorised pension provider will inform Kela directly of your annual income.
The infectious disease allowance is paid retroactively for each payment period. The first payment period covers six working days and the following payment periods 25 working days. The last payment of infectious disease allowance is made when your right to the allowance ends.
Visit the OmaKela e-service to check the next payment date for the infectious disease allowance.
The infectious disease allowance is paid to your employer to the extent that your employer has paid you a wage or salary for the time you were absent from work. The infectious disease allowance is taxed in the same way as sickness allowance.
There is no waiting period that must be completed before you can qualify for the infectious disease allowance.
How to apply for infectious disease allowance
You can apply for infectious disease allowance either on a form or in the OmaKela e-service. OmaKela is currently only available in Finnish and Swedish. Kela’s forms are also available in English.
- Apply for infectious disease allowance in the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish).
Submit supporting documents in OmaKela. Take photographs of the documents you are sending if they are not in a digital format.
- A decision on your absence from work, quarantine or isolation from the doctor responsible for infectious disease control in your wellbeing services county (a medical certificate A also suffices if it states corresponding information and has been signed by a doctor responsible for infectious disease control).
- Your employer’s estimate of loss of earnings (you can provide this yourself or ask your employer to do it).
Go to OmaKela to see if Kela has made a decision on your application. You will also see how much you will get and when your benefit will be paid. If supporting documents are missing from your application, you will get a reminder about that in OmaKela.
In OmaKela, you can also give consent for Kela to send you messages. This will help make your application process and other contacts with Kela quicker.
Apply for infectious disease allowance
Submit your application and supporting documents online.
Do as follows if you cannot use OmaKela:
- Apply for infectious disease allowance on the form Sickness allowances SV 8e (PDF).
- Save the blank form to your device. Do not fill in the form directly in the browser because some of the information may not be saved that way.
- Fill in the form and print it out. Remember to sign the form.
- Send the form together with any supporting documents to Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.
The decision notice is only in Finnish or Swedish. If you need help with something, you can call one of our English language customer service numbers.
When to apply
File your application for infectious disease allowance within two months of the date from which you wish to receive it.