General social security benefit during unemployment

General social security benefit (yleistuki) is an unemployment benefit that Kela may pay you if you meet all the following criteria: 

• you are 18–64 
• you are registered as an unemployed jobseeker with the employment services 
• you live permanently in Finland 
• you cannot get or you have run out of earnings-related unemployment allowance (ansiopäiväraha). 

Make sure you register as an unemployed jobseeker with the employment services on your first day of unemployment if you lose your job or you are laid off. You may have to complete a waiting period (omavastuuaika) or a qualifying period (odotusaika) before you can get general social security benefit.  

General social security benefit is paid for 5 days a week (including mid-week holidays). Kela pays the benefit retroactively in periods of 4 weeks based on an unemployment status report. You can submit the status report online or send it by post on a printed-out form.  

Many types of income can reduce the amount of your general social security benefit, for example the following: 

• income you get from work 
• certain social security benefits (such as child home care allowance)
• capital income (such as rental income, dividends and profit from sales)  
• your parents’ income if you live with them. 

This is a summary. Please scroll down for more information and instructions on how to apply for the benefit. 

If you have earned income (wages or salary), you may be able to get adjusted general social security benefit. In that case, your earned income will reduce the amount of general social security benefit you can get.

Other types of income may also reduce the amount of your general social security benefit. This means that the general social security benefit is a means-tested benefit. Kela will take into account, for example, your capital income and certain benefits in the means test.

We take your income into account at its gross amount.

The qualifying period (odotusaika) is 21 weeks, which is about 5 months. The qualifying period starts after

• you become unemployed and register as an unemployed jobseeker
• you have ended full-time studies and register as an unemployed jobseeker
• you have completed a mandatory waiting period (karenssi) during which you were not paid unemployment benefits
• you have met the obligation to work (työssäolovelvoite).

If you are under 25 and employment services have imposed an obligation to work (työssäolovelvoite) on you, the qualifying period (odotusaika) does not start until you have met the obligation.

Read more about the obligation to work for persons under 25.

Your qualifying period (odotusaika) will be reduced by any full calendar weeks during which you have

• done paid work that counts towards the work requirement (työssäoloehto)
• worked as a self-employed person with the work counting towards the work requirement for self-employed persons
• been paid unemployment benefits (työttömyystuki) in the previous 2 years
  • The qualifying period is also reduced by any weeks during which you would have otherwise qualified for unemployment benefits but did not get them due to a qualifying period, means-testing or a waiting period (omavastuuaika).
• been paid unemployment benefits while living in another EU or EEA country or Switzerland in the previous 2 years.

However, if you have worked during a mandatory waiting period (karenssi), a period of obligation to work (työssäolovelvoite) or time of full-time studies, those weeks cannot be deducted from the qualifying period.

If you can prove that your parents cannot support you financially, Kela can pay you the full amount of the general social security benefit. This can be the case for example if your parents have large debts to repay.

If you participate in employment-promoting services, you will be paid the full general social security benefit for the period in which you participate in the services, even if you live with your parents at that time.

You will also get the full benefit if your parents’ combined income does not exceed EUR 2,500 per month. Every dependent child under 18 who lives with your parents increases this income limit by EUR 106 per month.

If your parents’ income exceeds the income limit, you will get less general social security benefit.

You will get a smaller amount of general social security benefit if your parents’ income exceeds the income limit that qualifies you for the full general social security benefit. In that case, half of the amount of your parents’ income that is over the income limit will be deducted from your benefit. However, you will always get at least 35% of the full general social security benefit.

If Kela pays you child home care allowance (kotihoidon tuki), it will be deducted from your general social security benefit.

Any child home care allowance paid to your partner may also be deducted from your general social security benefit because the allowance is a benefit that is paid to the family as a whole.

Child home care allowance that is paid to your partner will be deducted from your general social security benefit if your partner

• regularly works part-time
• is a student
• gets income from their own business.

Child home care allowance that is paid to your partner will not be deducted from your general social security benefit in the following situations:

• Your partner is fully unemployed.
• Your partner takes care of the child on a full-time basis and therefore does not qualify for unemployment benefits.
• Your partner is paid one of the daily allowances for parents (vanhempainpäiväraha) in addition to the child home care allowance.

Benefits that do not affect the general social security benefit include:

• child benefit (lapsilisä)
• child maintenance allowance (elatustuki)
• social assistance (toimeentulotuki)
• general housing allowance (yleinen asumistuki)
• disability allowance (vammaistuki).

The list above does not cover everything. It only lists the most common examples.

Capital income means, for example, income from rent, forest holdings, interest and dividends as well as capital gains.

Other types of income that also affect the amount of the general social security include

• informal care allowance (omaishoidon tuki)
• compensations for family caregivers
• copyright royalties
• partial early old-age pension (osittainen varhennettu vanhuuseläke).

Capital income and other income that is not wages or salary may reduce your general social security benefit even if it is paid to you outside the period of unemployment. Regular income, such as dividends, are evenly periodised as income over the period of one year.

Report changes in your income

We get information on your capital income and other types of income from your tax information and the Incomes Register. We primarily use the information available in your most recently completed taxation. If there have been significant changes in your income, tell Kela about it.

Income limits for capital income and other income that is not wages or salary

The income limit that applies to capital income and other income that is not wages or salary is EUR 311 per month. These types of income will not affect your general social security benefit if you do not exceed the limit. If you do exceed the limit of EUR 311 per month, 50% of the amount that exceeds the limit will be deducted from your general social security benefit.

If you have earned income (wages or salary), Kela may adjust your general social security benefit. This means that your earned income is taken into account in the adjustment process, while all other types of income you have affect the means testing.

You can have income up to a certain limit without it affecting your general social security benefit. Check the income limits that apply to capital income and other income that is not wages or salary.

If you participate in employment-promoting services, any income you get that is not wages or salary will not reduce your general social security benefit.

Do as follows if you cannot use OmaKela:

1. Apply for general social security benefit on the form General social security benefit granted on the basis of unemployment YE 1e (PDF).
2. 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.
3.  Fill in the form and print it out. Remember to sign the form.
4. Send the form together with any supporting documents to Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.

In your first application for general social security benefit, report the dates you have been unemployed starting from the first day of unemployment.

After you have submitted your first application to Kela, you must file an unemployment status report that covers a period of 2 weeks to get the first benefit payment.

After that, you must submit an unemployment status report to Kela every 4 weeks.

You can only report days of unemployment that have already passed in your application. You can apply for general social security benefit retroactively for a period of up to 3 months.

Employment services will send a labour policy statement (työvoimapoliittinen lausunto) to Kela. Kela needs the statement to process your application.

You do not need to complete a waiting period (omavastuuaika) of 7 working days if you go directly from earnings-related unemployment allowance (työttömyyspäiväraha) to the general social security benefit. You can apply for the benefit immediately the day after you have stopped receiving earnings-related unemployment allowance. Submit an unemployment status report (työttömyysajan ilmoitus) for the first time after 2 weeks have passed from the day when you went from earnings-related unemployment allowance to the general social security allowance. Then submit a status report every 4 weeks after that.

Note that you must complete the waiting period of 7 working days before you can apply for the general social security benefit if you do not go directly from earnings-related unemployment allowance to the general social security benefit. This applies in situations where there is a gap between the two benefits because, for example, you worked or received sickness allowance (sairauspäiväraha) after the end of your earnings-related unemployment allowance.

We get information on your income from your tax information and the Incomes Register. We use this information when processing your application.

We cannot see or access any supporting documents you have sent to the employment services.

We may ask you for more information if we need it.

Processing time means how long it takes Kela to process an application from the day Kela gets the application to when Kela issues a decision on it. Check the estimated processing time for the general social security benefit.