Bank statements and basic social assistance

When you apply for social assistance you have to enclose bank statements with the application.

If the bank statements or other necessary information are missing from your application, we will ask you to provide them before we can make a decision.

Type of bank statement required

The application must be accompanied by bank statements. The bank statement must show

• the account number
• the name of the account holder
• the initial and final balance on the account
• what the account is for
• a complete list of transactions
• the period that the statement covers.

A list of the transactions in the account (instead of a bank statement) is accepted only if it shows the account number and current balance and if the list of transactions is complete.

A screenshot of the transactions from the mobile bank or a receipt printed from an ATM are not accepted as bank statements.

First application

For the first application, a bank statement is needed for each domestic or foreign account that any of your family members has, and the statement must cover the last two months, including gambling accounts. Here, ‘family members’ refers to the people who are given a joint decision on social assistance.

Renewing an application

If you are submitting a follow-up application, please check your last decision as to whether you must provide bank statements. Look up the section of the decision titled “What to do next” to see what bank statements or other supporting documentation you must provide with your next application. Read the decision carefully.

Submit the bank statements with your application

You can speed up the review of your application by including a bank statement with it. If your application is missing a bank statement or other necessary documents, Kela will call you to ask for the missing documentation or send you a message in the OmaKela e-service or by letter.

If we, despite our request, do not receive the necessary documentation, Kela cannot grant you basic social assistance.

How to send bank statements to Kela

1. First go to your online bank and save the bank statements in the PDF format, or take a screenshot. You can also scan or take a photograph of the statements. It is important to include all of the pages of the bank statement.
2. Send the bank statements and other documentation for the application for social assistance in the OmaKela e-service. Please note that our e-service is only available in Finnish and Swedish. Log in to OmaKela using your online banking credentials or a mobile ID.

You can use the e-service for example by visiting a Kela customer service point, most of which have public-access computers, scanners and printers. The service point staff can show you how to use them.

Alternatively, you can submit the original paper statements by mail.

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