Organization

Parliamentary Trustees

Supervised by the Finnish Parliament, Kela is an independent social security institution with its own administration and finances. The parliamentary supervision is exercised by a group of Trustees appointed by Parliament.

The Trustees approve the financial statements and accounting principles based on the recommendation of the Board of Directors and issue decisions on releasing the Board from liability. The Trustees also submit an annual report on their operations to Parliament.

Board of Directors

Kela is managed by a ten-member Board of Directors selected by the Trustees. A representative of the Kela staff has the right to attend and to be heard at Board meetings.

Central administration

The central administration operates mainly in Helsinki. It is divided into 11 departments or equivalent administrative units. The central administration also includes an internal audit unit and the Medical Director's office.

Regional administration

Kela has three insurance regions with a regional office in each. The insurance regions are (location of the regional office in brackets):

• Insurance Region for Southern Finland (Lahti)
• Insurance Region for Western Finland (Seinäjoki and Turku)
• Insurance Region for Eastern and Northern Finland (Oulu)

The insurance regions are divided into insurance districts. Each insurance district has one or several customer service points (local offices, secondary local offices, citizen service centres or labour service centres).

There are also a number of special administrative units which equate to insurance districts. These are the Centre for Student Financial Aid in Jyväskylä (Insurance Region for Western Finland), the Office for International Affairs in Helsinki (Insurance Region for Southern Finland), and the Customer Contact Centre in Joensuu, Lieksa and Jakobstad (Insurance Region for Eastern Finland).

Updated 05/28/13

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