Rates of several Kela benefits will be frozen at their 2023 level for the next few years
Unemployment benefits, child care allowances and study grants will not be index adjusted in 2024–2027. The minimum amounts of the daily allowances payable under National Health Insurance will also not be increased, so they will remain the same as in 2023.
Parliament has approved the Government's bill to freeze the rates of several benefits at their 2023 level for 2024–2027. In that time frame, only some of the benefits paid out by Kela will adjusted to index.
However, the indexation freeze approved by Parliament is not absolute. If, over the following years, the freeze should reduce the real value of the benefits by more than 10.2%, normal index adjustments will again be made.
According to the law, no index adjustments will made to the following Kela benefits in 2024–2027: labour market subsidy and basic unemployment allowance, child care allowances, study grant, and the minimum amounts of the daily allowances payable under National Health Insurance (sickness allowance, partial sickness allowance, daily allowance for parents, special care allowance, sickness allowance on account of human cell, tissue and organ donation). The rates of these benefits will remain the same in 2024–2027 as in 2023.
The indexation freeze also applies to the general housing allowance and the housing allowance for pensioners. One practical effect of this is that the maximum housing costs used in calculating the allowances will not be adjusted to index in 2024–2027.
Some benefits will be index adjusted normally
The following benefits that are usually adjusted annually according to the National Pensions Act are exempt from the indexation freeze: national pension, child increase paid under the National Pensions Act, guarantee pension, front-veterans’ supplements, survivors’ pensions, disability benefits, conscript’s allowance (basic amount) and social assistance (basic amount). These benefits will be increased by about 5.9 percent on 1 January 2024 in line with the National Pensions Index.
Child maintenance allowances will also be index adjusted normally. The rates of the child maintenance allowance will increase by about 4.84 percent based on the Cost-of-Living Index.
National Pensions Index is confirmed yearly
Most benefits provided by Kela are tied to the National Pensions Index. The National Pensions Index is linked to the Cost-of-Living Index, which is compiled by Statistics Finland and tracks the prices of key commodities. Kela is required under the law to confirm annually by the end of October the National Pensions Index score for the next calendar year.
Besides the index increase, a number of other changes will made in 2024 to the euro amounts of Kela benefits. The attached table shows the benefit amounts as of 1 January 2024:Rates of the benefits in euro and income limits starting 1 January 2024.
All press releases about the changes to the social security benefits are available at www.kela.fi/changes.
Additional information
Government proposal HE 75/2023 vp (eduskunta.fi), in Finnish
https://www.kela.fi/web/en/operations-national-pensions-index
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