Government proposes changes to special care allowance and disability benefits
The Government has proposed legislative amendments that will affect special care allowance and disability benefits. With the amendments, the Government seeks to change who can get these benefits and for how long and what kinds of documents you must submit when applying for them. The proposal also contains a proposed amendment to benefits available to children with coeliac disease.
The Government has proposed several changes to special care allowance and disability benefits. If the changes enter into force, eligibility for special care allowance will expand to cover a larger age group, the duration of disability benefits will be made clearer, and you will no longer specifically need a medical statement issued by a doctor when applying for these benefits if you submit some other medical documentation with enough information.
The Government has also proposed a change to disability allowance for children with coeliac disease.
Special care allowance is a form of support that Kela pays to a parent who has to stay at home from work to care for a sick or disabled child.
The Government has proposed that eligibility for special care allowance be extended to cover the care or rehabilitation of a teen aged 16 to 17. At present, you can get the allowance only if the child is under 16.
If the proposed amendments enter into force, the law will define more clearly when disability benefits are granted for the time being and when for a fixed period. The aim is to ensure that customers would not have to apply for disability benefits repeatedly if it is already well established that their medical condition or disability affects their daily life in a specific way.
Even then, the customer’s situation may still change over time. In children, changes often happen as a result of their growth and development, allowing the child to gradually take more responsibility for their own care and treatment. In terms of adults, improvements or developments in available treatment or rehabilitation options may mean that the customer’s medical condition or disability no longer has the same impact on their daily life.
Disability benefits can be granted at different rates at different times depending on changes in the customer’s need for support over time.
If the proposed amendments pass into law, customers would also no longer need a medical statement issued by a doctor for their application if they can submit some other medical documentation that has enough information for Kela to make a decision on the customer’s benefits.
Kela already applies many of the proposed changes in practice, but the legislative amendments would incorporate them more clearly into law.
If the proposed amendments pass into law, teens aged 16 to 17 will also qualify for disability allowance for children paid at the basic rate if they have been diagnosed with coeliac disease or dermatitis herpetiformis and they observe a gluten-free diet.
Qualifying for disability allowance in that case would not require a separate assessment of whether the teen requires more care, treatment, guidance or supervision than their peers.
The proposal also includes a proposed amendment to the Act on Social Assistance. If it passes into law, diet-related costs arising from coeliac disease will be taken into account in basic social assistance only for adults aged 18 or over. The current age limit is 16.
The proposed changes are intended to enter into force on 1 January 2027.
Kela will provide more details on the changes and their impact if the proposed legislative amendments are approved by Parliament.
More information
- Government proposes amendments to procedural provisions for disability benefits and the age limit for special care allowance as well as the extension of the right to disability allowance paid at the basic rate to children with coeliac disease (in Finnish, stm.fi)
- Raised age limit for several Kela benefits paid to young people