Overall situation of entire family relevant for use of Kela’s services
We asked members of our Customer Community who have children how satisfied they are with Kela’s services and how our services could be improved. The survey results highlight the need to take the circumstances of each family member into account and to ensure the accessibility and fairness of Kela’s services. We will use the results of the survey for the development of Kela’s services and specifically to establish a vision for a better customer experience among families with children.
The members of Kela’s Customer Community contribute to the development of Kela’s services by answering surveys and questionnaires. The Customer Community chooses one customer segment at a time for a special focus. Families with children were the customer segment featured at the end of 2025. Our goal was to gain a deeper understanding of the daily lives of families with children, namely how the customer experience differs between families in different life situations and how we could provide better service to families with children.
Financial uncertainty a source of stress for families
We received responses to our survey from a multitude of different families: families with one parent or two, stepfamilies, families with dual-residence children, foster families and adoptive families as well as families where one or several of the children did not live with the parents.
Many families reported experiencing a degree of financial uncertainty that put a strain on the parents. This stress was made worse by factors such as having a demanding job, health issues, a lack of support networks and the complexity of the benefit application process. Other drains on the parents’ resources included challenging life situations over long periods of time and experiences of unfair treatment.
Although many families reported facing a number of challenges, the respondents also found many sources of comfort and empowerment in their daily lives. Among the factors that helped them recharge, respondents mentioned children and partners, family and close friends as well as hobbies, time spent in nature and adequate rest. Many families also found that smoothly running, familiar routines and a home of their own brought them comfort. In addition, respondents cited professional help, such as services provided by Kela and other entities, as an important source of support in difficult situations.
Service channels and development needs
The OmaKela e-service was the most popular choice for accessing Kela’s services for families with children due to the degree of flexibility it offers. Respondents reported that they would call Kela’s phone service or visit a Kela service point particularly when they wanted to consult a Customer Service Specialist to make sure they got everything right the first time.
Challenges with the use of OmaKela reported by the respondents included the roles and rights of adults and children, i.e. when a child under the age of 18 can contact Kela themselves and when an adult can do it for them. The services and features one can use on behalf of another person in OmaKela are constantly under development.
In most cases, one parent would be primarily responsible for communicating with Kela, which would add to the burden of that parent. The reasons for this uneven distribution included the complexity of Kela benefits and the need for an overall understanding of the entire family’s dealings with Kela.
Demand for services that include the entire family
The overall situation of the family has more relevance for interactions with Kela than any individual family member’s circumstances. However, the family members’ circumstances can be interconnected in ways that can make it difficult to gain an overall understanding of the situation. This, in turn, may make it more difficult to know in advance how much the family will get in benefits in total and what rights they have.
The respondents expressed a wish that Kela would improve its ability to take the family’s overall situation into account in its decisions. Respondents expressed a desire particularly for an OmaKela function that would help them to understand and monitor their family’s overall situation.
Kela to create service vision for families with children
Kela develops its services based on customer understanding. The survey conducted among families with children adds to this understanding, which is based on material such as customer feedback, reported customer experiences and the use of our service channels. We will use these sources of information to establish a vision for a better customer experience, so that we can develop our services to better fit the needs of families with children.
Our strategic objectives to be there when you need us and to create wellbeing through knowledge, support and cooperation are at the core of our vision for a better customer experience. An improved customer experience is one of the cornerstones of our strategy, and this is reflected in our tangible objectives of providing services that are tailored to each customer’s needs and easily accessible via different channels, a smoothly running customer experience across our services and clear communications.
We use digital technologies to establish a more clear-cut service offering and to automate routines to make daily life easier for our customers. This also enables us to allocate more resources to the customers who need the most support. By doing so, we ensure a fair and genuinely customer-oriented customer experience for all of our customers.
More information about Kela’s Customer Community