Payment of basic social assistance
Kela usually pays basic social assistance into the account of the applicant or a person authorised by the applicant.
Basic social assistance is paid regularly on the first business day of the month. If it is too late to make the payment on the regular payment date, the payment will coincide with the decision to grant social assistance. In that case, the payment is deposited to your bank account within two business days of the date on which your application is decided.
If Kela considers your application to be urgent, it will be processed on the day on which the application arrived or on the following working day. Read more about how the applications are processed.
Payment in instalments
Basic social assistance is usually paid as a single instalment, but can be divided into two or four instalments of equal amount at your request. The payment dates are the 1st, 9th, 16th and 23rd of the month. The first instalment is always paid on the first business day of the month. The other payment dates are brought forward if they coincide with a weekend or a holiday.
Payment in instalments must be agreed in advance for at least one month at a time. To request payment in instalments, send a message through Kela’s e-service (please note that our e-service is only available in Finnish and Swedish) or contact a Kela customer service point or phone service. The smallest sum that can be divided into instalments is 80 euros.
Other payment recipients
Basic social assistance is paid to a legal representative or trustee if a court of law or guardianship authority has appointed such a person to look after your finances.
Rent can be paid directly to your landlord based on your authorisation or for a specific reason such as non-payment of rent. You can also ask Kela to pay a bill directly for example to the electric company or an insurance company. State your preference in the application. Read more about social assistance and bills.