Frequently asked questions about the corona virus situation

If the physician specialising in infectious diseases in your municipality or hospital district has ordered you to stay away from work, in isolation or quarantine, you can get an infectious disease allowance.

You can also get the allowance if you are the provider of a child under 16 and have to stay off work because your child has been placed in quarantine or isolation. Provider means the legal guardian of the child.

Quarantine is when the movements of a person who has been exposed to an infectious disease, or who may have been exposed to an infectious disease, are restricted for example by ordering the person to stay at home.

Isolation means that a person who has or is suspected to have contracted an infectious disease is ordered to stay away from other people. They can either be treated by the healthcare system, or their health can be monitored at home.

The following are some of the situations in which you cannot get the infectious disease allowance:

• you have been ordered by your employer or your school to stay at home for a period of 10 days after foreign travel
• you stay at home with your child because the day care centre or school is closed
• you have self-quarantined.

As a rule, no. Closure of a day care centre is not sufficient grounds for granting infectious disease allowance.

You may be granted infectious disease allowance, if the physician specialising in infectious diseases in your municipality or hospital district has ordered a child of yours who is under 16 to stay at home in order to prevent the spread of an infectious disease and you can therefore not go to work.

If a freelancer has an employment contract and the physician specialising in infectious diseases in your municipality or hospital district has ordered the freelancer to stay home from work or to stay in isolation or quarantine in order to stop an infectious disease from spreading, the freelancer is entitled to infectious disease allowance to compensate for loss of income.

The allowance is determined based on the salary for the employment that the freelancer would have got, had he or she not been ordered to stay home from work due to isolation or quarantine.

If a freelancer is self-employed and the physician specialising in infectious diseases in his or her municipality or hospital district has ordered the freelancer to stay home from work or to stay in isolation or quarantine in order to stop an infectious disease from spreading, the freelancer is entitled to infectious disease allowance to compensate for loss of income.

The infectious disease allowance for self-employed persons is 1/300 of the amount of the confirmed annual income confirmed under the Self-Employed Persons' Pensions Act (YEL) or the Farmers' Pensions Act (MYEL) in effect on the day when payment of the benefit begins. Self-employed persons who do not have a YEL or MYEL insurance, are not entitled to infectious disease allowance.

While your part-time employment contract is in effect, you have the right to be absent from work temporarily, for example because of an illness suffered by you or a child of yours. 

You and your employer can change your part-time employment contract so that it won’t be in effect during an absence from work. In that case, payment of the partial sickness allowance will be stopped. In order for the payment of partial sickness allowance to continue when you return to work, you must sign a new contract with your employer.

You and your employer can also sign an agreement that your part-time contract will be in effect during your absence. In that case, payment of the partial sickness allowance will continue. 

Kela will only need a medical certificate if you apply for sickness allowance payable by Kela. Sickness allowance is available after completing a specified waiting period. The waiting period usually consists of the first day of illness and the following nine working days.

However, your employer may require a medical certificate also in the case of a shorter sick absence. Agree with your employer on how long you can stay home from work without submitting a medical certificate.

Kela provides reimbursement for PCR tests, antigen tests (also known as rapid tests) and antibody tests performed by private-sector healthcare providers.

The reimbursement rate is

• EUR 100 for a PCR test
• EUR 36 for an antigen test  
• EUR 15 for testing consisting of several antibody tests
• EUR 5 for a single antibody test.

In order to get reimbursement for a PCR test, antigen test or antibody test, you need a referral by a doctor in the private sector.

You cannot get a reimbursement from Kela if

• the test is performed by a public healthcare provider
• you are asymptomatic and there is no indication that you have been exposed to the coronavirus
• the test is performed for screening purposes, for example on the request of your employer
• the test is performed for the purposes of travel, performance of professional duties, participation in events or something else of a similar nature.

Kela will also not reimburse costs for referrals, certificates or statements in connection with these kinds of tests.

According to the recommendation on the use of face masks, everyone should obtain the face masks themselves. If a recommendation on the use of face masks is in force in the municipality, the municipal authorities must make sure that those in the most vulnerable position get face masks free of charge.

Kela does not pay any separate reimbursement to cover the costs for face masks. The costs for face masks are included in the basic amount of the social assistance.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Kela has issued exceptional instructions to pharmacies allowing them, in certain situations, to dispense a medicine 7 days earlier than normal.

The length of the interval depends on the amount of medicine purchased in the previous batch and the specified dosage. The margin by which the medicine may be dispensed early is calculated on the basis of the date when the medicine will run out if used as prescribed.

The earliest that patients can get a reimbursement for a new batch is:

• 21 days before the previous batch will run out, assuming that the previous batch contained medicine in an amount equivalent to three months’ use.
• 14 days before the previous batch will run out, assuming that the previous batch contained medicine in an amount equivalent to two months’ use.
• 7 days before the previous batch will run out, assuming that the previous batch contained medicine in an amount equivalent to one month’s use or less.

Please contact your pharmacy for further information on the required time interval between two purchases of medicine.

It is possible to buy prescription medicines on behalf of another person.

When going to the pharmacy, take with you your family member’s Kela card or patient instruction sheet and information about the medicine that you are going to pick up. Your family member can also authorise you to act on her behalf in the Suomi.fi online service. The authorisation is valid in all pharmacies for the period of time stated by the person granting the authorisation. Read more about granting authorisations (Suomi.fi).

Many pharmacies also have an online service through which you can also order prescription medicines. Signing in to the online service requires strong authentication, for example your banking credentials. Many pharmacies also have a home delivery service. You can also contact your local authority to get help with your pharmacy needs. 

If you or one of your family members, a friend or a neighbour can’t go to the pharmacy because of the coronavirus situation, you can also order medicines by telephoning. Read more about the services provided by the pharmacies in the press release of the Association of Finnish Pharmacies (apteekkariliitto.fi, in Finnish).

Because of the situation caused by the corona virus, ride-sharing is, exceptionally, not used for trips made by Kela taxi.

Customers are reminded that all Kela-reimbursed taxi trips must always be booked by calling the regional dispatch number. See the regional dispatch numbers here.

The dispatch centre does not, exceptionally, use ride-sharing among customers going to healthcare appointments by taxi.

Customers who book a Kela-reimbursed taxi because of health reasons, need to have a certificate from the healthcare provider proving their right to use a taxi. You also have the right to use a Kela-reimbursed taxi if no public transport options are available.

As a rule, your right to benefits is retained during a consecutive stay outside Finland lasting a maximum of 6 months.

Exceptions to this rule can be made under special circumstances, such as if your return to Finland is delayed because of travel restrictions or the lack of travel options.

There is no explicit time limit. Whether you retain your right to benefits depends on if you return to Finland immediately when this is possible, or not.

You may be entitled to benefits under the national health insurance scheme, such as sickness allowance and reimbursements for medicine costs, for a period of 3 months after your job ended, if you worked in Finland for at least 6 months before your job ended and your salary or wage was at least 724 euros per month.

Find out if you’re entitled to general housing allowance or unemployment benefits. You can only get social assistance (income support) if you are not entitled to these primary benefits.

It is very likely that you are still covered under the other country’s social security system, but the matter will be decided by the social security institution of the country in question. If the coronavirus situation is prolonged, contact Kela's Centre for International Affairs to ask if you can be covered by the Finnish social security system again.

You should find out how things stand regarding your social security coverage by the time your job abroad ends, at the latest, regardless of whether it ends as planned or prematurely. Contact information for the Centre for International Affairs.

If you are laid off temporarily (furloughed), you must apply for unemployment benefits from Finland. The requirements are 

•  that you have worked in Finland or another country for at least 6 months, and  
• that you register as a jobseeker online or by phone. For more detailed instructions, see the website of the TE Services .

If you haven’t been laid off, you are not entitled to unemployment benefits. If you have been dismissed from your work and you live in Estonia, you are not entitled to unemployment benefits from Finland.

Your right to benefits from Kela under the Finnish national health insurance system, such as sickness allowance, can continue for 3 months, after your work has ended or been interrupted for example because you have been laid off temporarily. 

A requirement for this so called extended eligibility, is that you have been working for at least 6 months. In addition to extended eligibility, workers who have come to Finland from another EU country can also retain their right to health insurance coverage if they are being paid sickness allowance or unemployment allowance.

A general order issued by the healthcare authorities to close day care centres and schools is not sufficient grounds for granting infectious disease allowance.

You may be granted infectious disease allowance, if the physician specialising in infectious diseases in your municipality or hospital district has ordered a child of yours who is under 16 to stay at home in order to prevent the spread of an infectious disease and you can therefore not go to work.

Persons residing in a EU or EEA country, in Switzerland or in Great Britain need a certificate issued by a physician who, in the country in question, is authorised to issue an order to keep a child at home in order to stop the spread of an infectious disease. 

By presenting a European Health Insurance Card you should get medically necessary care in a EU or EEA country or Switzerland for the local client fee. Medically necessary treatment means treatment that cannot wait until you return home. 

The need of treatment is assessed by a local doctor. You can use the European Health Insurance Card in the EU and EEA countries and in Switzerland in the public health care system and at private doctor’s surgeries and hospitals affiliated to the public health insurance scheme. 

If you pay for the treatment and medication yourself, you can claim reimbursement from Kela afterwards.

With a European Health Insurance Card you will get medically necessary treatment in the Finnish public healthcare system.

Medically necessary treatment means treatment that based on the assessment of a medical professional cannot wait until you return home. It may be treatment needed due to sudden illness, long-term illness, pregnancy or childbirth.

If, for example, a physician makes the assessment that you need treatment for the coronavirus, you will receive the treatment needed if you have a European Health Insurance Card. You will get the treatment at the same price as the local residents in Finland.

The European Health Insurance Card gives you access to medically necessary care in a EU or EEA country or Switzerland.

Medically necessary treatment means treatment that based on the assessment of a medical professional cannot wait until you return home. It may be treatment needed due to sudden illness, long-term illness, pregnancy or childbirth.

If, for example, a physician makes the assessment that you need treatment for the coronavirus, you will receive the treatment needed if you have a European Health Insurance Card. You will get the treatment at the same price as the local residents.

You can buy medicines in Finland with a prescription issued in another EU or EEA country or Switzerland, if a sales license for that medicine has been granted in Finland. The prescription must include the following information:

• Surname, given name and date of birth of the patient
• Date of issue of the prescription
• Information on the medical professional that issued the prescription: surname, given name, professional qualifications, direct contact information (email address and telephone number or fax number including international country code), workplace address (also country) and signature.
• Information on the medicine: the prescription for the medicine must be issued for the active substance, dosage form, strength, dosage and dosage instructions.

Please note that medicines classified as narcotics or psychotropics cannot be bought with a prescription issued in another country. The pharmacy can also refuse to dispense a prescription if it has doubts regarding the authenticity of the prescription. If you cannot buy medicines in Finland with your prescription, ask a doctor practising in Finland to write you a prescription.

Everyone has the right to urgent medical treatment in the Finnish public healthcare system regardless of nationality or country of origin. Persons who are not from another EU or EEA country or from Switzerland or Australia are generally not entitled to get more than the urgently needed care in the Finnish public healthcare system.

If you need treatment for coronavirus infection, in most cases you have to pay all of the costs of the treatment yourself.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health recommends that the municipalities do not charge a fee for coronavirus tests or for treatment for a coronavirus infection from persons who do not have a municipality of residence in Finland or a certificate of entitlement to medical care or who are not staying in Finland as travellers. The municipalities decide themselves if they follow this recommendation. Check with the municipality that is providing treatment whether it charges a fee for treatment of a coronavirus infection and for coronavirus tests.

You also have the option to use private medical services at your own expense.

Everyone has the right to urgent medical treatment in the Finnish public healthcare system regardless of nationality or country of origin.

Persons who are not from another EU or EEA country or from Switzerland or Australia are generally not entitled to get more than the urgently needed care in the Finnish public healthcare system. Finnish citizenship alone does not qualify you for more than the urgently needed care.

If you need treatment for coronavirus infection, in most cases you have to pay all of the costs of the treatment yourself.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health recommends that the municipalities do not charge a fee for coronavirus tests or for treatment for a coronavirus infection from persons who do not have a municipality of residence in Finland or a certificate of entitlement to medical care or who are not staying in Finland as travellers. The municipalities decide themselves if they follow this recommendation. Check with the municipality that is providing treatment whether it charges a fee for treatment of a coronavirus infection and for coronavirus tests.

You also have the option to use private medical services at your own expense.

If you are registered as a resident of a Finnish municipality, you receive all of the services available from the Finnish public healthcare system at the same cost as the local residents. The registrations are handled by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

If you qualify for a certificate of entitlement to medical care, which is issued by Kela, you can get treatment in the public healthcare system at the fee applicable to the local residents. If you have not yet received the certificate and you need the services of a public healthcare provider, please contact Kela.

If you are not registered as a resident of a Finnish municipality and do not have the right to a certificate of entitlement to medical care, in most cases you have to pay all of the costs of COVID-19 treatment yourself.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health recommends that the municipalities do not charge a fee for coronavirus tests or for treatment for a coronavirus infection from persons who do not have a municipality of residence in Finland or a certificate of entitlement to medical care or who are not staying in Finland as travellers. The municipalities decide themselves if they follow this recommendation. Check with the municipality that is providing treatment whether it charges a fee for treatment of a coronavirus infection and for coronavirus tests.

Everyone has the right to urgent medical treatment in the Finnish public healthcare system regardless of nationality or country of origin.

Due to the coronavirus epidemic, Kela will allow extra time for submitting proof of an undergone postnatal medical examination. Kela can pay parental allowance, even though the mother has not undergone a postnatal medical examination.

However, if you have already received a certificate stating that you have undergone a postnatal medical examination, you must submit it to Kela. Do not cancel a booking for a postnatal medical examination that you have already made.

If your child has a place in municipal daycare and you have not taken the child out of daycare, Kela cannot pay you child home care allowance or private day care allowance.

However, some municipalities offer a care-place guarantee, under which a family may be entitled to home care allowance for the period of time that a child does not participate in daycare. Check with your own municipality, if this applies to you.

If your child is in private daycare and you have an agreement with the service provider on that you do not have to pay any daycare fee at all if your child is absent, you may be entitled to child home care allowance. Check if you are entitled to home care allowance.

Kela does not pay child home care allowance or private day care allowance for children who are of school age. You may be entitled to partial care allowance, if you are working shorter hours because of looking after your child.

If your child has a place in municipal daycare and you have not taken the child out of daycare, Kela cannot pay you child home care allowance or private day care allowance.

However, some municipalities offer a care-place guarantee, under which a family may be entitled to home care allowance for the period of time that a child is not in daycare. Check with your own municipality, if this applies to you.

If your child is in private daycare and you have an agreement with the service provider that you do not have to pay the daycare fee specified in the daycare agreement if your child is absent, you may be entitled to child home care allowance. Check if you are entitled to home care allowance.

Payment of private day care allowance may continue, if the parents and the daycare provider have agreed that the daycare fee will continue to be charged. The allowance will, however, only be paid at an amount equivalent to the agreed daycare fee specified in the daycare agreement.

If your child is in private daycare and you have an agreement with the service provider that you do not have to pay the daycare fee specified in the daycare agreement if your child is absent, you may be entitled to child home care allowance. Check if you are entitled to home care allowance.

You are not entitled to partial care allowance or flexible care allowance, if you have no work hours scheduled for the period for which you apply for the benefit.

If you are completely absent from work for a consecutive period of 4 weeks due to other reasons than annual leave, Kela will stop paying you care allowance from the start of your absence. Shorter or occasional absences from work do not, however, affect payment of care allowance, provided that the work requirement is otherwise met.

Find out if your family is entitled to, for example, child home care allowance or any other benefits that compensate for loss of income from Kela.

An infectious disease is very rarely sufficient grounds for being granted special maternity allowance.

Early childhood education and child welfare units

If you work in early childhood education or child welfare units and you are pregnant, you may be entitled to special maternity allowance due to the risk of becoming infected with the corona virus, if there is no other work available than you can undertake instead.

In the above-mentioned situations, eligibility for special maternity allowance does not require there to be any confirmed or suspected cases of coronavirus infection.

Dental care

If you work in dental care and you are pregnant, you may be entitled to special maternity allowance due to the coronavirus, if

• it isn’t possible to provide work tasks for you that do not involve aerosols, or
• it isn’t possible for you to wear appropriate personal protective equipment when performing dental care tasks.

Healthcare and residential care facilities

If you work in healthcare or in a residential care facility, you may be entitled to special maternity allowance, if

• it isn’t possible to reassign you so as to avoid coming into contact with patients infected with coronavirus
• it isn’t possible for you to wear appropriate personal protective equipment when providing care.

If there is a change in the daycare fee specified in the daycare agreement (the amount payable by the family and the amount of the private day care allowance), the family or the daycare provider must report the change to Kela. The family can report changes with Kela's e-service. You can also report changes by calling the customer service number for families with children.

If the change is only temporary, the care provider does not have to submit form WH2e to Kela.

You are not entitled to private day care allowance for a period of time for which the daycare fee specified in the agreement has been agreed at 0 euros. If the fee payable by the family has been removed and the amount of the daycare fee specified in the daycare agreement is at least equal to the amount of the private day care allowance, the benefit will continue to be paid normally. If the daycare fee specified in the agreement is reduced by an amount exceeding the fee payable by the family, the allowance will also be reduced accordingly.

If the family is not required to pay a fee to the care provider, there is no need to notify Kela under the current circumstances.

Kela cannot take a position on the content of daycare agreements. The agreement is between the family and the child care provider.

Even if the child or the care provider falls ill, Kela can continue to pay private day care allowance for as long as the care relationship continues and there is an agreement to pay a daycare fee. The allowance will only be paid at an amount equivalent to the agreed daycare fee specified in the daycare agreement.

If your child is in home care solely as a precautionary measure due to the coronavirus outbreak, you do not meet the requirements for special care allowance.

The special care allowance can be paid in connection with home care that immediately precedes or follows a specialist-level medical care period or intervention.

In order for the allowance to be paid during home care, the illness must be serious and at a rapidly progressing or therapeutically challenging stage, the attending doctor must consider the parent’s involvement in the treatment necessary, and the parent must stay home to care for the child on a full-time basis.

The disability allowance for children under 16 is not affected by changes in the child’s rehabilitation process which are related to the coronavirus epidemic. Therefore, because the therapy was suspended on account of the coronavirus epidemic, you do not have to tell Kela about it.

The need for additional assistance and care due to a change in teaching methods cannot be taken into consideration in the disability allowance.

The benefit cannot be adjusted, because in this case, the change of teaching methods is not due to your child’s illness or handicap, and the responsibility for the remote teaching of your child still lies with the school.

You should report the change in costs to Kela. You can do this either by sending a message on our e-service or by calling 020 634 2650.

You can also state the necessary information in your own words and send the statement to us by post. Our address is Kela, PL 10, 00056 KELA.

We will check whether the change in income affects your allowance, and if it does, tell you what the next steps will be.

When applying for social assistance, you must submit reliable documentation of your financial situation to Kela. A bank statement constitutes such documentation.

If you’re applying for basic social assistance from Kela for the first time, or you have not been paid social assistance for some time, you need to enclose bank statements for all bank accounts of all your family members for the last 2 months.

If you wish to apply for an extension of your social assistance payments, submit the bank statements for your follow-up application as instructed by Kela in the most recent decision that you received.

The bank statement must show

• the account number
• the name of the account holder
• the initial and final balance on the account
• a complete list of transactions
• the period which the statement covers.

Instead of a bank statement, Kela can also accept an unbroken list of transactions, if the transactions show the same information as the bank statement.

Read more

• Bank statements and social assistance in the coronavirus situation (in Finnish)
• When applying for social assistance, do not forget the bank statements. (elamassa.fi, in Finnish)

Self-employed persons can get labour market subsidy payments if they have stopped working as self-employed or if their income from self-employment is less than EUR 1,089.67 per month because of the coronavirus epidemic.

You don’t need to end your self-employment business to qualify for unemployment benefits.

Read more: Temporary unemployment benefits for self-employed persons

Basic social assistance is a last-resort form of assistance. The fact that social assistance is a last resort means that you must attempt, to the best of your ability, to secure a livelihood for your family and yourself, and first claim any other benefits to which you may be entitled.

Among the benefits provided by Kela, this includes unemployment benefits, housing benefits, pensions, financial aid for students, maternity, paternity and parental allowances, sickness allowance, child care allowances, and child maintenance allowances.

Read more:

• Social assistance in the coronavirus situation: Self-employed and without work

Before applying for basic social assistance, find out if there are some other benefits or sources of income available to you. You must register as an unemployed jobseeker online with the TE Services (mol.fi) and apply for unemployment benefit. Apply for unemployment benefit from an unemployment fund (tyj.fi), The Federation of Unemployment Funds in Finland) or apply for unemployment benefit from Kela.

Before submitting an application, assess whether you are entitled to get social assistance. See who can get basic social assistance.

Use the calculator for social assistance to help you to assess if you are eligible for the benefit, and to calculate an estimate of the amount that you could get.

If you apply for basic social assistance, Kela will also assess your right to social assistance. When making an assessment, Kela takes your earned income into account. Note that you have an obligation to prepare for a possible reduction in earnings.

Kela will, however, consider each case individually and assess the extent to which a person can realistically be expected to prepare for unexpected situations. Kela will also take the exceptional situation caused by the coronavirus epidemic into account.

Useful tips: How to complete an application for social assistance and provide all necessary information (elamassa.fi, in Finnish)

If you are in urgent need of a voucher for buying food, but you are in quarantine because of the coronavirus epidemic, or you are ill, another person can pick up the voucher from one of Kela’s customer service points. 

If another person goes to the shop on your behalf, the name of that person must be written on the voucher. In these exceptional circumstances, no separate power of attorney is needed. 

If you cannot wait for payment to be made into your bank account, and there is no other person who can pick up the voucher and go to the shop on your behalf, Kela will find a solution together with you and your local authority.

If your income changes because of this, inform Kela either via the e-service or by phone at 020 634 2550. 

All available income is considered when reviewing an application for social assistance. 

File the next month’s application well in advance because there may be delays in processing applications.

If you are in urgent need of assistance, contact Kela or the municipal social services by phone or online.

Kela only takes into account costs incurred in the public healthcare sector for the purposes of social assistance. The customer must thus have the coronavirus test performed by a public-sector healthcare provider or pay the costs for a test performed by a private-sector healthcare provider himself or herself.

However, Kela provides compensation for part of the costs for diagnostic and antibody tests for coronavirus performed by private-sector healthcare providers.

Read more about reimbursement for tests

This is not regarded as an absence, so the payment of your unemployment benefit will continue normally, but it will not include a compensation for expenses. Compensations for expenses are paid only to those who attend a programme. In the unemployment status report, state ‘unemployed’ and describe the situation in more detail in the section for additional information. You don’t need to get a report of absence from the service provider (form TT3), if the venue for the services is closed.

If the organiser or provider of the programme cancels it, the cancellation will not be the participant’s fault, so the payment of unemployment benefits will continue.

It’s important that you follow the guidance given by the TE Office and the social and healthcare authorities.

If you do not attend the programme for some other reason, you cannot get unemployment benefits.

If your absence is due to incapacity for work, unemployment benefits can usually continue to be paid for three days based on your own report.

If you are absent because of the illness of a child under 10, unemployment benefits can be paid for four days.  If you will be absent longer, contact the TE Office for instructions.

Payment of unemployment benefits requires the TE Office to consider you unemployed (as a result of a temporary lay-off or a similar reason). Unemployment benefits cannot be paid for any period in which you are entitled to a salary from your employer.

Any sickness allowance paid on account of an infectious disease is deducted from the unemployment benefit.

You cannot be granted unemployment benefits, because you are not unemployed.

Payment of unemployment benefits requires you to register with the TE Office as an unemployed jobseeker and for the TE Office to recognise you as unemployed.

For persons in regular employment, the requirement is that they are laid off temporarily or prevented from working for reasons beyond the employee’s or employer’s control, and that the employer’s obligation to pay a salary no longer applies.

Caring for your child at home temporarily does not prevent payment of unemployment benefit, but you must still be able to carry out the responsibilities related to seeking employment required by the TE Services.

Any absences from employment promoting services will not prevent payment of unemployment benefits, if the reason for the absence is an illness suffered by your child or an equivalent reason.

The sickness allowance on account of an infectious disease is equal to your salary, so usually there will be no change in your general housing allowance.

It may be necessary to review the allowance if there has been a change in your salary or in the income of any of your household members.

You can apply for a review of the housing allowance on Kela’s e-service.

More information about reviews of the general housing allowance.

Your general housing allowance should be reviewed if the combined income of your household members increases by 200 euros or more or decreases by 400 euros or more per month from what the income was at the time of the previous decision on general housing allowance.

You can apply for a review of the housing allowance on Kela’s e-service.

More information about reviews of the general housing allowance.

Whether general housing allowance can be granted or not depends, among other things, on the income and housing costs of the persons living in the household in question. Use this calculator to find out if you may be entitled to general housing allowance.

General housing allowance is as a rule granted for an indefinite period, i.e. without a specified end date.

The income of every member of the household is taken into account either as a regular income or as an average income.

Regular income means income that a person continues to earn for at least 3 months starting from the date on which the housing allowance is granted or reviewed.

If the income of a person varies and will not be the same for at least 3 months starting from the date when the allowance was granted or reviewed, it will be taken into account as an average income. All the incomes that the person is estimated to earn during the following 12 months will be taken into account.

Read more:

• Who can get general housing allowance?
• Effect of income on the amount of housing allowance

Because of the timing of the furlough, it does not affect your housing allowance.

The general rule is that the housing allowance must be reviewed if there is a change in income. The housing allowance is reviewed from the beginning of the month following the first full month of a change in income.

In your case, it would reviewed starting from 1 June. However, because your furlough will have ended by then, the general housing allowance is not affected by the change in income.

Read more:

• Review of housing allowance

If your course is cancelled, you are not entitled to student financial aid. Provide notification of the cancellation by completing either a notification of changes on the OmaKela e-service or on form OT 16e (pdf).

On OmaKela, select Ilmoita muutoksista (Notify changes) > Opintotuki (Student financial aid) > Opintotuen muutosilmoitus (Notification of changes relevant to student financial aid) > Palautan tai perun opintotukea, lakkautan sen tai ilmoitan opintojen päättymisestä  (I’m paying back or cancelling student financial aid, stopping payment of it, or reporting that my studies have ended) > Opintojen keskeyttäminen (Discontinuation of studies).

If your studies continue in the form of online courses or in some other form, you will continue to receive student financial aid as normal. However, if you will be living in a place other than the one stated in your application for student financial aid, you must notify Kela of this.

See also the following questions:

• My plan was to live in the school dormitory, but that may not be possible.Will I be able to get financial aid as normal?
• Because of COVID-19, I’ve had to move in with my parent. Do I have to notify Kela of this?

If your school has decided to start instruction on a remote basis or if the dormitory is closed as the autumn because of COVID-19, we will decide your application based on your current housing situation.

If you currently live with your parents, Kela will use that as the basis for determining your financial aid. Read more about the amount of the study grant.

If at this point you are not granted financial aid on account of living with your parents, you should file a new application for financial aid once you have confirmation that you can move into the dormitory.

If you are granted less financial aid on account of living with your parents, file a notification of changes once you have confirmation that you can move into the dormitory. Notify Kela if you have had to move by completing either the notification of changes form on the OmaKela e-service or the OT 15e (pdf) form.

On OmaKela, select Ilmoita muutoksista (Notify changes) > Opintotuki (Student financial aid) > Opintotuen muutosilmoitus (Notification of changes relevant to student financial aid) > Ilmoitan muusta muutoksesta tai haen lisätukea (I’m reporting some other kind of change or applying for additional financial aid) > Asumisen muutos (Change in housing arrangements).

If you live alternately in your parent’s house and in the school dormitory (or otherwise independently), your financial aid will be paid based on where you spend most of your time during a month of active study.

If you have moved or will be moving in with your parents, report this to Kela.

If you live alternately in your parent’s house and independently, your financial aid will be paid based on where you spend most of your time during a month of active study.
 
Provide notification of the move by completing either a notification of changes on OmaKela e-service or the OT 15e (pdf) form.

On OmaKela, select Ilmoita muutoksista (Notify changes) > Opintotuki (Student financial aid) > Opintotuen muutosilmoitus (Notification of changes relevant to student financial aid) > Ilmoitan muusta muutoksesta tai haen lisätukea (I’m reporting some other kind of change or applying for additional financial aid) > Asumisen muutos (Change in housing arrangements).

Complete a new notification of change when you no longer live with your parents during the days of active study.

If your financial aid is affected by your parents’ income, and their income has decreased because they are now furloughed or unemployed, you can report the change in income to Kela.

If you currently receive financial aid, report the change in income by logging in to the OmaKela e-service or by completing form OT 15e (pdf).

If you do not currently receive financial aid, you can apply for it using the appropriate application. How to apply for student financial aid

If your parents’ income now is at least 20% lower than their income according to the latest final tax assessment, the decrease in income is taken into account for purposes of your financial aid. The time frame for determining your parents’ current income is the next 12 months. The comparison between current and tax income is made on the basis of your parents’ combined income, if both incomes affect your financial aid.

If you have fewer travel days because you are in remote learning, your eligibility for school transport subsidy may change. If you have been granted school transport subsidy and begin remote learning, tell Kela about it. You can either send a message on the OmaKela e-service or a submit a notification of changes about school transport subsidy KM 4e (pdf).

School transport subsidy is affected also by other changes in circumstances

Also remember to report other changes in your circumstances to Kela so that the school transport subsidy can be paid correctly. Read more about the changes affecting the school transport subsidy.

Do not top up your school transport subsidy card if you will not have trips to and from school or on-the-job training. If you wish to top up your card for other use, first visit the ticket vendor and ask to have the information on the card changed.

If you have moved back to Finland from abroad

Tell Kela if you have been granted financial aid to study or live abroad, but you now live in Finland because of the coronavirus epidemic.

Notify the change in your residential arrangements by completing either the notification of changes form on the OmaKela e-service or the OT 15e (pdf) form.

On OmaKela, select Ilmoita muutoksista (Notify changes) > Opintotuki (Student financial aid) > Opintotuen muutosilmoitus (Notification of changes relevant to student financial aid) > Ilmoitan muusta muutoksesta tai haen lisätukea (I’m reporting some other kind of change or applying for additional financial aid) > Asumisen muutos (Change in housing arrangements).

The government guarantee for student loans is the same even if you live in Finland. Kela can continue to pay you a student housing supplement for up to three months from the date of your return to Finland, provided that you still pay for housing abroad. If you live with your parents, the study grant will be smaller.

Submit a new notification of change once you again are living abroad.

If you begin your studies as a distance student while living in Finland

If you begin your studies in a foreign school as a distance student based in Finland, you are eligible for the same benefits as students who are enrolled in a Finnish school, with the exception that the student loan guarantee is larger, EUR 800 per month.

File a notification of change regarding financial aid if you move abroad. If you receive general housing allowance payments, remember to file a notification of change about that as well. Instructions for filing a notification of changes.

If you have notified Kela that you will be completing a period of study abroad but you decide to leave the study programme or do not travel abroad at all because of the coronavirus outbreak, tell Kela about your decision.

Use the OmaKela e-service to file a notification. Under Aihe (Subject), select Opiskelijan tuet (Benefits for students) and then Opintotuki (Student financial aid). If you have received, or you would receive, too much in housing supplement payments, tell us what happened and why. Also tell us in the same message if you have moved into your parent’s house.

If you have already taken out a larger study loan for a period of foreign study, you do not have to return it and the government loan guarantee will apply normally.

You need not cancel or return financial aid payments if you do not make enough progress with your studies on account of the coronavirus epidemic. You can continue to get financial aid if your progress is slowed because of a valid reason. The exceptional circumstances caused by the coronavirus epidemic are accepted as such a reason.

The monitoring of academic progress in higher education

In autumn 2021, Kela will check students’ progress with their studies in the 2020–2021 academic year. If you have not made satisfactory progress, Kela will send you a request for further information. Reply and explain the reasons for the lack of progress. The exceptional circumstances caused by the coronavirus epidemic are accepted as such a reason.

More information about the rules concerning the monitoring of study progress in higher education.

If you are in upper secondary education, see here how study progress is monitored.

You can re-apply for financial aid

Kela will recognise the exceptional situation caused by the coronavirus epidemic also if your financial aid payments are stopped or limited temporally because of lack of academic progress, and you go on to file a new application for financial aid. This means that you can apply for financial aid again if there is a valid reason for you not completing the required number of credits.

If you decide to file a new application, go to the OmaKela e-service and choose Ilmoita muutoksista (Notify changes) > Opintotuki (Student financial aid) > Opintotuen muutosilmoitus (Notification of changes relevant to student financial aid) > Ilmoitan muusta muutoksesta tai haen lisätukea (I’m reporting some other kind of change or applying for additional financial aid) > Jatko- tai lisätukihakemus (Application for extended or additional financial aid). Indicate that your application concerns “Tuen myöntämistä uudelleen opintojen riittämättömän edistymisen jälkeen” (New award of financial aid following insufficient academic progress). Describe in your application how the epidemic affected your studies.

You can qualify for a student loan compensation even if you do not complete your degree within the specified target time. However, you must have a valid reason for making slower academic progress. The exceptional circumstances caused by COVID-19 are accepted as a valid reason for making slower academic progress or postponing the start of studies.

Learn more about the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the target graduation times to qualify for a student loan compensation.

If you can’t make progress with your studies because of the coronavirus situation, your financial aid payments could end before you have completed all of the requirements in your study programme.

When your financial aid payments are ending, apply for extended aid on the form for notification of changes, which is available on the OmaKela e-service.

Describe in your application how your studies were delayed because of the exceptional situation. You can describe the situation in your own words.

Select Ilmoita muutoksista (Notify changes) > Opintotuki (Student financial aid) > Opintotuen muutosilmoitus (Notification of changes relevant to student financial aid) > Ilmoitan muusta muutoksesta tai haen lisätukea (I’m reporting some other kind of change or applying for additional financial aid) > Jatko- tai lisätukihakemus (Application for extended or additional financial aid) If you are a higher education student, state that the application concerns studies that you are pursuing after reaching the degree-specific maximum period of aid. Students in higher education can usually get financial aid for up to the maximum period of eligibility for financial aid.

You can also submit the notification of changes by filling in form OT 15e (pdf) and sending it by post to Kela. See Kela’s mailing address here.

Subsidised meals for higher education students can be provided on a take-away or home-delivery basis if a student restaurant can provide such a service.

You can buy two meals at a time. You can also buy up to two meals for a friend whose student meal subsidy card you have.

This exceptional arrangement is effective until further notice, but not beyond 31 December 2021. If normal operations resume before that date and there are no longer any special restrictions in effect, the exceptional arrangement concerning take-away meals will end sooner. Kela will provide notification of any changes.

You get the meal subsidy by showing a valid student ID or Kela meal subsidy card when buying a meal.

The meal subsidy cannot be provided in cash.

The government loan guarantee is valid as stated in the decision letter you received. You can take out a student loan as you would under normal circumstances.

If you financial aid has been discontinued or you have been issued a new and revised decision, the amount of the student loan you can take out may have changed. Check your financial aid decision or visit the OmaKela e-service On OmaKela, select Omat etuudet (My benefits) > Opintotuki (Student financial aid) > Opintolaina (Student loan).

If you have ended your studies and are paying interest on a student loan to your bank, have a look at the qualifying criteria for interest assistance. Kela can pay the interest on your student loan if you have low income.

If you have difficulty making repayments on your loan, contact the bank in good time before the payment is due. You can discuss the possibility of postponing a loan payment with your bank.

The annual income limit for own earnings for recipients of student financial aid is not affected by this exceptional situation. The rules concerning monitoring of income also remain the same. Check the annual income limits for students.

Read more about cancellation or repayment of student financial aid.

Ongoing rehabilitative psychotherapy can be provided in the form of remote therapy. The remote therapy must be provided in accordance with Valvira (National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health) guidelines, and the therapist must ensure that the remote connection is secure.

Clients have the right to decline remote therapy, and the therapy can be suspended if necessary. The decision on therapy can be reviewed after the suspension and the period available for therapy can be extended by the same amount of time the therapy was suspended.

If your rehabilitation is interrupted and you have applied for or have been granted rehabilitation allowance for the duration of the rehabilitation, send a message to Kela through the e-service or call 020 634 2650.

Kela will consider whether payment of rehabilitation allowance can be continued although the rehabilitation has been interrupted temporarily.