Kela activates 723.5 euros payment for parents on leave to look after children

The Finnish Social Security Institution (Kela) already started receiving applications for the new social benefit launched due to the exceptional situation caused by the coronavirus epidemic (koronavirus, in Finnish).

This new subsidy is intended for parents who had to take unpaid work leave to care for their children who have been forced to study from home since the government ordered schools to close in mid-March. The assistance is also available to people who return to Finland from abroad and are placed in conditions equivalent to quarantine.

The amount of the assistance is 28.94 euros per working day (723.50 euros per month). It is not linked to the applicant’s income or the number of children that he or she has. The assistance is available based on child care responsibilities to only one household member at a time. And it may be applied retroactively for up to three calendar months, starting from 16 March at the earliest.

Persons who are unemployed or laid off temporarily (furloughed) cannot get this temporary financial assistance. The benefit is also not available to persons on maternity, paternity or parental leave or on child care leave.

The requirements

Applications for this temporary financial assistance can now be submitted to Kela. They must be accompanied by a certificate from the applicant's employer detailing the unpaid leave due to the coronavirus outbreak, or some other document containing the equivalent information.

Employers can also provide the necessary information via the e-service for employers or on a paper form.

The application form, the employer’s certificate and detailed instructions for applying are available at Kela's website HERE.

The Government bill establishing the temporary assistance due to an epidemic outbreak was passed by Parliament on 24 April 2020. The Act of Parliament providing a legal basis for the payment of the assistance will remain in effect until August 2020.