Information package: Social assistance
Kela is responsible for the administration and payment of last-resort financial assistance, i.e. basic social assistance. The following is a brief overview of the current state of and recent developments in basic social assistance. At the end, you will find links to more material on this topic, including statistics and research.
The number of recipients of basic social assistance remained unchanged in 2024
In 2024, there was little change in the number of recipients of basic social assistance compared to 2023. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of recipients of basic social assistance was the highest since the turn of the 21st century, but the number of recipients decreased in 2021 and continued to fall in 2022 despite an increase in living costs. However, a new group of recipients emerged in 2023, i.e. refugees who have fled the war in Ukraine.
In 2024, a total of 249,576 households received basic social assistance from Kela, with a total of 356,437 residents in these households, or 6.3% of the entire population. On an annual level, the number of households and persons who received basic social assistance thus remained almost the same as in 2022–2023. Households with Ukrainian applicants numbered in the low hundreds in 2022, but this figure climbed to over 12,000 in 2024. If the Ukrainians are not taken into account, the number of households and persons that receive basic social assistance has continued to decline.
The number of basic social assistance recipients is usually the highest in the summer, when many students and recent graduates need support due to a break in their studies or graduation.
Until 2018, the number of recipients decreased in December, when people received their tax refunds. As of 2019, most people receive their tax refunds in August or September, so the number of recipients of basic social assistance tends to decrease during these months. As a rule, tax refunds count as household income.
Greatest need for basic social assistance among those living alone and among young people
More than three out of four households in receipt of basic social assistance are single-person households. These households mainly consist of one person living alone.
However, the definition of a single-person household also includes persons living with a sibling or with one or more roommates, and persons aged 18 or over who live with their parents.
Approximately one fifth of all recipients of basic social assistance are families with children. The majority of them are single-adult families.
The need for basic social assistance is more common in the younger age groups. Particularly young people aged 18 to 24 are overrepresented among the recipients of basic social assistance. One reason for this is that persons under the age of 25 years who do not have vocational qualifications are subject to stricter requirements for entitlement to unemployment benefits. Another reason is that younger people are less likely than people in older age groups to have savings to fall back on.
However, younger people tend to receive basic social assistance only for a short period, whereas older working-age people often rely on basic social assistance for prolonged periods of time. The need for support is often prolonged among people who are unemployed in particular, but also among those who live alone, families with children and people who are on parental or child care leave.
People of retirement age are less likely to receive social assistance than people in other age groups. The national pensions, guarantee pensions and the housing allowance for pensioners provide a better level of financial security than the other benefits providing basic social security. As such, pensioners are usually not entitled to social assistance.
Basic social assistance compensates for a low level or lack of primary benefits
Unemployment benefits paid by Kela are the primary source of income for approximately half of the households that receive basic social assistance. Most also receive general housing allowance. All in all, four out of five households that are paid basic social assistance also receive general housing allowance. Basic social assistance is often needed to cover high housing costs, especially in the Helsinki metropolitan area.
Basic social assistance is often also used to compensate for an inadequate level of basic social security. For example, almost 40% of labour market subsidy recipients also receive basic social assistance. Similarly, recipients of other minimum-rate daily allowances tend to be entitled to basic social assistance. The minimum-rate daily allowances comprise basic unemployment allowance and minimum-rate sickness allowance, rehabilitation allowance and daily allowances for parents.
In roughly a third of all households that receive basic social assistance, either the recipient of the benefit or their spouse has no primary benefits or earned income. Even though they may not be paid unemployment benefits, for example, they usually receive other tax-exempt benefits such as general housing allowance or child maintenance allowance.
The figure below shows the distribution of income and expenses of recipients of basic social assistance, with a focus on persons living alone and single-parent families with children.
It is increasingly common for households receiving basic social assistance to have earned income
The number of households that receive both basic social assistance and earned income (from wages or self-employment) has increased. In 2017, approximately 6% of households that were paid basic social assistance also had monthly earned income, and by 2022, this figure had risen to approximately 9%.
Two-parent families with children are the most common type of household to have earned income as almost a fourth of these households had earned income in 2022. This could be explained by the fact that while such households have two potential earners, they also have high expenses.
More than 15% of couples and more than 10% of single-parent families also had earned income. Of single-person households, approximately 6.5% had earned income.
The basic amount of social assistance can be reduced
A reduction made to the basic amount is an incentivisation method that can be applied to social assistance. It is intended to prompt the recipient to seek or accept employment or to undergo training or carry out other measures intended to promote their chances of employment or otherwise risk incurring a sanction.
A review published in November 2024 found that reductions are relatively rarely made to the basic amount. Between January and August 2024, approximately 5% of all recipients were subjected to reductions in the basic amount of their social assistance. However, the amount of reductions made to the basic amount in 2024 was higher than during the corresponding period in 2019.
Reductions in the basic amount are not evenly distributed across all recipient groups. Men, benefit recipients under the age of 35, those who live alone and households without income are more likely to have their basic amount reduced.
The practice of reducing the basic amount was waived during the pandemic and only recently fully reintroduced in autumn 2023.
Recipients of basic social assistance use public health services and health-based benefits more often than the rest of the population
Research shows that recipients of social assistance are, on average, in poorer health than the rest of the population. A study published in 2023 on recipients of social assistance in Oulu and Helsinki found that recipients of basic social assistance receive health-based benefits more often than the general population. The only benefits basic social assistance recipients were less likely to receive than the rest of the population of the same age were disability pension and disability benefits paid by Kela.
The correlation between basic social assistance and health-based benefits mostly grew stronger when responsibility for the administration of basic social assistance was transferred to Kela. As a result, the correlation between an individual receiving basic social assistance and also being paid health-based benefits grew stronger after the transfer of responsibility in 2018 compared with prior data in 2016.
Recipients of basic social assistance also use various public health services more often but private health care services and occupational health care services less often than the rest of the population. When services in the various sectors were examined overall, the differences were considerably smaller than those seen by sector.
The use of almost all public health care services was more common among those who lived alone and received supplementary and preventive social assistance in addition to basic social assistance than among those who only received basic social assistance. The need for supplementary or preventive social assistance is an indication of an even more fragile position than that of the average recipient of social assistance, which is often also associated with a person’s health problems.
The transfer of administrative responsibility to Kela lowered the threshold for applying for basic social assistance at least in Helsinki
The results of a study on how Helsinki residents applied for and were granted basic social assistance in the 2010s showed that applying for basic social assistance became more common in all studied population groups after administrative responsibility for basic social assistance was transferred to Kela. The study looked at how age, sex, marital status, citizenship, income level and access to other Kela benefits affected whether an individual would apply for and be granted basic social assistance.
Some groups were also granted basic social assistance more often than before. Especially those who had already received Kela benefits at some point, young people and non-Finnish citizens applied for and received benefits from Kela more than was the case when the assistance was still administered by the city’s social services. The time spent on basic social assistance decreased across almost all groups and especially among benefit recipients aged 65 or over.
The nature of social assistance and the eligibility conditions
Social assistance is a last-resort, means-tested benefit available to individuals and families whose income does not cover their necessary daily expenses. Social assistance is divided into basic social assistance, paid by Kela, and supplementary and preventive social assistance, paid by the wellbeing services counties.
Social assistance is intended as short-term assistance for those facing financial difficulties. Under Finnish law, social assistance is intended to ensure the minimum income needed to live with human dignity and to promote autonomy and independence.
Social assistance is granted to a household. In this context, a household comprises the applicant and the applicant’s co-resident spouse or partner and underage children. The amount of basic social assistance is based on a calculation of the household's income and expenses. The income that is taken into account is the net income of all household members, although there are a few exceptions. The assets of the household are usually also taken into account as income.
The expenses that are taken into account include a calculated basic amount for each household member (in 2025 the basic amount for a person living alone is EUR 593.55 per month). The basic amount is intended to cover essential daily expenses such as food, clothing and the use of a phone.
Additionally, household expenses include housing costs to the extent that they are considered reasonable (rent, home insurance and electricity), child day care expenses and healthcare expenses. Basic social assistance usually also includes a voucher to cover the costs of necessary prescription medication. Changes were made to housing cost coverage on 1 April 2024 when municipality-specific maximum amounts were established for eligible housing costs in a government decree. Derogations from these maximum amounts are allowed only for reasons specified in law (see section 7a of the Act on Social Assistance [1412/1997]). Before April 2024, Kela had more discretion e.g. to decide when to accept housing costs that exceeded the maximum by a small amount.
The amount of basic social assistance paid to a household equals the difference between the total income and expenses of the household.
Wellbeing services counties may grant supplementary social assistance to cover expenses that Kela either does not accept as expenses for the purposes of basic social assistance or that are related to the specific needs and circumstances of individual families. Supplementary social assistance can be granted in order to prevent difficulties caused by a sudden financial setback, for example.
In 2023, altogether 267,000 households comprising approximately 387,000 residents were paid some kind of social assistance by Kela. This amounts to 7% of the population (THL:n Tilastoraportti 20/2024: Toimeentulotuki 2023 (Statistical report published by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare 20/2024: Social assistance in 2023, in Finnish) ).
Administrative responsibility for basic social assistance was transferred from municipalities to Kela in 2017
Kela has been responsible for the administration of the basic social assistance scheme since the beginning of 2017. The reform harmonised the criteria for granting basic social assistance, promoted the equal treatment of customers and provided better online channels for social assistance matters. Further, the reform reduced the responsibilities of the municipalities, thus freeing up municipal social workers’ time for actual social work.
In terms of legislation, basic social assistance is still an element of social welfare. The administration of supplementary and preventive social assistance was transferred together with other social welfare services from municipalities to wellbeing services counties in early 2023. Kela and the wellbeing services counties work closely together to ensure that people who need more than just financial assistance receive the help they need.
Since the reform, Kela’s information systems have produced a wide range of up-to-date data on social assistance recipients in Finland. This allows for evidence-based decision-making and more efficient development of the social assistance scheme.
