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Our phone service answers calls from 9.00 to 15.00 on weekdays (Monday to Friday). 

You can confirm your identity in advance in the OmaKela e-service before you call us. Log in to OmaKela and select Soita tunnistautuneena (Confirm your identity before you call). You can find this option under Apua asiointiin (Help with using the e-services) at the bottom of the OmaKela interface. Read more about how to confirm your identity before a customer service call.

Changes in Kela’s benefit payments and customer service opening hours during Easter

On Holy Thursday, 17 April 2025, Kela’s phone service will be open 9.00–13.00, but the customer service number for social assistance, 020 634 2550, will take calls concerning urgent situations until 16.00. Because of Easter, unemployment status reports can be filed and unemployment benefits will be paid earlier than usual. Customers whose application and supporting documents arrive at Kela by 4 April 2025 at the latest will have their social assistance payment for April deposited into their bank account before Easter. Read more in the press release.

OmaKela is here to help you

In the OmaKela e-service, you can apply for benefits, send supporting documents and check the status of your application and the next payment date. You can also submit a call request. Please note that OmaKela is available only in Finnish and Swedish.   

Customer service numbers that provide service in English

Choose a customer service number that corresponds to the topic of your question. Our phone service is usually busiest around midday and at the beginning and end of the month.

Families, students, unemployed and housing 020 634 2550020 634 2550

  • military or non-military service
  • families with children
  • housing
  • social assistance
  • students (healthcare fee for students in higher education)
  • unemployed

Contact Kela if you have any questions about the unemployment benefits paid by Kela. You can send a message to us in the OmaKela e-service or you can call one of our customer service numbers.

Contact employment services if your question concerns one of the following topics:

  • registering as a jobseeker
  • the obligation to search for jobs
  • a labour policy statement
  • the mandatory waiting period for unemployment benefits
  • employment-promoting services.

You can find contact information for employment services on the regional pages of Job Market Finland.

If you have questions about unemployment benefits, you can also contact the national unemployment security advice service.

Health and pensions 020 634 2650020 634 2650

  • disability
  • European Health Insurance Card
  • Kela card
  • pensioners
  • rehabilitation
  • sickness

Each region have two service providers from which customers can book taxi rides reimbursed by Kela. You can choose from which one to book your taxi.

Dispatch numbers

International situations 020 634 0200020 634 0200

Open weekdays 10−15

  • benefits available from Kela when you move to or leave Finland
  • other international situations

Read more about Kela’s Centre for International Affairs.

If your matter concerns housing benefits, housing allowance for pensioners, social assistance, financial aid for students or child maintenance allowance, call the other service numbers.

Customers with a non-disclosure for personal safety reasons 020 635 3500020 635 3500

Read more of non-disclosure for personal safety reasons.

Overpayment Recovery Centre 020 634 4940020 634 4940

Open weekdays 10–15.

  • recovery of benefits
  • collection of and exemption from payment of child support debt
  • collection of and exemption from payment of government-guaranteed student loan debt
  • collection of healthcare fee for higher education students

Contact the Overpayment Recovery Centre if you wish to discuss a payment plan or if you have questions about benefit recovery and debt collection. If you have questions about a decision on recovery, call the customer service number for the benefit that the recovery concerns.

Read more about Kela’s Overpayment Recovery Centre.

Not sure which service number to call?

Choose a number that best corresponds to your situation. If needed, we will forward you to the right number.

You cannot call Kela’s individual service points. Please call one of our customer service numbers instead as we can usually help you directly by phone.

See the opening hours and addresses of Kela’s service points.

Confirm your identity in OmaKela before you call one of our customer service numbers

You can confirm your identity in advance in the OmaKela e-service before you call us. If you do this, we can help you more quickly and securely as the specialist who answers your call can see your information immediately. Complete the identification process in OmaKela. Please note that OmaKela is available only in Finnish and Swedish.

You can also call us without confirming your identity in advance. In that case, our specialist will confirm your identity in some other way during the call.

How to confirm your identity in OmaKela before you call us:

  1. Log in to OmaKela e-service with your online banking credentials or mobile ID.
  2. Select Soita tunnistautuneena (Confirm your identity before you call). You can find this option under Apua asiointiin (Help with using the e-services) at the bottom of the OmaKela interface.
  3. Fill in the phone number you will use to call our customer service and select Tilaa koodi (Order code).
  4. You will get a single-use code that is valid for 30 minutes.
  5. If you are logged in to OmaKela on a smartphone, you can call the customer service number of your choice directly by tapping on its number link in OmaKela. If you do this, you do not need to enter the code separately.
  6. The other option is to manually call one of our customer service numbers and key in the code you ordered as instructed while queuing for the service. 

If you are managing another person’s matters on their behalf by phone, we recommend that you confirm your identity before you call us because it will speed up service. During the call, our specialist will verify that you have been authorised to act on behalf of the person you are representing.

Looking for these?

Our phone service is closed during weekends and midweek holidays.

On Holy Thursday, 17 April 2025, Kela’s phone service will be open 9.00–13.00, but the customer service number for social assistance, 020 634 2550, will take calls concerning urgent situations until 16.00.

Kela’s service points and phone service will be closed on the following days:

  • Good Friday, 18 April 2025
  • Easter Saturday, 19 April 2025
  • Easter Sunday, 20 April 2025
  • Easter Monday, 21 April 2025
  • 1 May, 1 May 2025
  • Ascension Day, 29 May 2025.

Calls to Kela’s customer service numbers, including the wait times, are subject to charges.

Depending on your phone plan, the following rates apply:

  • local network rate, when calling from a fixed line
  • mobile network rate, when calling from a mobile phone
  • country-specific fees charged for international calls, when calling from abroad

If you have a phone plan with limited talk, ask your operator if calls beginning with 020 are included in it.

Our phone service offers a callback service. This means that you can leave a callback request while you are waiting in the queue for service. The number of callback request slots is limited. You will be offered the option to leave a callback request while you are queuing for the phone service if a callback request slot is available.

You can ask us to call the same number you are calling us from or to call another number.

If you leave a callback request, our specialist will call you once. If you do not answer the call, you will get a text message from Kela asking you to call Kela’s phone service again.

Phone calls from Kela to individual customers typically come from one of two numbers: 020 692 219 or 020 634 1611. When we call you back, the call is free of charge. 

You can also submit a call request in the OmaKela e-service. You can submit a call request for the current or next weekday.

We record incoming and outgoing customer service calls. Read more about what calls we record in our privacy statement.

We monitor customer satisfaction with the services we offer with feedback surveys. Feedback surveys are sent by SMS from the following numbers: 018 444 033, 018 444 034 or 018 444 569. Participating in the survey does not cost you anything. You can read more about our feedback surveys in the About Kela section.

Read more

Current topics 

Effects of the war in Ukraine

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about the war in Ukraine and the social security benefits available from Kela.

Read the answers
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