Urgent social assistance soon to be granted only for essential expenses such as food and medicine
Kela is changing the criteria for granting urgent basic social assistance as of April. Under the changed criteria, vouchers will be granted more often for customers' most urgent needs, such as food and medicine, while the rest of the customer’s application will be processed within the standard processing time.
Kela will change the criteria for granting urgent basic social assistance as of 7 April 2025. The main objective of this change is to ensure that Kela assesses the urgency of social assistance applications according to the same criteria nationwide. In addition to promoting the equal treatment of customers, the change is intended to ensure that non-urgent applications will no longer be processed as urgent.
“We understand that everyone who applies for social assistance is in a tight spot. However, urgent processing is really intended only for situations involving sudden changes or completely unforeseen events in someone's life. For example, the situation is considered urgent if someone has nearly or completely run out of food or medicine and has no money to buy more,” says Marja-Leena Valkonen, Benefits Manager in charge of social assistance at Kela.
Applications for social assistance usually processed within seven working days
Social assistance is a form of financial assistance that is granted as a last resort. This means that the customer must do everything they can to ensure a livelihood for their family and themselves and first apply for all other benefits to which they may be entitled.
“We have noticed that some customers ask us to process their application as urgent even when it is not. We have seen this used as a way to get benefits paid more quickly. Then it has turned out that urgently issued vouchers have not been used at all. It is possible that this has negatively affected the customers who are in true need of urgent assistance,” says Marja-Leena Valkonen.
The standard statutory processing time for applications for basic social assistance is seven working days (Monday to Friday) from the date on which Kela received the application and all necessary supporting documents. However, the actual processing time for these applications has been less than five working days in the first three months of 2025. Urgent decisions on social assistance will be issued on the same day or on the next working day at the latest.
Vouchers issued for expenses such as food and medicine
The changed criteria will mean that customers will more often be granted a voucher for the most urgent needs listed in their application, such as food and medicine. The rest of the customer’s application will, however, be processed within the standard processing time, and any food vouchers or similar previously issued to the customer will be taken into account in the amount of social assistance granted for the whole month.
Kela strives to assess whether a customer’s situation is urgent immediately in connection with the customer's first call or service point visit. The recording played to all customers who call the service number for social assistance states that urgent social assistance will usually be granted in the form of vouchers only and that vouchers issued for urgent needs will not affect the processing time of the rest of the customer’s social assistance application.