Vocational rehabilitation for young persons, rehabilitation allowance and rehabilitation allowance for young persons: changes in 2025

Summary:

Parliament has passed a Government proposal outlining changes in vocational rehabilitation for young persons, the rehabilitation allowances paid during vocational rehabilitation, and the rehabilitation allowances for young persons.

The purpose of the changes is to target rehabilitation more effectively at young persons that need it the most. They are also aimed at reducing the cost of the rehabilitation system.

From the beginning of next year, the qualifying conditions for vocational rehabilitation for young persons will be adjusted so as to target rehabilitation more effectively at those who are not in school or work or who are generally at risk of exclusion. The young persons’ need for and enrolment in other services will also be taken into account when assessing the potential usefulness of rehabilitation.

According to benefits manager Milla Kaitola, young people will continue to have access to vocational rehabilitation without a formal diagnosis or doctor’s statement. “The rehabilitation is intended for persons between 16 and 29 who have suffered a significant decline in functional ability and who need help to make plans for the future or set goals for moving into work”, she says.

In 2023, about 7,500 young people were given access to vocational rehabilitation, 6,500 of whom participated in Nuotti coaching. The number of recipients of rehabilitation for young persons has nearly quadrupled over the last five years. 

The Government estimates that in 2025, the number of recipients of rehabilitation for young persons could total about 4,000, with 2,800 of them in Nuotti coaching.

Qualifying conditions for the rehabilitation allowance tightened on 1 January 2025

Starting 1 January 2025, participation in Nuotti coaching will no longer be sufficient to qualify for rehabilitation allowance. Nuotti coaching is provided in sessions of less than four hours each, which does not meet the minimum hourly requirement for the rehabilitation allowance. This change is designed to reduce spending on the rehabilitation allowance by about EUR 12 million.

There will also be changes in the rules applicable to the times before and between rehabilitation periods. The changes are different for the rehabilitation allowance for young persons and for the rehabilitation allowance available to young persons in vocational rehabilitation.

Young people can get rehabilitation allowance before and between rehabilitation periods, but only for a maximum of three months per calendar year, unless there are particularly good reasons for a longer payment that have to do with their financial situation and the progress of rehabilitation. This is in contrast to the rehabilitation allowance for young persons, which will not be available during such times at all except if necessary to ensure the clients’ economic security or the progress of the rehabilitation.

Personal income will also affect the amount of the rehabilitation allowance for young persons. If a client has wage or self-employment income exceeding EUR 800 per month, the excess is deducted from the rehabilitation allowance.

Kaitola says that the change will align the qualifying conditions for the two rehabilitation allowances since income will have the same effect on both the rehabilitation allowance for young persons and the rehabilitation allowance available during education and training. 

Starting from August 2025, student financial aid will no longer be available simultaneously with the rehabilitation allowance. The change will apply to young people who enter rehabilitation on 1 August 2025 or later. This change will apply to all rehabilitation allowances.

The changes in the qualifying conditions are aimed at bringing down the spending on rehabilitation allowances. In 2023, rehabilitation allowance for young persons was paid to about 16,000 recipients, 50% more than five years earlier. Kela paid a total of about EUR 137 million last year in rehabilitation allowances for young persons.

The new rules do not change anything for clients who were granted vocational rehabilitation for young persons or rehabilitation allowance before 1 January 2025. The changes will affect any new decision on rehabilitation allowance that they receive, specifically if they receive a new decision on continued vocational rehabilitation for young persons and the decision is made on or after 1 January 2025.

If clients were granted rehabilitation allowance for young persons before 1 January 2025, Kela will review the decision issued to them by the end of February 2025 if necessary. Before the decision is reviewed, the clients will be sent a letter with information about any future changes.

Clients do not have to do anything now and do not need to contact Kela.

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