Kela’s Kamppi service point in Helsinki. LEHTIKUVA
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From 7 April 2025, Kela will change the criteria for urgent basic social assistance, narrowing the scope of immediate aid to essential needs such as food and medicine. Other parts of the application will be processed within the standard timeframe of seven working days.
The change aims to ensure consistent nationwide assessment of urgency and to prevent misuse of the urgent status in applications.
“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,” said Marja-Leena Valkonen, Benefits Manager for social assistance at Kela.
Examples of urgent cases include situations where applicants have run out of food or medicine and lack the means to obtain more. In such cases, vouchers will be issued promptly.
Social assistance is a last-resort benefit, meaning recipients must first apply for all other benefits available to them. Kela reports that some applicants have previously requested urgent handling to expedite payments even when their situation was not critical.
“We have seen cases where customers received urgent vouchers but then did not use them. This may have delayed help for those genuinely in need,” Valkonen added.
In the first quarter of 2025, the average processing time for regular applications was under five working days. Urgent decisions are typically issued on the same day or by the next working day.
Under the revised procedure, customers in crisis will more frequently receive vouchers for only the most pressing needs—primarily food and medicine. Any such vouchers will be accounted for when calculating monthly support once the full application is processed.
Kela will evaluate urgency during the customer’s initial phone call or service point visit. The social assistance service line now includes an automatic message informing callers that urgent aid is typically issued as vouchers only and that this will not affect the processing time of the full application.
The agency has stated that the primary goal of the reform is to treat all applicants equally while ensuring that those in immediate crisis are prioritised effectively.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
