The four-party alliance government led by Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) on Monday submitted a proposal to Parliament to bring amendments to the Social Assistance Act with the provisions for tightening and reducing social assistance, the last-resort of assistance for the low- income people.
The proposed amendments would impose a stronger obligation on applicants for social assistance to apply for primary benefits instead of social assistance, said the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in a press release.
The changes to be made would, for example, strengthen the obligations of recipients to apply for full-time work and primary benefits. The aim is to clarify the role of social assistance as a last-resort and temporary form of assistance, prevent social exclusion and strengthen general government finances.
Most of the proposed acts are scheduled to enter into force on February 1, 2026.
According to the proposal, the primary benefits include unemployment security benefits and student financial aid. If an adult applicant for social assistance had not applied for a primary benefit payable, for example, on the basis of studies, unemployment, illness or incapacity for work before applying for social assistance, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) should assess whether they are eligible for such a benefit.
If, before applying for social assistance, the person failed to apply for primary benefits within one month of being requested to do so by Kela, the basic amount of social assistance could be reduced by 50 per cent.
According to the proposal, the obligation to register as an unemployed jobseeker could, in future, mean seeking full-time work.
Thus, it would also be obligatory to seek full-time work under threat that the basic amount be reduced in cases where a person who has the capacity and ability to work does not work full-time, business activities are not profitable or a person is not entitled to receive student financial aid for their studies.
If the applicant failed to do as requested within the set time limit, the basic amount of social assistance could be reduced by 50 per cent.
The proposal said one of the aims of the amendments is that applicants for social assistance would seek to safeguard their livelihoods, as a rule, by engaging in gainful employment, and if this was not possible, by applying for primary benefits before social assistance. Another aim is for unemployed people to always register as jobseekers seeking full-time work and, at the same time, to start accessing employment-promoting services and to have their need for services assessed.
The basic amount could be reduced in the above-mentioned situations only if this would not endanger the means of support necessary for a life of dignity and if the reduction could not be considered otherwise unreasonable.
Process of reducing the basic amount due to unemployment security sanctions to be streamlined.
If the payment of the unemployment security benefit granted to the recipient of social assistance was suspended due to sanctions laid down in the Unemployment Security Act, the basic amount of social assistance would be reduced.
The duration of the reduction would depend on the duration of suspended unemployment security.
However, it would be no more than six months. The basic amount would be cut by 20 per cent for the first month and, after that, by 40 per cent. The reduction percentages would remain in line with the current legislation.
Reducing the basic amount of social assistance would be made easier by abolishing the requirement of the two-month time period laid down in the current Act.
The basic amount would be cut by 20 per cent for the first month and, after that, by 40 per cent.
This would also apply to immigrants who are not obligated to register as unemployed jobseekers with the employment authority but who fail to comply with their integration plan. In these situations, the two-month time period laid down in the current Act would continue to apply when it comes to the duration of the reduction in the basic amount.
Applicants for social assistance could always avoid any reduction in the basic amount and any unemployment benefit sanctions by participating in employment services or in the integration plan as required by the relevant legislation.
To prevent social exclusion among young people, the municipalities’ funding share of basic social assistance would be raised from 50 per cent to hundred per cent in respect of those social assistance recipients between the ages of 18 and 24 who do not have family members of other ages living with them.
The funding would be reimbursed to the municipalities in full. The purpose of raising the funding share is to encourage the municipalities to employ young people at the earliest possible stage in order to keep the support periods as short as possible. The amendment would enter into force at the beginning of 2027.
Social assistance would no longer have the earned income allowance of EUR 150 for people aged 18 or over. In future, other minor income and subsidies would also be taken fully into account as income in respect of those aged 18 or over. However, in respect of people under the age of 18, earned income and gifts that are considered small would not be taken into account as income in the calculation of social assistance.
The proposal is estimated to directly strengthen general government finances by EUR 70 million at the 2027 level when taking account of the changes to benefits and tax revenue. The reform is expected to increase implementation costs by a total of EUR 18 million.
In addition, it is estimated to boost employment by 1,200 people, which would strengthen general government finances by about EUR 29 million. In 2024, Kela paid a total of about EUR 825 million in basic social assistance.
To achieve the savings target, the level of the basic amount of social assistance would also be cut 3 per cent for people aged 18 or over who live alone, 3 per cent for people aged 18 or over who live with their parents and about 2 per cent for other people aged 18 or over.
Earlier in May, 2025 the government took the initiative to tighten social assistance.
In April 2024, the government cut unemployment, housing, other benefits.
- Govt
- Proposes
- Tightening
- Social
- Aid
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
