Support during illness

The qualifying period for benefit usually starts on the day when you fall ill, and continues for the following 9 weekdays. If you have been employed at your current job for more than a month before you fell ill, your employer will pay you full salary for the qualifying period for benefit. Sickness allowance is paid for a maximum of 300 weekdays. You must apply for it within 2 months of falling ill.

You can apply for sickness allowance, if:

• you are covered by Finnish health insurance
• you are between 16–67 years old
• you are unable to work due to an illness
• are an employee, entrepreneur, self-employed person, full-time student or an unemployed job seeker, or you manage your own household.

Health insurance (sairausvakuutus) is part of the Finnish social security system (sosiaaliturva). For more information about the Finnish social security system, go to the InfoFinland web page Finnish social security.

If you are being paid during the time of your illness, your employer will apply for the sickness allowance. In this case, the sickness allowance will be paid to your employer. If you are ill for a long time and your employer no longer pays you during your illness, Kela will pay you the sickness allowance. The amount of sickness allowance paid depends on your income. When you apply for the sickness allowance, please attach a medical certificate of your inability to work.

You can find out more about the sickness allowance on Kela’s website.

You should also find out whether rehabilitation might help you.

Partial sickness allowance (osasairauspäiväraha) is intended for a 16–67 year-old employee or entrepreneur who works full-time and is covered by Finnish social security. The purpose of partial sickness allowance is that you can continue to work or return to work even though you have fallen ill. Discuss the possibility of applying for partial sickness allowance first with your occupational doctor and employer. Your occupational doctor will evaluate whether or not you will be able to work part-time during your illness.

When you apply for the Partial sickness allowance, attach a medical certificate of your inability to work. Agree with your employer on who will submit the information about your part-time work to Kela. If you are self-employed, submit a sickness allowance application to Kela together with a medical certificate.

Partial sickness allowance must be applied for within 2 months of starting part-time work.

You can find out more about partial sickness allowance on Kela’s website.