Kela to limit urgent aid only to food, medicine

The national social insurance institution-Kela is changing the criteria for granting urgent basic social assistance from April 7, said Kela in a press release on Wednesday.

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 applications will be processed within the standard processing time.

“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,” said Marja-Leena Valkonen, Benefits Manager in charge of Kela social assistance.

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.

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.

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.