Unemployment activation model has revoked in Finland from 01.01.2020.

The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) has presented the changes in benefits, which has entered into force from the 1 January 2020. The most important changes are the following:

• unemployment activation model has canceled. There is no longer any control from Kela side concerning the activity of unemployment benefit recipients, as well as there are no any reductions in benefits. It is worth to mention that some reductions can still take place, if the unemployment benefit was accrued in 2019 and have to be paid in 2020
• the maximum limit on yearly medicine costs will increase a little bit from EUR 572 in 2019 to EUR 577.66 in 2020 per calendar year
• basic unemployment allowance will increase from EUR 32.40 in 2019 to EUR 33.66 per day in 2020; the unemployment benefit increases if you have children:
  1. at EUR 5.28 per day for 1 child
  2. at EUR 7.76 per day in total for 2 children and
  3. at EUR 10.00 per day in total for 3 and more children
• family benefits (e.g. maternity, parental allowances) will increase from EUR 27.86 in 2019 to EUR 28.94 per day in 2020 and child benefit by EUR 10 per month (for the 4-th and each subsequent child)
• single-parent supplement will increase from EUR 53.30 in 2019 to EUR 63.30 per month in 2020
• child care allowances will go up to 1.0%
• basic amount of social assistance will increase from EUR 497.29 per month in 2019 to EUR 502.21 per month
• increases in pensions: the national pension raises from EUR 628.85 in 2019 to EUR 662.86 per month in 2020 (for living alone); the guarantee pension from EUR 784.52 per month in 2019 to EUR 834.52 per month in 2020; also, there are some changes in the housing allowance for pensioners.

There are a lot of other different changes, among which increasing in child maintenance allowance; in student financial aid; in housing supplement for students who study abroad; in the minimum amounts of sickness and rehabilitation allowances as well as in disability benefits etc.

Information about all other changes more detailed you can find at KELA website.