Kela benefit guides now available to partner organisations

Kela publishes annually updated editions of 9 plain-language benefit guides for different customer groups. Kela’s benefit guides tell readers the basics of Kela benefits and services briefly and in plain language. The benefit guides are made available simultaneously in easy Finnish, easy Swedish and plain English.  

Order the benefit guides online 

Kela’s partner organisations can order benefit guides for use in their customer services. Place your order on Kela’s website at https://www.kela.fi/order-brochures. 

These 2026 benefit guides are now available for order:  

• Pensions and retirement 
• Rehabilitation 
• Families 
• Coming to Finland 
• Sickness and disability 
• Social assistance 
• General housing allowance. 

New editions of the benefit guides on unemployment benefits and for students and conscripts will be published later in the spring.

Information included on recent changes 

The benefit guide on sickness and disability includes information on ongoing pilot studies, such as the pilot study on freedom of choice in healthcare for people aged 65 or over and the pilot study on credit for medicine costs. A separate online guide on the pilot study on freedom of choice in healthcare is also available in Finnish, Swedish and English.

The benefit guide on social assistance provides basic information on this benefit, which is granted only as a last resort. The information includes the costs that the benefit can cover, how earned income affects the benefit amount and how the benefit amount is calculated. In addition, there is a separate online guide available on the upcoming changes to social assistance that will enter into force on 1 February 2026. The guide is available in several different languages, and you can print as many copies of it from our website as you need.

Benefit guide on unemployment benefits coming in March 

The updated benefit guide on unemployment benefits will not be available until March 2026. The new edition of the benefit guide will then include information on the new general social security benefit to be introduced on 1 May and other legislative changes taking effect in 2026. The 2025 edition can be used until the 2026 edition is published.  

The 2026 edition of the benefit guide for students and conscripts will be published in May, and it applies to the 2026–2027 academic year.   

Please discard outdated benefit guides 

We recommend that you discard the old editions of the benefit guides as soon as the new editions become available. That way, you ensure that the benefit guides on offer to customers are up to date and include the latest information on benefit payments.  

Suggestions for improvements to Kela’s benefit guides can be sent to viestinta@kela.fi.

More information

You can browse the benefit guides on our website: 

• easy Finnish
• easy Swedish
• plain English 

Kela publishes new benefit guide for people who have moved to Finland (Press release 30 September 2025, kela.fi)