Kela has amended some decisions on general social security benefit

Kela has retroactively reviewed and amended approximately 3,000 decisions on general social security benefit (yleistuki) due to a recent legislative amendment.

On 29 October 2026, the President of the Republic confirmed the adoption of an amendment to the Act on General Social Security Benefit that had already been approved by Parliament. The amendment entered into force on 2 November 2026, and it applies retroactively as from 1 May 2026 when the Act on General Social Security Benefit originally came into effect.

Now that the amendment has become law, a partial early old-age pension (osittainen varhennettu vanhuuseläke) no longer affects the amount of payable general social security benefit if the pension was granted before 1 May 2026.

Accrued unpaid benefit to be paid to affected customers in November

As a result of the change, Kela will retroactively pay affected customers the amount of unpaid general social security benefit that has accrued as from 1 May 2026 in November. Customers do not need to do anything or contact Kela’s customer service.

Customers who were granted their partial early old-age pension before 1 May 2026 and whose pension Kela has taken into account as income in the means test for their general social security benefit will get an amended decision in the OmaKela e-service or by post. Kela will pay the amount of unpaid benefit that has accrued since 1 May 2026 as a one-off payment to the relevant customer’s bank account within 2 business days of issuing its amended decision.

Once Kela has amended its decision, the partial early old-age pensions of the affected customers will not affect any future payments of their general social security benefit either.

The amendment only applies to pensions granted before 1 May 2026

The amendment only applies to pensions granted before 1 May 2026. This means that a partial early old-age pension that was granted on or after 1 May 2026 will still count as income in the means test for the general social security benefit even after the change.

All other income included in the means test that a customer may have, such as dividend income or rental income, will also continue to be taken into account in the means test for the general social security benefit as usual.

Kela will now check when a partial early old-age pension recipient was granted their pension when they apply for general social security benefit paid during unemployment.

The customer’s general social security benefit will not be affected if they were granted their partial early old-age pension before 1 May 2026. However, if their pension was granted on or after 1 May 2026, the customer’s partial early old-age pension will be taken into account as income in the means test for their general social security benefit.

General social security benefit introduced in May 2026

General social security benefit is a new benefit that replaced previous unemployment benefits available from Kela, namely labour market subsidy and basic unemployment allowance, in May 2026. As was required by the legislation that applied at the time, a partial early old-age pension was taken into account as income in the means test for the general social security benefit, and some customers got a smaller amount of benefit as a result.

When a customer is paid a partial early old-age pension, this means that the customer is paid part of their accrued earnings-related pension before they have reached their actual retirement age for an old-age pension.

Based on this, some Kela customers made the decision to transition to a partial early old-age pension before the Act on General Social Security Benefit entered into force because they did not know that their pension could reduce their general social security benefit through the means testing that applies to the benefit.

The purpose of the transitional provision confirmed by the President of the Republic is to offer better financial security for these customers during their unemployment.

More information

A partial early old-age pension granted before 1 May 2026 does not impact general social security benefit | News | Kela

Amendment approved by Parliament: partial early old-age pension granted before 1 May 2026 does not impact general social security benefit | News | Kela

General social security benefit during unemployment | Our services | Kela