A year of legislative changes

News 26.03.2024

Topics

Law change

This year will be very interesting, because this year we will see 12 legislative changes to unemployment benefits. Some of these changes are already in force and are already being applied. Some are in force, but will only be applied at a later stage. In addition, some of the amendments are pending before Parliament and one amendment is still in the process of being drafted.

Changes to the level of income security

The purpose of the changes is to increase employment. In practice, this mostly means changes that reduce the amount of the earnings-related daily allowance. The abolition of child increases has been particularly badly felt, reducing the income of families with children by around 130-240 euros per month. Despite the reductions in the level of income security, membership of the unemployment fund is still worthwhile. In the event of unemployment or lay-offs, earnings-related daily allowance amount to more than 1000 euros a month more than basic social security alone for the average Finnish worker.

Changes of interest to applicants

In particular, we have received a lot of enquiries about the abolition of alternating leave and the staggering of earnings-related daily allowance. Both legislative changes are still under preparation.

Alternating leave has been an opportunity to take a break in the middle of a long career. It has been popular to take alternation leave, although its conditions have been gradually tightened in recent years. Under the proposal, alternation leave will be abolished from 1.8. 2024. In practice, this means that if the conditions are met, you can still start taking alternating leave until 31.7.2024. After that date, no further alternating leave can be taken.

The proposed staggering of the daily allowance means that the level of income support will decrease in future as unemployment or lay-offs become more protracted. The first stage would be applied as early as 40 days, which in practice means that in most cases it would be applied as early as the second application. This is a legislative change and the proposals may still be subject to change. We will monitor the situation and provide regular updates.

A major change for the unemployment fund

From the point of view of the implementation of income security, the biggest upcoming change is the euroisation of the employment condition for income security. This means that in future, the working condition for unemployment benefit will be based on paid wages and not on hours worked, as is currently the case.

From the point of view of the insured person, this change is of little importance. For example, the change will have little effect on the level of the earnings-related allowance. On the contrary, the change may make it somewhat easier to apply for daily allowance, as we will be able to use the register of earnings more fully and will not have to report hours worked as accurately in all situations as we do now.

However, for us in the Unemployment Fund, the change is a big one. The tools used to process applications will have to be partly rebuilt and staff will need extensive training. All the advice and instructions will also have to be reviewed and updated in the light of the change. However, our aim is that this change, which is big for us, will be reflected in improved services for our members, our customers and for you.