Application for earnings-related allowance

Last updated 18.12.2023

Make your first earnings-related daily allowance application

After two weeks of unemployment or lay-off, you can send us your first application. If the period of unemployment or lay-off is shorter than this, you can send us an application as soon as the unemployment or lay-off ends.

The most convenient way to make an application is to do it in our online service OmaYTK. The daily allowance is always applied for retroactively, so you cannot submit an application in advance before the end of the application period.

An application for daily allowance is always made in writing. No more precise format for the application has been defined. However, we need a lot of different information to assess whether you are entitled to earnings-related daily allowance and to calculate how much earnings-related daily allowance you are entitled to. Therefore, you should use our electronic OmaYTK service. It will ask for the necessary information and help you complete the application.

If you have previously applied for earnings-related daily allowance and after a short period of employment you apply again for daily allowance, you may not be able to make a new first application. Then make a follow-up application.

Make a follow-up application

If the unemployment or lay-off continues, make a new application for earnings-related daily allowance, i.e. a follow-up application at this point. It is also possible to do it in OmaYTK. Choose a suitable option and OmaYTK will give you the right application as well as suggest the start and end dates for the application.

Once the unemployment or lay-off continues, you can no longer make the first application. This can come in handy if you have been employed for a while and return as an applicant again. If you have less than 6.5 months from your previous first application, you can only make a follow-up application at OmaYTK.

Application period

We always pay the earnings-related daily allowance retroactively in periods of four weeks or months. In practice, this means that you apply for earnings-related daily allowance retroactively, i.e. the application has a past four weeks or a month.

The first application period may be shorter. The first application can be sent to us even before four weeks or a month has passed. There is no legal limit on when you can send your first earnings-related daily allowance application exactly. The established practice is two weeks.

Two weeks is a good time because the processing time for the first application is typically a little longer. When you submit your first application after two weeks, in normal circumstances you will receive your first daily allowance approximately one month after unemployment or lay-off begins. This often corresponds to the rhythm of pay.

Two weeks is also practical because there will be a waiting period at the beginning of the earnings-related daily allowance period, for which we cannot pay, with a few exceptions. Therefore, if you submitted your first application immediately after the first day of unemployment, the waiting period would not have passed. In that case, you would receive a negative decision on your first application due to the waiting period.

When we process your first application, we will often ask you for additional application. That is, at that point, you can apply for days left between the filing of the application and the processing of the application.

When you make a follow-up application, OmaYTK proposes the start and end dates for the application. Follow the proposal. Whenever you change the application period, the application goes to manual processing, which means that the processing time is longer.

Examples of application periods

First application, completely unemployed or laid off

You will be laid off or become unemployed 1.1. You can submit your first application 14.1.

First application, partially laid off

You will be laid off from 1.1. so that each week has one day of layoff and four working days. You can submit your first application after 14.1. i.e. in two weeks, even if there have been only two lay-off days by then.

First application for short-term unemployment or lay-off

You will be laid off or become unemployed 1.1. Work will continue from 10.1.  As the work continues before two weeks have passed, you can submit your first application already on the last day of unemployment 9.1.

You work part-time and are laid off

You work part-time and receive adjusted earnings-related daily allowance from us. You will be laid off. Continue applying for daily allowance in the same rhythm that you have applied for so far.

Follow-up application, completely unemployed or laid off

You will be laid off or become unemployed 1.3. You can submit your first application 14.3. When we process your application, we will ask you for a follow-up application until 31.3. The layoff or unemployment will then continue throughout April. You can submit a follow-up application for April at the earliest on the last day of April.

Last application for earnings-related daily allowance

Congratulations! Even though unemployed moments are a normal part of working life, it always feels good to be employed and to end unemployment.

When the unemployment or lay-off ends, let us know in your last application.

You can submit an application already on your last day of unemployment or lay-off. So you don’t have to wait a month or four weeks for your application period to end. At the same time, you can also end your job search in TE Services.

If you are employed part-time or working full-time for a maximum of two weeks, continue to apply for earnings-related daily allowance. Report the hours worked in the daily breakdown of the application and retrieve the salary information for the application from the Incomes Register.

Unemployment can also end, for example, in retirement, parental leave, study or military service. Indicate a change in circumstances in the last application. We make sure that there are no open issues in your situation when it comes to earnings-related daily allowance.

The employment relationship ends during the layoff

If your layoff ends with the termination of your employment, report it in the earnings-related daily allowance application. Also report this to the employment authority. Continue applying for earnings-related daily allowance when unemployed, in accordance with the normal application rhythm.

If you are entitled to pay for the period of notice at the end of your employment, we cannot pay earnings-related daily allowance for the same period. The decisive factor is the right to pay for the period of notice, not whether or not you have been paid for the period of notice. 

Indicate separately in the earnings-related daily allowance application if you resign yourself. Also report this to the employment authority. They’ll check to see if you’ve had a valid reason to resign. If not, there may be an unpaid time. If the lay-off has lasted for more than 200 days, the termination has no consequences in unemployment security according to established practice. However, this can be assessed by the employment authority, so check with the employment authority before resigning.

According to the Employment Contracts Act, you can terminate a prolonged lay-off without losing the right to pay for the period of notice. In these cases, therefore, you retain the right to pay for the period of notice. For the period for which you are entitled to pay during the notice period, you are not entitled to earnings-related daily allowance.

Do this

1. Inform the employment authority of the the dismissal or resignation. If you are asked for a more detailed explanation, respond to it without delay.
2. In the earnings-related daily allowance application, state that your employment relationship has ended with the termination or dismissal.
3. Attach a notice of termination to the earnings-related daily allowance application.