Discretionary expense allowance
You can receive expense allowance for employment promoting services if not covered by your unemployment benefit provider.
This service is available from 1 January 2025.
Employment authorities may grant you discretionary expense allowance when you participate in a service that supports your employment as agreed in your employment plan or a plan replacing it. You can receive compensation from the employment authority if you incur inevitable costs for participating in a service and you do not receive unemployment security from Kela or an unemployment fund.
Expense allowance can be paid for your participation in
* labour market training
* work trial
* training trial
* career coaching
* job search coaching
* independent study as an integration client.
Expense allowance is usually nine euros per day. You can receive expense allowance for up to five days a week and only for those days when you participate in the agreed service. Expense allowance is not paid for holidays or absences, for example.
The expense allowance is 18 euros a day if the service is provided outside your labour market region. The expense allowance will also be 18 euros when the service is provided outside your municipality of residence and you have accommodation expenses.
Act like this
Once you have participated in a service that promotes employment, apply for an expense allowance from the employment authority in your region within one month.
Apply for the allowance primarily using an electronic form in the e-service. Log into the service with your personal banking IDs, a mobile certificate or a certificate card. Complete the application in the service and attach the required documents. The service’s internal instructions will help you fill in the application. In the e-service, you can submit an application, respond to requests for supplementary information concerning the application, supplement your application and receive decisions concerning your case.
If you are submitting an application for several months online, fill in a separate application for each month.
If you cannot use the e-service, apply for compensation using the printable form. Submit the form to the employment authority in your region.
To whom and under what conditions
If you are not entitled to unemployment security, discuss your possibility of receiving a discretionary expense allowance with your region’s employment authority. If you receive unemployment security, Kela or the unemployment fund will grant the expense allowance in connection with the payment of your unemployment security, and you do not have to apply for it separately.
Compensation can be paid retroactively for more than a month only for a particularly heavy reason. Expense allowance can be paid for a maximum period specified in the decision.
The expense allowance can be paid to a Finnish or foreign bank account and also to a prepaid card issued by a reception centre, if necessary. Notify your reception centre if you will receive an expense allowance.