Support with finances

Discretionary income support is financial support. You can get discretionary income support if your financial situation suddenly gets worse. Discretionary income support can be used for, for example, unexpected expenses and payments.

1. First, apply for social assistance from Kela.
2. Then, apply for discretionary income support from your wellbeing services county.
   • You can send the application electronically or by post.
   • Please fill in the form carefully (in other words, answer all the questions).
   • Please attach your latest bank statements to the application. You find your bank statements in your internet bank.

Discretionary income support includes supplementary social assistance and preventive social assistance.

You can apply for supplementary or preventive social assistance even if you do not get any support from Kela. You can get discretionary income support for expenses that are not covered by Kela’s social assistance.

You will get a written decision from the wellbeing services county seven working days after we have received the application form. We will pay the support into your account latest three days after we have made the decision.

• You can apply for the decision to be corrected if you are not happy with it. This means the application will be processed again.
• First, contact the worker who made the decision. Tell him or her that you want the decision to be corrected. When you do this the process will go faster.
• Together with the decision you will also be given directions on how to request a correction of the decision.
• After you have gotten the decision, you have 28 days to send the request for correction.

We will give a written answer to the request for correction.

VYou can apply for supplementary social assistance for the burial of a dead person, in other words, the deceased. You can get monetary support if the dead person had small income or got social support from Kela.

The money in the death estate (in other words the money that the dead person had) should primarily be used to pay for the burial. Please note that it is not allowed to pay the dead person’s bills with social support.

We can grant income support with claim for recovery if the dead person’s money cannot be used immediately. Claim for recovery means that you need to pay back the income support when you can use the dead person’s money.

The income support is meant only for necessary burial costs. Necessary burial costs are

• coffin
• clothes for the dead person
• putting the dead person in the coffin
• flower arrangement on top of the coffin
• transporting the dead person
• burial place
• cremation
• necessary costs for the parish, if the parish must charge them even if the dead person had small income.

It is not possible to use social assistance to pay for the transport of the dead person if he or she died outside of Finland. The highest amount that can be paid as social assistance for necessary burial costs is 1.300 euros.

The following attachments are needed when processing the application:

• Balance statement for the dead person’s bank accounts from the date of death.
• The dead person’s wife’s (widow) or husband’s bank statements for the last two months.
• Information from the last tax decision or tax proposal and the proposal’s specification.
• Inventory of the estate, if already made.
• Information on the dead person’s wealth.
• Burial bill.
• Information about the dead person’s possible life insurance.

Fill in the application for supplementary social assistance.

• Apply for support for burial costs with this form (in Finnish, not in plain language) (opens in a new window, you move to another service)(siirryt toiseen palveluun)
  • Send it to Mannerheiminkatu 20E, 06100 Porvoo.
• Use the dead person’s name when applying for the support.
• If the dead person is a child under the age of 18, use the child’s parent’s name when applying for the support.
  • In case the dead person is a child the parents must have Kela’s decision on social assistance!

You can get advice on financial matters and debt from the Itä-Uusimaa Legal Aid Office

Credit means that a person can borrow money from an entity. Social credit is a loan meant for people with a low income. You can get social credit from the wellbeing services county if you have, for example, a bad credit record. On this page you will find more information about social credit. You can also find instructions on how to apply for social credit.

Contact Social Services if you want to apply for a social credit. You can find the Social Services’ contact information at the end of this page.

Social credit may be used, for example, for

• health care bills
• shopping for the home
• rent deposit
• unpaid rents
• payment of small debts, instalments, and bills
• things that help you get a job.

You need to be able to pay instalments of the loan and interest for the loan every month. This is the reason why we investigate your financial situation before we give you the credit.

Social credit is the last option when you cannot get a loan from any other entity. We will direct you to take a loan from a bank, if they will give you a loan. Before giving you the credit we may ask you to sell all your wealth.

You must pay a reference rate for the credit according to the Interest Act. This means that you will pay every month a little bit more for the loan to the wellbeing services area. There are no other extra costs for the social credit.usi lainasta palkkioksi hyvinvointialueelle. Sosiaaliseen luottoon ei liity muita lisäkuluja.

MiWhen will you not get social credit?

You will not get social credit if

• your money is not enough to pay back the credit
• you can get a loan from a bank
• you have wealth that you can sell
• you have over 10.000 euros in debt
• it seems that you cannot pay back the credit
• you have received income support for a long time
• you have debt arrangements
• you are a student
• you are an entrepreneur.

We recommend your credit record to be marked as bad until you pay back your social credit. If needed, we will give you advise on financial matters. You can also talk to the entity that gives you the credit.

Contact Social Work by phone or by filling in a form.

We will contact you soon.

When you have applied for the credit, you can wait in peace. It usually takes 1–3 months to process the application.