Asiakasnäkymä
Discretionary expense allowance
Language
Charges
Implementation
Who is the service for?
Discretionary expense allowance is intended for you if you participate in a service that supports your employment and are not entitled to compensation for expenses by the organisation paying your unemployment benefit (Kela or an unemployment fund) or based on another law.
Municipality of residence
Age
Situation
How can I participate in the service?
Bring up the topic of discretionary expense allowance with your assigned specialist and look into the possibility of receiving the allowance together with them.
If you are entitled to discretionary expense allowance, this information will also be updated in your plan.
You must apply to your local employment authority for payment of discretionary expense allowance within a month of the expense being incurred. Example: if you participated in a service from 15 to 20 March, you have until the end of April to apply for payment of discretionary expense allowance. In the payment application, specify the number of days on which you participated in the service.
HOW TO APPLY FOR PAYMENT:
- Submit the ‘Discretionary expense allowance’ form via the local government e-service for TEexternal link, opens in a new tab. After this, you must submit a new application on a monthly basis. Use of this online form requires strong Suomi.fi e-identification with your banking credentials.
- If you are unable to use the e-service, you can also submit your application with the printable form keha20i1external link, opens in a new tab. Deliver the payment application form to your local employment authority. We recommend using secure email.
Benefits of participating in the service
You will receive compensation for your expenses during the provision of a service supporting employment.
Conditions for participating in the service
The employment authority may grant discretionary expense allowance under the following conditions:
- The service supporting employment is agreed upon in your employment plan or another corresponding plan.
- You incur necessary expenses for participating in the service. Necessary expenses refer to things such as travel expenses incurred for participating in a service that requires in-person attendance. As the intention is to specifically compensate for travel or meal expenses arising from participation in a service, no discretionary expense allowance has traditionally been granted for participation in a service provided via a remote connection.
- You are not entitled to the unemployment benefit because you may already receive another benefit.
- No allowance is paid for expenses incurred for independent studies supported with the unemployment benefit. Furthermore, no allowance is paid for expenses incurred for visiting the municipal office to use its services in person. In this context, using services refers to taking care of normal matters related to job seeking.
How is the service organised?
The employment authority may grant discretionary expense allowance to the client under the following conditions:
- Participation in the service supporting employment is agreed upon in the employment plan or another corresponding plan.
- Participation in the service causes necessary expenses.
- The client is not otherwise entitled to compensation for expenses.
Amount of discretionary expense allowance:
Discretionary expense allowance is paid for a maximum of five days per calendar week. The amount of discretionary expense allowance paid is €9 per day. However, the amount of discretionary expense allowance paid is €18 per day under the following conditions
- You participate in a service provided outside of your travel-to-work area.
- You participate in a service provided within your travel-to-work area but outside of your home municipality and you incur provable accommodation expenses for participation in the service. The amount of discretionary expense allowance depends on whether the service is provided within or outside of the jobseeker’s travel-to-work area. The travel-to-work area is defined in the Act on the Organisation of Employment Services (23 March 2023/380), chapter 1, section 10, according to which an individual’s travel-to-work area extends 80 kilometres from their actual place of residence.
For example, during job search coaching, career coaching and work try-outs, as well as in some other situations, discretionary expense allowance is only paid for the days on which the service is provided and on which the jobseeker participates in the service.