Income support payments have been at increased risk of cuts since last September. At the same time, demand for income support — the welfare payment of last resort in Finland — has increased as planned cuts to other benefits take effect.
Cuts to a recipient's basic element of income support can happen if for example a young person leaves education, or that a jobseeker has not registered with the employment office or participated in the required training or integration programmes.
Cuts to this element of income support often target the same people who have already had their unemployment benefit and housing benefit cut. Their finances are already tight, thanks to inflationary pressures on the cost of living.
In June of last year one person had their basic income support payment cut. In June of this year, the same thing happened to more than 3,800 people.
Between January and July cuts had already hit 12,000 people. The most common reason for the cuts was a breach of the job seeking conditionality attached to benefit payments — that is, failing to seek work in the manner the authorities demand.
Cuts to income support were suspended for several years during the Covid pandemic, but started again in earnest last August.
Before the pandemic some 12,000-16,000 people each year, around five percent of total recipients, had their income support payments cut.
Social services try to help
Kela, the Social Insurance Institution, can cut income support payments by 20 percent at first, and then by 40 percent. Before the cuts are made the recipient has to be asked for any mitigating factors or reasons not to reduce the payments.
Reductions in income support should not make people unable to meet their essential needs, or lead to unreasonable circumstances.
Kela does inform social services when it plans to cut income support payments, so that they can offer appropriate help to the affected individuals. Employment offices send information to Kela if a jobseeker does not participate in employment services or turns down work when it's offered.
"We go through their financial situation but also think about the future," says Jenni Rusk, who heads up the services unit at Western Uusimaa wellbeing services county. "What do they think they could do? Sometimes we just advise that they should go to the employment office."
"Sometimes we demand a bit more, direct people for example to the doctor or mental health or substance abuse services."
Other options include rehabilitation services, or the Ohjaamo service that offers guidance on work, education and everyday life.
Rusk says that a lot of younger people aged under 25 end up as social services clients. Some of them have left school or have continued their studies for so long that they can no longer receive student benefit payments.
"Then they can themselves feel like their ability to work or even function is not great," said Rusk. "Maybe they have visited the doctor, but they have not been examined properly so they can't get sick leave payments. Some think that they just can't manage, they have anxiety or mental health problems."
Rusk says that some customers are not even aware that they need to register as a jobseeker with the employment office, or they have otherwise slipped up somewhere in Finland's bureaucratic jungle.
Correcting those mistakes can prevent cuts in income support payments. Reductions can be enforced for two months at a time.
Some simply make do with less
Rusk says that her social workers make great efforts to contact those threatened with a reduction in income support payments in order to come up with a plan.
"Not everyone answers, even though it would be some kind of use to them," says Rusk. "Sometimes things have gotten into such a state that they need outside help. Some are grateful and happy, others don't really want to come. I would say that we make some kind of contact with 20-50 percent [of those threatened with reductions]."
A single person with no dependent children would receive 587.71 euros per month in basic income support. After a 20 percent cut that becomes 470.17 euros, and a 40 percent cut leaves them with 352.63 euros.
That should cover all basic needs, such as food, clothes and phone bills. Elina Halonen, a social worker in Central Uusimaa, says that people get very thrifty.
"They have learned to deal with the problems the financial situation presents, and live with that," said Halonen. "Of course this could also indicate working off the books, or getting funds some other way, so that people get by. In those cases it can just be carelessness that has caused the reduction in payments."
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