Preconditions and application procedures for getting rehabilitation services
The purpose of rehabilitation is to help you stay or become fit enough to work. You can ask your doctor, your pension insurance company or Kela if you have a right to rehabilitation.
If you wish to find out if rehabilitation could be an option for you, first see a doctor. If the doctor thinks that you could benefit from rehabilitation, they will write a doctor’s statement recommending it for you. Decisions related to social rehabilitation are made by social welfare.
You will find instructions for applying for rehabilitation in the Kela Quick guide to rehabilitationOpens in a new window..
Employment pension rehabilitation is always vocational rehabilitation. Työeläke.fiOpens in a new window. lists the criteria for vocational rehabilitation organised by pension providers and how to apply for this rehabilitation.
Most of the rehabilitation services are free of charge for the client. The costs of your rehabilitation are paid by the rehabilitation provider. You usually have to pay at least a part of the costs of rehabilitation services, such as therapy or spending time at a rehabilitation institution.
You can get financial support from your pension insurance company or Kela during the time you are in rehabilitation. Read more about the financial assistance for rehabilitee on the Kela pages.Opens in a new window.
On pages Instructions for persons coming back to work after a long sick leave you can read about financial support and other instructions for coming back to work.
Kela evaluates whether you could benefit from rehabilitation after that you have been paid sickness allowance for 60 working days. Then you get a letter from Kela informing you about various rehabilitation options and providers. Kela makes the same evaluation also before sickness allowance has been paid to you for 150 and 230 days. Read more about sickness allowance.
If you are employed, your occupational health care provider evaluates your remaining capacity for work at the latest once you have been paid sickness allowance for 90 working days.
You do not have to have full capacity for work to go back. Even if you have partial capacity for work, this is enough. You can work part time and get support for part-time rehabilitation. After 300 days of sick leave you may also go on a fixed-term or continuous disability pension.
A disability pension that you get for a fixed term or until further notice can also be paid to you as a partial benefit if you can work part time or manage lighter work. Partial disability pension you can get only from your pension provider.
If you are not granted a disability benefit and you are not employed after 300 days of daily sickness allowance, you must register as an unemployed jobseeker with the TE Office to receive unemployment benefit.
Yes, you can. Rehabilitation companies also sell their services to customers who do not have a right to rehabilitation supported by a pension insurance company or Kela. For example, they offer physiotherapy, occupational therapy, day rehabilitation, day activities led by an instructor, acupuncture and massage. You can plan a rehabilitation programme that is suitable for you together with a team of professionals.