As an informal carer for a loved one

If there are changes in the health of you or the person you care for, the wellbeing services county will re-assess the need for services. Based on this, you can receive more support services or they can be reduced. At the same time, the informal carer's compensation is reviewed.

If informal care is temporarily interrupted, you will not be paid any informal care compensation for those days. The time limit for interrupting the compensation is specific to the wellbeing services county. The time limit can be e.g. three or five consecutive days. Find out from the wellbeing services county how many days of interrupted care you need to notify them about. You may have to pay back your compensation if you do not notify your own employee of the changes in your situation in time.

The appointment of a guardian is a last resort option to organise the management of your child’s affairs. Before applying for a guardian, it is a good idea to consider whether other measures can be taken to see to the management of affairs.

If your child is unable to express their will or understand their situation, you can report their need for guardianship when the child reaches the age of 18. The reporting process can be initiated when your child reaches the age of 17. 

Read more on how to report a person in need of guardianship (Digital and Population Data Services Agency)Opens in a new window..

Your child can give you mandates in the following ways:

• Your child can give you a mandate through Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. Suomi.fi e-Authorizations can be used e.g. to give the right to view health information in the Kanta service and to manage tax and pharmacy matters. You both need to have electronic means of identification. Read more about Suomi.fi e-AuthorizationsOpens in a new window..
• If your child does not have any means of electronic identification, you can apply for them e.g. via your bank. You can find instructions on how to obtain an ID on the Show your ID! website. 
• Your child can give you a power of attorney in paper form for handling their matters. Read more about alternatives for guardianship (Digital and Population Data Services Agency)Opens in a new window..
• Only Kela's own power of attorney templateOpens in a new window., also available at Kela's offices, can be used to handle Kela matters. 
• If you wish to prepare for the future, your child may also submit a mandate for guardianship (page only in Finnish)Opens in a new window.. In that the child determines how they want their affairs to be handled if they are unable to manage them on their own in the future. The mandate for guardianship is only implemented when a physician finds the child unable to take care of their affairs.

Often only one of the parents is defined to be the informal carer in an informal care agreement. However, it is possible that both can be informal carers.

Both parents or only one can continue as an informal carer. Regardless of this, the child may also stay with the other parent. The division of care responsibilities is also recorded in the informal care agreement. Find out more about this with your wellbeing services county, as different wellbeing services counties have different practices.

During the divorce, it is important to consider what is best for your child receiving informal care, and you can agree on the custody with the child welfare officer. Read more on guide Divorce or separation.

If you are unable to take care of your child e.g. because of your own state of health, your child is placed into foster care. If this happens, the informal care agreement with the wellbeing services county is terminated. 

The purpose of foster care is to protect the child’s development and well-being. Foster care can be provided as family care, in an institution or otherwise as indicated by the child's needs. The child’s opinion must be taken into account where possible. 

If your child is unable to live on their own, they may continue living with you and you can continue as their informal carer. However, it is a good idea to support the child's independence. 

Your child can also move to a housing service unit or assisted living facility. Discuss the continuation of the informal care agreement with your own employee in the wellbeing services county.  

If your child moves into their own apartment, you can continue as their informal carer. Go through the services your child needs together with your own employee. Think about how much help you are able to give your child in the future. To support the move, your child may receive housing coaching. E.g.  services provided by the wellbeing services county for people with disabilities organise training for moving and for housing.

If you entered into an informal care agreement while you were unemployed, you may be entitled to an unemployment benefit for four months without the TE Office making an account of the amount of employment in informal care. After four months, the TE Office will determine whether you are entitled to unemployment benefit.

Contact the unemployment security helpline for advice about the terms and conditions or see The entrepreneur and unemployment security pageOpens in a new window. on the TE Services website.

You can also contact your unemployment fund and Kela for more information. 

If you are going to a job interview, you can use your monthly leave for that. You can ask e.g. the substitute carer or someone you know to care for your loved one during the interview.

When you accept a job, you can let them know about being an informal carer at the recruitment stage if you want. You can also ask if you can get flexibility from work, such as flexible hours or shorter working hours. Please note that the employer has no obligation to offer any flexibility due to you being an informal carer. However, check out the possibility for that beforehand so that you can ask for remote work or flexible working hours in advance.  

You can find a summary of different flexible working arrangements on the website of Carers Finland (in Finnish)Opens in a new window..

If you refuse a job and have no valid reason not to accept it, you may lose your unemployment benefit for a fixed period, which means that you will be put on a mandatory waiting period.

Your report to TE Office will affect whether you lose your unemployment benefit. If TE Office has previously assessed your informal care work as part-time , they will assess whether there has been changes in your employment as an informal carer. If you tell the TE Office that you cannot apply for full-time employment, you will not receive any unemployment benefit.

If you become unemployed:

1. Register as an unemployed jobseeker
2. Inform the TE Office that you are an informal carer. If your informal care obligation changes, always notify the TE Office.
3. The TE Office will determine whether you are entitled to unemployment benefit. If the TE Office asks you to provide information on working as an informal carer, explain how the care of your loved one will be arranged if you get a job. For this purpose, you should ask the wellbeing services county for a statement on how the wellbeing services county will commit to arranging the care of your loved one if you receive work. Substitute care arrangements should also be clearly recorded in the statement.
4. The TE Office issues a statement on whether you are entitled to unemployment benefit or not
5. Based on a statement from the TE Office, the unemployment fund or Kela makes a decision on whether it will pay you an unemployment benefit.

In order to receive unemployment benefit, you must

• register as an unemployed jobseeker and keep your job search valid
• search for jobs
• be ready to accept full-time work.

Ask for more information:

For more information on the terms and conditions, contact the unemployment security helplineOpens in a new window.. You can also visit the TE Office's entrepreneur and unemployment security pageOpens in a new window.. 

You can also contact your unemployment fund and Kela for more information. 

When you retire, your position as an informal carer will be adapted to your new situation. In the future, you may be able to take care of your loved one in a different way, and you will have more time to spend together. It is important that you also look after your own well-being and make sure you have some time for yourself in your everyday life. 

The wellbeing services county will reassess your service needs. When you leave work, support for informal care may become more focused on your care compensation, if some of the wellbeing services county´s services are terminated.

Your pension will not be affected by the informal care compensation. You accrue pension on informal care support. 

Read more about the old-age pension for informal carers (in Finnish).Opens in a new window. 

Read more about retirement on the Suomi.fi When you retire page. 

If you leave the workforce because of your studies, your informal care will be adapted to your new situation. 

Carry out a new service need assessment with the wellbeing services county, in which you plan how the care of your loved one will be arranged during your studies. 

Informal care support affects student financial aid. In addition to informal care support, you may not receive student financial aid. Check this with Kela.

Find out from your place of study what kind of flexibility you can get as an informal carer. 

You may also have to make a decision about leaving paid employment. Factors affecting this decision may include 

• increased need for and level of intensity of care due to the health of your loved one
• your own exhaustion 
• inflexibility of the workplace. 

If you do not intend to continue working, you do not need to register as an unemployed jobseeker. In this case, you will also not receive unemployment benefits.

Apply for informal care support from the new wellbeing services county already before moving, especially when the need for support and care is high. Asking for services beforehand may make it easier to get them if the municipality needs to make preparations for them.

You will not receive a decision on informal care support until after the move. Before the decision is made, the wellbeing services county needs to make a home visit to carry out an assessment of the service needs. 

The wellbeing services county will start paying the informal care support either from the beginning of the application month or from the beginning of the month following the month of the application.