Background information

To address the soaring prices, the government of Finland has introduced a support package to increase the purchasing power of families with children during 2023.

These increases are temporary and will only be valid during the year 2023.

There will also be an additional monthly family allowance in December 2022.

Content of measure

An increase of 20% is proposed for the child supplement to unemployment insurance and 10% for the basic income support’s child supplement. In addition, it is proposed to increase the carer's allowance for students by €10/month and the single carers's allowance by €5 per month.

The total amount earmarked for the child supplement to unemployment insurance and basic income support, as well as the carer’s allowances is around €49 million.

In late 2022, an extra month of child benefit would be paid. The additional payout would not affect the level of income support. The cost impact of this measure is estimated at €112 million. Social Insurance Institution of Finland [Kela] pays out child benefits for every child that permanently resides in Finland. The benefit is paid to the family until the child turns 17 years old.

Use of measure

In 2021, there were 535,576 families that received child benefits. In these families, there were 968,370 children in total which corresponds to 17% of the Finnish population.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Does not apply to businesses	Children (minors) Parents People on social benefits

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Unknown	Unknown
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

The measure is part of the government's budget, which is negotiated internally.

Views and reactions

The leader of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) underlines that it is important that there is a political response to the record high electricity bills. He states that support should be targeted to low-income earners and those hardest hit by the price hike.

The Finnish confederation of Industries (EK) has commented on the government’s budget stating that they understand the spending increases in exceptional circumstances. However, they remain critical to the increasing fiscal debt.

Sources

• 01 September 2022: Amendment budget gives solutions for curbing t,e rise in electricity prices, clean energy, increasing the vitality of eastern Finland and RDI funding. (Budjettiriihestä ratkaisuja sähkön hinnan nousun hillintään, puhtaaseen energiaan, itäisen Suomen elinvoiman lisäämiseen ja TKI-rahoitukseen.) (tem.fi)
• 01 September 2022: Government's energymeasures praised, debt causes worry (Hallituksen sähkötoimille kiitosta, velkaantuminen arveluttaa) (www.mtvuutiset.fi)
• 01 September 2022: Why were new electricity support schemes not prepared earlier? This is how Marin and Saarikko argued [Miksi uusia sähkö­laskujen tuki­malleja ei alettu valmistella aiemmin? Näin Marin ja Saarikko perustelivat] (www.is.fi)