What should I do if my work ability has weakened?

Apply the Social Insurance Institution Kela for sickness allowance if you cannot work because of your illness.

Discuss with your occupational health care and your employer what options you have for returning to work. If you are not in working life, you can discuss the matter with your attending physician.

If you are returning to work, Kela’s partial sickness allowance can help you with a soft return to work. You can also apply for Varma’s vocational rehabilitation if you need support to continue to work.

If your incapacity for work becomes prolonged and your sickness absence lasts for more than a year, you can apply for cash rehabilitation benefit or a disability pension.

When you fill in an application in the Varma Online Service, you can attach a medical statement and any other documents. 

You can also submit attachments later in the Varma Online Service in the ‘Messages and attachments’ section.

You can see how the processing of your application is progressing in the Varma Online Service under ‘Pension applications’ - ‘Follow progress of the processing’. 

You can see your filled in application in the section ‘Messages and documents’ - ‘Decisions and documents’.

The average vocational rehabilitation application processing time is approximately three weeks. The average disability pension application processing time is roughly four weeks.

If we need more information to make a decision, it may take longer than usual to process your application.

Order a tax card for social security benefits, if you receive rehabilitation allowance. Without the tax card, we will withhold 20–30 per cent tax on the rehabilitation allowance, depending on its size.

Order a tax card for pension, if you receive the cash rehabilitation benefit or disability pension. The pension tax card must be valid from the start of the pension. If we have not received your pension income tax card when your pension begins, we will have to withhold 40% tax on your pension.

We will refund to you any excess tax that has been withheld once we get your tax card.

Yes, you can, but remember that your earnings cannot exceed the earnings limit set for you.

Read more about working while on disability pension.

If you want to appeal a decision, you can find detailed instructions in the instructions for appeal that came with your decision. You can appeal a decision in the Varma Online Service under Pension applications > Notifications > Appeals.

You can also send us an appeal as a free-form letter.

Read more about appeals

You can start a work trial or other rehabilitation programme also when you receive cash rehabilitation benefit. We will pay a 33 per cent rehabilitation increment on top of the cash rehabilitation benefit.

If you are planning on returning to work through vocational rehabilitation, contact Varma for advice and support.

A disability pension application is resolved based on the application, medical statement and other information. The earnings-related pension insurance company makes the assessment objectively in accordance with the law and established decision-making practices to ensure that all applications are processed fairly using the same grounds.

Even if the attending physician recommends disability pension, an application can be rejected if the legal grounds for granting it are not met.

If the amount of your earnings-related pension is low, you can apply for a disability pension or cash rehabilitation benefit also from Kela. Kela’s disability pension is called national pension. 

You can apply for both an earnings-related pension and national pension using the same application. We will forward your national pension application to Kela on your behalf. Please note that you cannot apply for a partial disability pension from Kela.

When you have received the preliminary vocational rehabilitation decision, the next step is to make a rehabilitation plan. Your own rehabilitation specialist will help you create the plan. Their name and contact details are in the preliminary decision you received.

We pay a rehabilitation benefit when your rehabilitation programme starts.

Read more about paying rehabilitation benefit

You do not need to notify Varma of a brief period, i.e. a few days, of sick leave. Always notify the employer of absences due to illness in accordance with your workplace’s practices. If your sick leave lasts longer than a week or if your work trial or job coaching is interrupted for some other reason, please contact Varma’s rehabilitation specialist and send a sick note or medical statement.

We recommend that you take any holidays after the work trial or job coaching. This allows us to assess as well as possible how successfully the goals of the rehabilitation period are met. If you are planning to take a holiday during your rehabilitation period, discuss this with your rehabilitation specialist before starting your work trial or job coaching. Rehabilitation benefits are not paid during holidays.

A work trial can be extended on reasonable grounds for one to three months. In order to assess whether the work trial should continue, we need information on how the work trial is progressing and on the follow-up plan. Send to Varma a new occupational health negotiation record or medical statement. 

Claim compensation for commuting expenses retroactively for each calendar month, for example January’s travel is claimed in February. We can pay compensation for your commuting expenses if the one-way commute from your place of residence to the place of your work trial or studies is at least 10 kilometres. Include the length of the commute in the commuting invoice based on the most direct route. If needed, we will check the length of the route using a public journey planner.

Please note that we do not pay compensation for commuting expenses for paid rehabilitation periods. In that case, it is usually possible to deduct travel expenses in taxation.

Submit a claim for compensation in the Varma Online Service

Fill in a notification of studies immediately after your studies begin and then whenever a new term begins in January or August. Complete the notification no later than 6 months after the start of the term. We will process your right to compensation for studies based on the notification of studies.

If your graduation is delayed, we need a study plan drawn up together with the educational institution. The plan must show the courses to be completed, the study schedule, the study credits and the estimated graduation date. In addition, we need a certificate of the studies completed to date.

When we have received the necessary information, we will assess your situation and whether we can support your follow-up plan.

When you graduate and your studies end, Varma’s vocational rehabilitation will also end. After it finishes, you can focus on finding employment and take steps towards a new career.

Please remember to inform Varma if you graduate ahead of time or if your studies are interrupted. This allows us to check your situation and ensure that the rehabilitation allowance is paid correctly and avoid any recovery situations.