Rehabilitation allowance and compensation

The commencement of your rehabilitation programme is a condition for being paid the rehabilitation allowance. During the planning of your vocational rehabilitation, your income is, depending on your situation, e.g. your salary, sickness allowance, unemployment benefits or the cash rehabilitation benefit. Remember to inform Kela or your unemployment fund of the start of any rehabilitation benefit in order to avoid any payment recovery later on.

We will pay the rehabilitation allowance or a rehabilitation benefit to your account after

• we have approved your proposed rehabilitation plan
• the approved rehabilitation plan, e.g. work trial or education, has been started
• you have received a separate decision from us on the payment of the rehabilitation allowance or the rehabilitation increase

The first payment of rehabilitation benefit can also be paid on a date other than the first day of the month if the rehabilitation programme begins mid-month. After that the rehabilitation benefit will be paid into your bank account on the first banking day of the month.

You can check the payment dates for rehabilitation benefits here

Sometimes, the employer with whom you are doing a work trial or job coaching will pay you a salary during your rehabilitation programme. In this case, the rehabilitation benefit will be paid to the employer. The salary that is paid corresponds to full-time work, even if you only work part time. Salary is also your source of income if you are doing an apprenticeship, in which case the employer will also claim the rehabilitation allowance from Varma.

You can work during your rehabilitation, taking your earnings limit into account. For employees with a secondary occupation, their salary is taken into account as income, and for entrepreneurs with a secondary occupation, their YEL or MYEL confirmed income is taken into account as income. Your work must not interfere with your rehabilitation programme. Make sure that your earnings remain within the permitted limits. Check your earnings limit in our online services.

Request a tax card from the tax authority as soon as you receive a positive decision on your rehabilitation benefit:

• for social security benefits, if you are receiving the rehabilitation allowance or rehabilitation assistance. Without a tax card, 20–50 per cent tax will be withheld, depending on the amount of the benefit.
• for pension, if you are receiving the cash rehabilitation benefit and the rehabilitation increase. In this case, ask the tax authority to indicate in the tax card that it also applies to the rehabilitation increase; this will avoid 40% tax being collected from the rehabilitation increase as per the Tax Administration’s guidelines.

Request a tax card for benefits on the website vero.fi/mytax, by phone at 029 497 000 or from a tax office. The tax authority will send the tax card directly to us.

The tax card will be sent primarily electronically. It can also be sent to Varma via secured email or by post. The tax card cannot be sent through our online service.

If your rehabilitation allowance continues after the turn of the year and beyond January, ask the tax authority to send us a new tax card in the beginning of January.

Log in to MyTax

• Rehabilitation allowance is paid without interruption during the summer if you will be continuing your studies the next term.
• You are allowed to take four weeks of summer holiday. Beyond that, the time must be spent taking your studies forward or on the training to be carried out during your studies.
• If your summer training is not mandatory training imposed by the educational institution, Varma must be notified of the workplace’s contact details and your training period. In this case, Varma will draw up a job coaching agreement for unpaid summer training and take out accident insurance covering that period.
• Rehabilitants who are studying do not need to inform Varma of their summer plans, except in the case of unpaid summer training.
• Make sure that you do not exceed your earnings limit during the summer either.

Rehabilitation assistance can be granted for no more than 3 months if you have received a positive preliminary rehabilitation decision from us and you are not entitled to any other income. It can be granted for the rehabilitation programme’s qualifying period and periods in between rehabilitation courses.

You can apply for rehabilitation assistance, which is the same amount as your disability pension, by sending in an open application.

You can work during your rehabilitation, as long as the work does not interfere with your rehabilitation. Make sure that your work earnings or your YEL or MYEL income remain within the permitted limits.

• While you are in a rehabilitation programme, your work earnings are monitored against your personal earnings limit.
• You can see what your personal earnings limit is in our online service.
• If your work earnings remain below your earnings limit, you will be paid the full amount of rehabilitation allowance.
• If your work earnings regularly exceed your earnings limit, your rehabilitation allowance must be changed to partial rehabilitation allowance. Partial rehabilitation allowance is half of the full rehabilitation allowance.
• If your earnings level rises especially high, you should contact Varma to have your earnings limit reviewed.
• While you are receiving the rehabilitation allowance, however, your work earnings can be up to €976,59 per month (at the 2024 level) without it affecting the amount of your rehabilitation allowance.
• Varma sees the amount of your earnings at the monthly level in the Incomes Register. The employer submits your salary information to the Incomes Register every month.

Check your earnings limit in our online service.

Log in to Varma Online Service