Grants and unemployment security

Grants awarded by Taike are mainly intended for full-time work. If you are registered as a jobseeker before the start of the grant period and your grant work is considered full-time employment in terms of unemployment security, your entitlement to unemployment benefits ends for the duration of your grant period. Your grant may also affect other social benefits. Read more about the effects of a grant on other social benefits.

Unemployment security after the grant period 

Receiving unemployment benefit requires that the grant period has demonstrably ended, the unemployed jobseeker is seeking full-time work and is available for the labour market (Unemployment Security Act, Chapter 2, Sections 1, 5 and 9).

If you are unemployed after the grant period and want to apply for unemployment benefits, log in to the Job Market Finland online service and register as a jobseeker. You can also report changes to your employment status via this online service. You can register as a jobseeker before the end of your grant period. Register no later than your first day of unemployment, as you can only receive unemployment benefits from the date of registration.

Log in to Job Market Finland

The task of Employment Services is to determine the right to unemployment security and to issue a labour policy statement to the payer of unemployment benefit (unemployment fund/Kela). The payer of the unemployment benefit decides on the payment of the unemployment benefit and determines whether the benefit-specific conditions are met, such as the employment condition and any income that may affect the benefits to be paid.

When you return as a jobseeker after the grant period, Employment Services will send you a request for clarification related to unemployment security. Based on your written clarification, you will receive a statement based on the Unemployment Security Act about your right to unemployment security (Unemployment Security Act, Chapter 2, Sections 5 and 9). The purpose of the request for clarification is to ascertain whether you are an unemployed jobseeker as defined in the Unemployment Security Act and are therefore entitled to a benefit, or whether it is considered that you are still self-employed.

A person who is employed full-time in their own work is considered to continue to be employed in that work until the time when, based on a reliable declaration from the jobseeker or otherwise, it is clear that the activity will no longer be continued (Unemployment Security Act, Chapter 2, Section 9). The end of self-employment on a grant is indicated by, for example: the end of the grant period as indicated by the dates specified in the grant decision and the discontinuation of MYEL insurance, the applicant's own declaration, the completion of the work, and the discontinuation of productive and economic activity.

According to the Deputy Chancellor of Justice's statement, the authorities can also obtain information on their own initiative from public social media channels. To verify the information, the person is heard by sending a request for clarification.

Submitting a grant application to the employment authorities

If you become an unemployed jobseeker after the grant period, you will be asked to submit the grant decision as an attachment to the request for clarification. If the grant decision does not indicate the exact period of work (such as project grants that also cover work, as well as library grants and display grants), you will also be asked to submit the grant application to clarify the exact period of work.

The employment authority may also request that your grant application be submitted directly by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike). Taike provides information about decisions and applications to other authorities as required by law.

Customer data is processed at Employment Services only by those employees who have access authorisations according to their job duties and the right to handle the matter in question. Those who process personal data have a confidentiality obligation and undertake not to disclose confidential information.

If the information is not included in the decision, you can request a certificate of the work period based on your application from Taike’s customer service. When contacting us, please state the reference number starting with TKT/ to facilitate the processing of the matter [email protected] .

Fulfilling the job search obligation by applying for a grant

The job search obligation means that a jobseeker must apply for at least a certain number of job opportunities each month in order to maintain the right to unemployment security. As a rule, a jobseeker must apply for four job opportunities per month. In some situations, the number may be lower or the job search obligation not imposed on the jobseeker at all. The job search obligation depends on the jobseeker’s situation and work ability. The job search obligation is agreed upon with your own contact person and recorded in your personal employment plan.

The job search obligation can be fulfilled in several different ways. Applying for a grant for work while you are unemployed as a professional artist can be considered a measure that fulfils the job search obligation if this is recorded in your personal employment plan. Always check with your contact person.

Guidance services for Employment Services

Guidance for your specific situation is available through the online services of Job Market Finland. The messages you send to your contact person are saved in the system, and you can later return to the instructions given to you. Online services: https://tyomarkkinatori.fi/en/personal-customers

If you would like to know what the labour policy statement you received is based on, you can get help from your local Employment Services area or the unemployment security advice phone service.

You can find the number for your local Employment Services area based on your municipality of residence. If you do not have a municipality of residence in Finland, your employment area is determined by your place of residence. You can find contact information for Employment Services on the regional pages of Job Market Finland or on the website of your municipality. 

National unemployment advice for personal customers: 0295 020 701 (Mon–Fri 9am–3pm).

Impact of a grant on the work condition for unemployment benefits

The work requirement is fulfilled if a total of 12 months of work have accrued during the 28-month reference period. A calendar month counts towards the work requirement if the employee receives a minimum of EUR 930 in salary or wages during that month. If the employee receives a salary of EUR 465–929 during the calendar month, half a month counts towards the requirement. (The information is based on the situation as of 1 January 2025.) The work condition for a self-employed person is at least 15 months of work as an entrepreneur during the 48-month reference period. The work condition for a self-employed person includes months in which the person's insured income under the Self-Employed Persons' Pensions Act (YEL) meets the annual minimum requirement (Unemployment Security Act, Chapter 5, Sections 3, 4 and 6).

Since unemployment insurance contributions are not paid for grants, grant work does not count towards the work condition. However, the grant period extends the work condition reference period by a maximum of seven years. The work condition reference period for an employee is therefore a maximum of nine years and four months (28 months + 7 years). The acceptable reasons for extending the reference period for an entrepreneur are the same as for an employee, i.e. the entrepreneur's reference period is a maximum of eleven years (48 months + 7 years). However, if you work on a grant while in another job that counts towards the work condition, this is also counted towards your work condition and the grant does not extend the reference period (Unemployment Security Act, Chapter 5, Section 4 b and Section 6).

If you are a member of an unemployment fund and the work condition is met during your membership period, you can apply for earnings-related unemployment benefits from your unemployment fund. If you are not a member of an unemployment fund but meet the work condition, you can apply for basic unemployment benefits granted by Kela. Basic unemployment benefits can only be paid if you are not a member of an unemployment fund or your membership has lasted less than 12 months. If you do not meet the work condition, you can apply for a labour market subsidy granted by Kela. You can also receive a labour market subsidy if you have already received a basic unemployment benefit or earnings-related unemployment benefit for the maximum period (Unemployment Security Act, Chapter 1, Section 2, Chapter 5, Section 2, Chapter 7, Section 1).

The work requirement and income that affects your benefit are checked by the payer of the unemployment benefit, i.e. Kela or your unemployment fund. The payer of the unemployment benefit payer receives information about your wage income from the Incomes Register. However, the Incomes Register does not contain information about your grants. If necessary, you will be asked for additional information.

Effect of a grant declared as business income on unemployment benefits

Since 2024, private traders (Business ID) have also been able to apply for working grants from Taike. In these cases, the grant recipient declares the grant as business income for the year preceding the tax year. When determining the type of income for taxation, it should be noted that designating the grant as business income may change the form of entrepreneurship from part-time to full-time employment, and the grant may become taxable income. In this case, the person would move from an employee’s to an entrepreneur’s unemployment security.

Change of status from an unemployed jobseeker to a grant recipient

If you are an unemployed jobseeker before the grant period, notify the Employment Services and the payer of the benefit (Kela or unemployment fund) about the grant before the start of the grant period.

Contact the Employment Services in your employment area by submitting a contact request via the online services or by calling the service number for your employment area. Your employment area is determined by your municipality of residence. You can find contact information for employment services on the Job Market Finland regional website or on your municipality's website.

You can notify Kela of your changed situation using the OmaKela service.

Depending on your situation, Employment Services will send a request for clarification when your grant work begins or when a possible protection period ends. A request for clarification is normal practice in order to hear from you when your situation changes. If you decide to end your job search for the duration of your full-time grant work, Employment Services will only send a request for clarification about your grant work after your grant period, when you return to being a jobseeker.

Four-month protection period at the start of the grant period

As a self-employed person, you may be entitled to a four-month protection period, which means that Employment Services will not assess you are working full time or part time during the first four months. During the protection period, you may receive unemployment security at the same time as the grant if the other conditions for receiving it are met. For example, you must fulfil the job search obligation agreed in your personal employment plan, be ready to accept a full-time job, and keep your job application valid. If you have already used the protection period earlier during the same unemployment period, the right to the protection period will only be restored after the 12-month work condition has been met (Unemployment Security Act, Chapter 2, Section 5 a).

Always inform the benefit payer of any changes in your situation. Grants may be taken into account in the adjusted amount of unemployment benefits or in the means-testing for labour market subsidies. Grants that are subject to taxes are adjusted income, meaning that the grant reduces the amount of your earnings-related unemployment benefit, while a tax-exempt grant does not affect your earnings-related unemployment benefit. However, the grant is taken into account in the tax-exempt part of the grant in the means-testing for labour market subsidies. You can obtain more information about this from the payer of your benefit (Kela or unemployment fund).

After the protection period, the Employment Services will assess whether you are employed full time or part time with a request for clarification related to unemployment security. The clarification request is sent after four months of work, even if your grant work continues longer or is shorter than four months (Unemployment Security Act, Chapter 2, Section 5a). 

National unemployment advice for personal customers is available by calling 0295 020 701 or from your own contact person.

These guidelines were updated on 1 January 2025. The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) is not responsible for subsequent changes made by Employment Services that may deviate from these guidelines.