Grants and social benefits

Here you can find a brief overview of the impact of Taike grants on general housing allowances, sickness allowances and family benefits.

Artist grants awarded by Taike are mainly intended for full-time work. It is possible to flexibly combine working on a grant with some social benefits.

Your living situation may change during the grant period. If you receive benefits, always remember to notify the benefit payer of any changes when you switch to working on a grant during the grant period or your living situation otherwise changes. Postponing or interrupting the grant period is possible in some cases.

General housing allowance

Grants intended for work are taken into account as income when assessing eligibility for a general housing allowance. Grants that do not cover work are not taken into account. Income is taken into account for the entire grant period, regardless of when the payments are made.

If you are covered by a general housing allowance and receive notification about the awarding of a grant intended for work, notify Kela of the change by applying for a review. Kela will assess the conditions for receiving a general housing allowance and the amount of the allowance based on the new income. The total income of the entire household affects the general housing allowance.

With general housing allowances, the MYEL income that has been calculated in accordance with the Farmers’ Pension Insurance Act (MYEL) is taken into account as the income of the recipient of a grant intended for work. When calculating the MYEL income, any eligible costs are first deducted from the total amount of the grant. The difference obtained is then multiplied by 360 and the result divided by the number of working days. For a recipient of a grant intended for work of less than four months who does not have MYEL insurance, the minimum amount of MYEL income is taken into account as income. (Housing Allowance Act, Section 12 / Farmers’ Pension Insurance Act, Chapter 3, Section 21a).

  • Report changes that affect the housing allowance via the Kela website or by calling Kela’s customer service: 020 692 210
  • Read more about general housing allowances on the Kela website.
  • Read more about MYEL income on the Mela website.


Sickness allowance

If you have received a grant for work but are unable to do the work for which the grant is intended due to illness, you may be entitled to sickness allowance. Sickness allowance is applied for from Kela. In the application, you must describe the work you are doing with the grant and how your illness prevents you from doing it. (Health Insurance Act, Chapter 8).

Kela starts paying sickness allowance after a waiting period of nine working days. A MYEL-insured grant recipient can receive daily allowance paid by Mela from the fifth day of the waiting period until the ninth day. If your illness lasts no longer than nine days, apply for daily allowance directly from Mela.

The annual income on which sickness allowance and rehabilitation allowance are based takes into account the MYEL income calculated in accordance with the Farmers’ Pensions Act. If you are not subject to MYEL insurance for your grant (grants of less than four months), your grant is not included in your annual income. (Health Insurance Act, Chapter 11, Section 4).

Postponing or interrupting the grant period due to illness or rehabilitation 

The start of the artist grant period can be postponed or, under certain conditions, the grant period interrupted due to the illness or rehabilitation of the grant recipient. In these cases, a medical certificate is required for the illness or rehabilitation. In order to interrupt the grant period, at least four months must have passed since the start of the grant period, work must have been interrupted for at least four months, and at least four months of the grant period must remain after the interruption. The decision on whether to allow the interruption of the grant period is made by Taike. Also, Mela must be notified of any changes to your grant period so that your insurance can be interrupted if necessary (Farmers’ Pension Act, Chapter 3, Section 10).

  • Kela customer service in case of illness: 020 692 204 
  • Read more about sickness allowance paid by Kela on the Kela website 
  • Read more about the daily allowance paid by Mela during the waiting period on the Mela website 
  • Read more about making changes to your MYEL insurance on the Mela website  


Family benefits

You can apply for parental allowance for the days you are not working. Independent artistic work is counted as work. Receiving payment of an artist grant during parental leave does not prevent the payment of the allowance if it is not related to work.

If you work during your parental leave, cancel the parental allowance for those work days that you have applied for by notifying Kela. Working days for which parental allowance is not paid do not use up the number of available parental allowance days. (Health Insurance Act, Chapter 9, Section 10)

When calculating parental allowance, the grant is taken into account in the annual income only on the basis of the calculated MYEL income, i.e. if the MYEL insurance is valid during the period under review. If you do not have MYEL insurance, the grant is not taken into account in the annual income at all. (Health Insurance Act, Chapter 11, Section 4)

Grant recipients are entitled to flexible care allowance if they have valid MYEL insurance issued on the basis of the grant. The working hours must be a maximum of 30 hours per week. The grant recipient's own declaration of working hours is sufficient for the application. The grant recipient is not entitled to partial care allowance. (Act on Client Fees in Early Childhood Education and Care, Section 13)

In childcare support, all grants (excluding those related to studies) are taken into account as childcare supplement income (Act on Client Fees in Early Childhood Education and Care, Section 11).

  • Kela customer service for parents: 020 692 206 
  • Read more about parental allowance on the Kela website 
  • Read more about child home care allowance on the Kela website
  • Read more about flexible care allowance on the Kela website
     

Postponing or interrupting the grant period due to family reasons 

Artist grants awarded by Taike are mainly intended for full-time work. The start date of the grant period can be postponed due to the birth of a child, the care of a child under the age of three, or partial parental leave. In such cases, a decision from Kela is required.

The grant period can be interrupted and continued for a corresponding period later if work is interrupted due to the birth of a child or the care of a child under the age of three, provided that at least four months have passed since the start of the grant, work is interrupted for at least four months, and there are at least four months left in the grant period after the interruption.

The decision on whether to allow the interruption of the grant period is made by Taike. Also, Mela must be notified of any changes to your grant period so that your insurance can be interrupted if necessary (Farmers’ Pension Act, Chapter 3, Section 10).

  • Read more about making changes to your MYEL insurance on the Mela website 

The guidelines were prepared on 1 November 2023. The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) is not responsible for the practices of other actors that are changed and therefore deviate from these guidelines.