Supplementary and preventive social assistance

Social assistance consists of three parts, of which Kela grants basic social assistance. You can apply for supplementary and preventive social assistance from the wellbeing services county. If you are applying for social assistance for burial expenses, read the instructions here.

Please note! You do not need to choose whether you are applying for preventive or supplementary social assistance from us. The person processing the application will determine which assistance form would be more suitable for your situation.

You must first apply for basic social assistance from Kela. View the instructions on how to apply for basic social assistance from Kela.(external link)

If you wish, you can notify Kela in your basic social assistance application that you also want to apply for supplementary or preventive social assistance from the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County. Kela will then direct your application directly to the wellbeing services county for processing. Remember to attach all necessary documents to your application (see section 2).  

Attach the necessary attachments to your application. Attachments include:

• A positive or negative decision issued by Kela on basic social assistance. If Kela sends the application to the wellbeing services county on your behalf, you do not need to attach this decision to the application.
• A description of why and for what you need preventive or supplementary social assistance granted by the wellbeing services county.
• Your bank statements for the last two months.
• All receipts related to the need for support, such as invoices and any receipts for purchases or services for which you have applied for support.

Apply for supplementary or preventive social assistance online

• Espoo and Kauniainen(external link)
• Hanko, Inkoo, Karkkila, Kirkkonummi, Lohja, Raseborg, Siuntio, Vihti(external link)

If you are applying for social assistance with a printed application, you can pick up a paper form from adult social work service points or download the form from this page. Submit the application to the wellbeing services county in which you reside. The contact information can be found on the back of the application.

We will make the decision within seven working days if you have attached all the necessary documents to your application. The decision will be sent by letter to your home or you can view it in the Omapalvelu service. Read the decision carefully. The decision will state the following: whether the assistance will be paid to your account or directly to, e.g., your landlord or an invoicer. 

If you think the decision is incorrect, you can apply for a correction or rectification. You can contact the public official who made the decision and report the error so that any corrections can be made as quickly as possible.

You can also submit a free-form written claim for a revised decision within 30 days of receiving your social assistance decision. In your claim for a revised decision, explain which decision you want revised and the grounds for your claim.

Submit the claim for a revised decision to the 
Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County/Registry, 
P.O. Box 33, 
02033 Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County