Post-protection daily allowance

If you have met the employees’ work requirement before becoming an entrepreneur and you switch from an employee fund to the Entrepreneur Fund within three months of starting your business activities, it is possible to retain the right to unemployment security without interruption. Your uninterrupted right to unemployment allowance is protected by a period of post-protection of up to 18 months from starting your business activities.

Your right to receive unemployment allowance based on the earnings of your previous employment if business activities are terminated within the period of post protection and before the 15-month long entrepreneur’s work requirement has been accrued.

Post-protection based daily allowance is paid to a person

• who has not yet met the entrepreneurs’ work requirement, and
• who has been working as an entrepreneur for under 18 months, and
• who has valid wage-earner’s work requirement, and who has joined the Entrepreneur Fund within one month of resigning from the wage-earner fund

Entrepreneurial business activities are as a rule considered as having started, once

• the company or self-employed person has started up actual production activities or economic activities, and
• the company or self-employed person has been entered on the Value-added Tax Liability Register and on the Prepayment Register maintained by the Tax Administration, or
• the company has been entered on the Employer Register maintained by the Tax Administration.

How is your allowance determined?

Unemployment allowance based on a wager-earner’s period of post-protection is determined based on your regular earnings over 26 (34) weeks, or for entrepreneur’s family member over 52 weeks, immediately before becoming an entrepreneur. In addition to your salary or wages, regular earnings comprise e.g., fringe benefits, evening work bonus, shift work bonus and compensation for reduced working hours. Income not considered when determining your post protection daily allowance comprises e.g., holiday bonus, holiday compensation and lump sum payment made at the end of an employment relationship.

If you have received unemployment allowance from a wage-earners’ fund prior to becoming an entrepreneur and you haven’t yet met the entrepreneur’s work requirement, the Entrepreneur Fund will pay you unemployment allowance equal to the allowance received form the wage-earners’ fund up until the maximum payment period is reached.

You must have also joined the Entrepreneur Fund within 1 month of resigning form a wage-earners’ fund and you must have paid your membership fees up until the date of resignation. If you have been expelled from the wage-earners’ fund’s membership you are not covered by the wage-earner’s post-protection.

To get an estimate of your post protection unemployment allowance, please visit the Federation of Unemployment Funds in Finland’s calculator. Please note that your daily allowance may vary from the estimate given by the calculator. We determine your daily allowance when we process your first allowance application.

Apply online via eService

You can apply for post-protection allowance through the Entrepreneur Fund’s eService where you can also send attachments and messages securely to the fund.

To process your daily allowance application, we require the following documents or forms from you:

• An earnings-related allowance application 
• A salary certificate from the employer if not available to the fund from the Incomes Register (Tulorekisteri)
• A copy of your employment contract, employment certificate, a copy of the notice of termination of employment contract or notice of lay-off.
• A sales profit report/myyntivoittolaskelma . Please fill in sections 1-4 and section 7. This form is only available in Finnish.
• a certificate from your pension insurance provider of the annual income that your pension insurance (YEL,TyEL,or MYEL) has been based on during your entrepreneurship (request certificate from your pension insurance provider)
• a certificate from your pension insurance provider of payment of the insurance fees (request certificate from your pension insurance provider)

The salary certificate must include the following information: your earnings subject to withholding, any holiday compensation, holiday pay, unpaid leave and sickness leave, severance pay or other financial benefits over the last 26 weeks of employment prior to joining the Entrepreneur Fund.

Wage-earners’ right to additional allowance days

Senior persons who are unemployed and who have received post protection based daily allowance may have the right to so called additional allowance days. Persons receiving allowance based on the entrepreneurs’ work requirement are not entitled to additional allowance days.

Additional allowance days can be paid until the end of the month in which you turn 65 if:

• you were born between 1961-1962 and you turn 62 before the maximum payment period is reached, or
• you were born in 1963 and you turn 63 before the maximum payment period is reached, or
• you were born in 1964 and you turn 64 before the maximum payment period is reached

In addition, it is required that you have been employed for five years during the last 20 years.