The four-party alliance government led by Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) decided to tighten and reduce the social assistance, the last-resort of assistance for the low- income people from February. The Parliament passed an amendment to the Act on Social Assistance imposing stricter requirements and criteria for receiving the benefit, which will enter into force on February 1, 2026, said the Social Insurance Institution-Kela in a press release on Thursday. According to the new law, the application for social assistance will be linked and to register as jobseekers. Applicants, who will fail to comply, will face the risk of reduction of the basic amount. According to the law, the present system does not provide sufficient incentive to customers to apply for benefits that are primary in relation to social assistance or to register as jobseekers looking for full-time work. The law is designed to reinforce incentives and to reduce long-term reliance on social assistance. The goal of the change is to reduce social assistance expenditure by EUR 70 million. The basic amount can be reduced in more situations than before and by up to 50% – more obligations imposed on jobseekers Basic amount to be cut, earned-income deduction to be abolished and calculation of maximum recognised housing costs to be changed. The biggest change for Kelas customers concerns the reduction of the basic amount of social assistance. Customers will have to register with the employment services as jobseekers looking for full-time work, maintain their jobseeker status and apply for benefits that are primary in relation to social assistance. Another significant change that the reform introduces focuses on the way a applicants´ income is taken into account. The earned-income deduction will be abolished for all applicants aged 18 or over. The deduction has been EUR 150 per month. In addition, even small amounts of financial assistance will affect the amount of social assistance granted to applicants aged 18 or over. Until now, smaller amounts of financial assistance have not been taken into account in the calculation of social assistance. The limit for such sums has been EUR 50 per month for persons living alone and EUR 100 per month for a family. A third significant change allows Kela to pay the part of social assistance that is earmarked for rent directly to the landlord. This change applies to all customers to whom Kela has granted a rental security deposit for their current home as part of social assistance. After the amendment has entered into force on 1 February 2026, Kela will start sending customers requests to register as a jobseeker looking for full-time work and to apply for unemployment benefits or other benefits that the customer may be entitled to. Reductions of the basic amount under the amended law can be made from the end of March to clients who do not comply. The basic amount will be reduced by 2–3% for all customers aged 18 or over as of 1 March 2026. Earlier in May, 2025the government took theinitiative to tighten social assistance. In April 2024, the government cut unemployment, housing, other benefits.