Personal assistance empowers you to lead an independent life, allowing you to make choices that align with your preferences.
You can apply for personal assistance to address any tasks you are unable to manage independently due to your impairment. Personal assistance offers support in various aspects of your life, including:
- Daily activities such as dressing, personal hygiene, household chores, and running errands outside the home.
- Work and educational pursuits.
- Leisure activities and recreational endeavors.
You have three options for arranging personal assistance:
1) Employer model: In this model, you act as the employer of your assistant.
2) Service voucher: You can opt for personal assistance using a service voucher.
3) City's purchased service: Personal assistance services can also be obtained through the city's purchased service program.
If you believe that personal assistance would benefit you, please complete the disability service application form and submit it to a Social Work for People with Disabilities service point in your residential area.
Counselling regarding the employer model of personal assistance:
Jenni Tiittanen tel. +358 9 310 45939 jenni.tiittanen@hel.fi
Minna Ponsiluoma tel. +358 9 3102 2279 minna.ponsiluoma@hel.fi
Tanja Siira tel. +358 9 310 39373 tanja.siira@hel.fi
You can also send an email to suoratyo@hel.fi. Technical support for the Oima service can also be reached at this email address.
Call us
Telephone counselling for people with disabilities in Finnish
Telephone counselling for people with disabilities in Swedish
Fill in a form
Disability service application form
Learn more about personal assistance
The service is applied for using the disability service application form.
See the instructions for applying for housing service
In view of the decision, we will evaluate your service needs together with you and prepare a service plan.
If we decide that you are entitled to personal assistance, you will receive a positive decision. The decision will also include information about how much support you are entitled to and how personal assistance will be arranged in your case.
The prerequisite for granting personal assistance is that you can independently or with assistance define the content and method of implementation of the assistance you need and also guide the assistant in their work.
In view of the social support decision, we will evaluate your service needs together with you and prepare a service plan.
If we decide that you are entitled to personal assistance, you will receive a positive decision. The decision will also include information about how much support you are entitled to and how personal assistance will be arranged in your case.
If you receive a positive decision on personal assistance, we will consider what is the best way to arrange it for you. Personal assistance can be arranged in three ways.
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Method 1: Employer model
The employer model is the most common way of arranging personal assistance. In this case, you are the employer of your personal assistant. You take care of hiring your assistant and conclude an employment agreement with them. The City of Helsinki is not a party to the agreement. We pay your assistant’s salary based on the information you provide.
The employment agreement must be based on the decision you have received on the amount of personal assistance and possible working time compensations.
Check out the key points in the employer’s guide (PDF in Finnish)
The assistant’s salary is paid through the Oima service.
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Method 2: Service voucher
The second most common way of arranging personal assistance is using a service voucher. In this case, you will receive service vouchers from the city, which you can use to purchase personal assistance from service providers approved by the city. You do not need to make a copayment.
When you purchase personal assistance using a service voucher, you can choose the company whose services you want to use from among the service providers approved by the city. You cannot, however, select the person to be sent from the company to assist you.
On the Palse.fi website, you can find the service providers approved by the city. Select “Helsingin sosiaali-, terveys- ja pelastustoimi” (Helsinki Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services) as the grantor of the service and “Vammaisten henkilökohtainen apu” (Personal assistance for persons with disabilities) as the service.
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Method 3: The city’s purchased service
You can also receive personal assistance through the city’s Purchased Services. Contact Social Work for People with Disabilities and your designated social worker. The city will decide which service provider to use. The service is free of charge and you do not need to make a copayment.
