From the beginning of May onwards, decisions on the two forms of financial support will continue to be issued to operators whose operations can be ascertained to be in line with the City of Helsinki’s operating principles.
Helsinki Employment Services suspended the granting of pay subsidies and Helsinki benefits on 13 April 2026 for the duration of investigations and the clarification of award processes. Employment Services will process applications for pay subsidies and the Helsinki benefit received during the suspension in accordance with the new conditions.
Measures taken
The City of Helsinki has launched an internal audit to review the award process of the pay subsidies and Helsinki benefits granted since the beginning of 2025. Employment Services have also launched an investigation on the allocation of these two forms of financial support to employers. The investigation is being carried out by a third party.
During the suspension, Employment Services reviewed the processes for granting these two forms of financial support. Based on the findings, Employment Services have refined the granting and operational processes of pay subsidies and the Helsinki benefit from 1 May 2026 onwards.
For example, from now on a risk assessment will always be carried out on employers submitting applications for these two forms of financial support. The award procedures and conditions are available on the website as of 6 May 2026.
“We want to allocate financial support to operators that genuinely promote the employment of Helsinki residents. To this end, we expect employers to be reliable and transparent so that we can make sure that they operate ethically. It is clear that this requires us to have clear award criteria and to refine our processes,” says Managing Director of Helsinki Employment Services Annukka Sorjonen.
Sorjonen stresses that the legislation on pay subsidies must be reviewed in its entirety. In addition, the national information system for processing pay subsidies needs to be further developed.
Award criteria for the Helsinki benefit and pay subsidies as of 1 May 2026
The Helsinki benefit and pay subsidies are discretionary forms of financial support that can be awarded to an employer to hire a jobseeker. The pay subsidies are based on currently valid legislation, while the Helsinki benefit is one of the City of Helsinki’s own forms of financial support.
Although both forms of financial support are granted to the employer, they are intended to promote sustainable employment. From the beginning of May onwards, the capacity of employers to meet the City of Helsinki’s ethical partnership principles for grant allocation and cooperation with organisations(Link leads to external service) will be reviewed more thoroughly.
As before, the City of Helsinki will also not grant these two forms of financial support to employers whose operations are not established enough to promote the hired jobseeker’s employment in the open labour market, in cases where the jobseeker hired with the support would be the only employee in the organisation and in cases where the employer does not agree to comply with the conditions of the support, for example.
“Our goal is to help jobseekers find employment and employers find employees. Unfortunately, we now have to tighten the conditions for granting financial support for employment in order to ensure sustainable employment,” says Annukka Sorjonen.
Principles
Helsinki Employment Services will continue to follow the City of Helsinki’s ethical principles(Link leads to external service) (External link, in Finnish) and the principles of grants to organisations in all operations(Link leads to external service).