The kela.fi pages on social assistance have been updated based on feedback from customers and partner organisations

The reworked pages on social assistance will be published on 16 December 2024. The main goals in reworking the pages were to help customers find the information they need more easily and to make sure that the content helps customers understand their rights and obligations in relation to social assistance.

“In our work on the pages, we also streamlined the content and made it clearer. Complicated topics and terms are explained. There are now fewer pages than before, but some of them are longer than the old ones. The advantage of this is that the customer can read all about a specific theme or topic on one page,” says Reetta Kyyrö, Online Communications Specialist at Kela.

The pages now include more structuring elements, such as accordion menus, lists and informative subheadings.

“This improves the scannability of the content. We have also paid particular attention to the wording and tone of voice to ensure that the texts are clear, unambiguous and matter-of-fact,” Kyyrö says.

Customers can navigate the new pages without risk of dead ends

The work on renewing the pages was based on usability tests with actual customers who receive social assistance. They were asked to search the previous website version for specific information and to explain what they understood it to mean.

The tests showed, for example, that the concept of the basic amount was difficult to understand. Other difficult passages included the sections on bank statements, supporting documents and on submitting a bill afterwards.

By contrast, customers were able to find the calculators and Kela's contact information easily. Customers were also asked to find out what expenses they could get social assistance for, and this, too, proved an easy task.

“We found that customers navigated using the links in the text and the breadcrumb trail. Hardly anyone used the navigation in the left-side column. This observation supported one of the goals we had in mind when updating the pages: to provide links at relevant points in the text,” says Reetta Kyyrö.

In the tests, customers were also asked to look for information on the municipality-specific maximum limit for housing costs in relation to social assistance.

“The customers were able to find the information, but they had some difficulty doing it. One of the customers suggested a search field where you could enter the name of the municipality where you live. This was something others had also mentioned earlier, and we now provide such a search field,” Kyyrö says.

Kela.fi is the main source of information about Kela-related matters for Kela’s partner organisations

Separate interviews were held with Kela’s partner organisations to find out what they wanted from the website. Interviews with professionals in social welfare and staff from the TE services showed that kela.fi is the main source of information on Kela-related matters for Kela’s partner organisations.

Kela’s partner organisations suggested that the website needed more visual, illustrative materials and content specifically for different life situations, as that would help customers identify their own situation more accurately. However, the partner organisations also pointed to a need for considerably shortened content.

“The interviews highlighted the vital importance of the website version in easy Finnish. Our partner organisations said that they often use our web pages in easy Finnish when they advise customers, and that they also encourage customers to use the web pages in easy Finnish,” says Reetta Kyyrö.

It is important for partner organisations and customers to note that the addresses of certain webpages have changed in connection with the update. This is especially important if you have saved bookmarks in a browser or if you provide links to Kela's website on your own organisation’s website.

“The old addresses will automatically redirect to our new pages for a year, so there is still time to update your bookmarks or materials,” Kyyrö says.

This is also a good time to check that the information about Kela on your website is up to date. The easiest way to do that is to keep the information you provide about Kela’s benefits as brief as possible and link directly to kela.fi, where the information is always up to date.

Check out the new pages: www.kela.fi/social-assistance