Applying for disability pension

1. File an application

You can apply for a disability pension in our MyPension service.

We recommend that you apply for the pension about three months before your sickness allowance period will end. Attach to the application a Medical Statement B on your state of health that is no older than six months. You can use the same application to apply for pension from Kela. We will submit the application to Kela on your behalf. For more information on the pensions paid by Kela, contact Kela (Kela.fi).

If you are applying for pension from abroad, take a look at the page Applying for pension from abroad.

2. Processing begins

Once your application has arrived, we will start processing it. If necessary, we will request your most recent employer’s description of your work tasks and your performance at work. In addition, we will obtain information about the Kela benefits you receive, any injuries you have suffered, your earnings and work history and any other missing information.

3. Work ability assessment

Ilmarinen’s consultant physicians will make an insurance medical assessment of your work ability based on the medical statements you have sent us. If we require additional information to carry out the assessment, we will order new or missing medical statements to support the assessment.

When assessing your disability, we will carry out an overall assessment in addition to the work ability assessment. In the overall assessment, we will take into account your education, previous work, age and place of residence, in addition to medical factors. Once we have completed the overall assessment, we will make a pension decision.

When making the decision, we will also assess whether vocational rehabilitation could help you reintegrate into working life. If this is the case, you will receive a preliminary decision on vocational rehabilitation from us.

4. You receive a pension decision

You will receive a disability pension decision within around two months of when we received your application. The pension decision is available in the MyPension service under ‘My documents’. You will also receive the decision by post.

Positive pension decision

A disability pension can be granted either as a full disability pension or a partial disability pension. If we consider that your work ability has declined for a fixed period of time, your pension will be granted as a fixed-term cash rehabilitation benefit or partial cash rehabilitation benefit.

If all the eligibility criteria are met, we will send you a pension decision and a calculation of the amount of pension granted to you. Read more about receiving a pension decision.

Negative pension decision

It is possible that you will get a negative pension decision even if your own physician has recommended that you be granted a pension. If we consider that your work ability is sufficient for you to continue in working life, we will give you more detailed instructions in the decision.

If you are not satisfied with the decision you received, you can appeal it. Read more about receiving a negative pension decision.

5. Pension begins

When you have received a positive pension decision, your pension will be paid into your account on the first banking day of the month.

If your disability pension begins retroactively, we will also pay your pension for the retroactive period. If you have received another benefit during that period, from Kela or an unemployment fund, for example, we will establish with the benefit payer whether the retroactive pension should be paid to them in full or in part. Read more about the payment and taxation of pensions.