New unemployment Fund Ote to start on 1 January 2026 – Online services unavailable 23–31 December 2025
The Unemployment Fund for Specially Educated Professionals (Erko) and the Education and Science Unemployment Fund will join forces to form a new unemployment fund as of 1 January 2026.
The name of the new fund is Unemployment Fund Ote. Your membership will automatically transfer from Erko to Ote, and no action is required on your part. The merger will not affect the amount of your daily allowance or other benefits.
However, combining the data and systems of the two funds requires a service interruption around the turn of the year. The interruption will occur in Erko’s systems from 23 December to 31 December 2025. During this period, benefit applications cannot be submitted electronically, nor can applications be processed by the fund.
Starting 1 January 2026, benefit applications will be submitted through Ote’s online service at www.ote-kassa.fi. Applications can also be sent by post to: Unemployment Fund Ote, Rautatieläisenkatu 6, 00520 Helsinki. However, we recommend submitting applications primarily online via Ote’s e-service.
The last payment date for daily allowances before Christmas is Tuesday, 23 December 2025. On that date, payments will be made for applications processed by Monday, 22 December 2025 at the latest.
Erko’s online service will close completely on Tuesday, 23 December 2025 at 10:00 a.m. After that, the next opportunity to apply for daily allowance will be after the service interruption, starting 1 January 2026. At that time, applications will be sent to Ote (www.ote-kassa.fi). Erko’s website will redirect to Ote’s site.
Read more: Home page – Erko