The TyEL contribution and contribution category for large employers
As a large employer, the amount of your earnings-related pension contribution is affected by the size of your company, the work ability of your employees and the discounts you receive. Cases of disability affect your company’s TyEL contribution through the contribution category. Colloquially, contribution category may also be referred to as pension contribution category or TyEL contribution category.
Looking for information on these?
1. When is my company a large employer?
2. Large employer’s TyEL contribution
3. Contribution category
4. Costs of disability for the employer
5. When does disability not affect the TyEL contribution and the contribution category?
6. Situations of change
When is my company a large employer?
The wages paid by your company two years ago determine whether you are a large employer or a small employer; if your company’s payroll exceeded EUR 2,337,000 in 2023, you will be a large employer in 2025, whereas if the payroll was below this limit, you are a small employer.
The payroll limit used to determine large employer status changes annually, and you can check the payroll limits on our website. Additionally, if your company’s payroll varies on both sides of the limit, your company may be a small employer and a large employer in successive years.
What does my large employer’s TyEL contribution consist of?
As a large employer, your TyEL contributions is affected by
• Basic TyEL contribution
• Contribution category
• Administrative cost
• Your client bonus
• Contribution loss discount
The amount of the TyEL contribution is determined on the basis of the actuarial principles approved by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. More information on the structure of the TyEL contribution
As a large employer, can I influence the amount of my company’s TyEL contributions?
When you take care of your employees’ work ability, you reduce their risk of becoming disabled. At the same time, you can save on your TyEL contribution.
To help you manage work ability risks, we provide work ability services, which include a learning environment, surveys, situational picture and the My Expert service. You will obtain information and practical tools for managing work ability risks and managing your employees’ work ability.
What is the contribution category?
As a large employer, a contribution category is determined for your company annually. Colloquially, the contribution category may also be referred to as the pension contribution category or TyEL contribution category. The contribution category is taken into account in the calculation of the disability pension part of your company’s TyEL contribution.
The contribution category is determined in advance for each year on the basis of the insurance information of each pension company. If your company has insurance policies in several pension companies, each pension company determines the contribution category for your company. In such a situation, your company may have several different contribution categories at the same time.
As our customer, you can see your company’s TyEL contribution percentage and contribution category by logging in to our online service. You can also view an estimate of your future TyEL contributions and generate estimates of future contribution categories.
How does my company’s contribution category affect my TyEL contribution?
The contribution category affects the amount of the disability pension component of your company’s TyEL contribution. There are 11 contribution categories in total:
- In contribution categories 1–3, your disability pension component is lower than average.
- In contribution category 4, your disability pension component is average.
- In contribution categories 5–11, your disability pension component is higher than average.
The extent to which your company’s contribution category affects the amount of the TyEL contribution depends on the size of your company. The larger your company is, the more your contribution category will affect your TyEL contribution.
More information on how the size of the company affects the weight of the contribution category.
How do you determine my company’s contribution category?
We determine your contribution category based on your company’s disability risk. The higher your company’s disability risk, the higher your company’s contribution category. Your company’s disability risk is increased by disability pensions and rehabilitation benefits granted to your employees.
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The payroll of your company two years ago affects the weight of your contribution category in determining the disability pension component of your TyEL contribution. The size of your disability pension component is partially determined on the basis of your contribution category and partially based on basic contribution category 4.
Before 2025, for the largest employers, the entire disability pension component is determined on the basis of the company’s contribution category. With the reform of the contribution category model, the weight of the contribution category will be gradually reduced from 2025 to 2028, which means that the impact of the contribution category on the TyEL contribution will be reduced.
The weight of the contribution category for 2024 will be 100% if your payroll in 2022 was at least EUR 36,024,000.
- 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 - Maximum
weight of
contribution category100 % 90 % 80 % 70 % 60 %
What are the costs of disability pensions and cash rehabilitation benefits for the employer?
Disability pensions and cash rehabilitation benefits granted to your employees increase your company’s disability risk. They generate pension expenditure that affects your company’s contribution category and, consequently, the TyEL contribution. You contribute to your employees’ disability pensions and cash rehabilitation benefits as part of your company’s TyEL contribution.
You can check the disability pensions and cash rehabilitation benefits affecting your company’s contribution category and their pension expenditure in our online service.
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We take into account the disability pensions and cash rehabilitation benefits granted to your employees in your company’s contribution category through pension expenditure. Pension expenditure refers to the amount using which we prepare to pay your employee a disability pension until they reach the lowest retirement age or are rehabilitated.
The amount of pension expenditure is affected by:
- The age of your employee
- The amount of your employee’s pension
- The time between your employee’s illness and the year for which the pension expenditure was calculated.
The pension expenditure of the disability pension is calculated for the year in which it was granted. The pension expenditure of the cash rehabilitation benefit is calculated for the year at the end of which at least two years have elapsed since the start of the first cash rehabilitation benefit and the cash rehabilitation benefit is valid without vocational rehabilitation. Your employee may have fallen ill years before this.
We add up the pension expenditure for each year and take it into account when determining the contribution categories of your company in the coming years. The table below shows how pension expenditure calculated for different years affects contribution categories.
In other words, pension expenditure caused by pensions is not taken into account in the contribution category of the year for which pension expenditure is calculated. For example, if a person is granted a disability pension in 2024, its pension expenditure for 2024 is calculated. However, we only take the pension expenditure into account in the contribution categories for 2026 and 2027.
Contribution category year Pension expenditure calculation year 2028 2025 and 2026 2027 2024 and 2025 2026 2023 and 2024 2025 2022 and 2023 2024 2021 and 2022 -
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In addition to your company, other former employers may also be responsible for the pension expenditure caused by your employee’s disability.
Who is responsible for pension expenditure depends on when your employee lost their work ability:
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If your employee has only worked in your company in the two years preceding their illness and has not received social benefits, pension expenditure will be fully taken into account in your company’s contribution category.
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If your employee has not worked in your company in the two years preceding their illness, pension expenditure will not be taken into account in your company’s contribution category.
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If your employee has worked not only for your company but also elsewhere in the two years preceding their illness or received social benefits during that period, your company’s pension expenditure is reduced. The pension expenditure is distributed between the companies in which the employee has worked in the two years preceding their illness in proportion to the wages paid.
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Which disability pensions and cash rehabilitation benefits do not affect the contribution category?
Not all disability pensions and cash rehabilitation benefits granted to your employees affect the contribution category. In certain cases, we need more information from you as an employer about your employee’s situation so that we can disregard their pension in your company’s contribution category. In some cases, we automatically disregard it.
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The disability pension or cash rehabilitation benefit granted to your employee does not affect your company’s contribution category if your employee has been hired as a new employee in your company at over 55 years of age and the employment relationship has started in 2024 or later.
A new employee is a person who has not worked in your company or in another company belonging to the same group in the year in which the employment relationship began or in the previous three years. In addition, they have not transferred to your company as a result of a corporate reorganisation in the year in which the employment relationship began or in the three years preceding it.
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The disability pension or rehabilitation benefit granted to your employee does not affect your company’s contribution category if:
- Your employee has been recorded in the Ministry of Employment and the Economy’s customer information system at the beginning of the employment due to a reduced work ability.
- No more than five years have passed from the date of issue of the certificate of the record to the employee’s illness.
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The employee has fallen ill in 2017 or later.
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The disability pension or rehabilitation benefit granted to your employee does not affect your company’s contribution category in case of patient injury or rail transport injury where employee has fallen ill in 2017 or later.
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The disability pension or rehabilitation benefit granted to your employee does not affect your company’s contribution category if the information that the payment of the pension is to start does not exist before 15 November of the year following the year for which the pension expenditure was calculated.
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Where can I see my company's TyEL contribution and contribution category?
As our customer, you can see your company’s TyEL contribution percentage and contribution category by logging in to our online service. You can also view an estimate of your future TyEL contributions and generate estimates of future contribution categories.
Log in to online service
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Check out the work ability services
As Ilmarinen’s customer you have an opportunity to use our diverse and comprehensive work ability management services.
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