Work ability appeals fall as success rate climbs, data shows
The number of appeals against work ability assessment decisions has steadily declined over the years, Minister of Economic Affairs Erkki Keldo (Reform) wrote in a letter to an MP.
Keldo was responding to Center Party MP Aleksandr Tšaplõgin and noted while the number of successful appeals has remained more or less unchanged, the share of successful appeals has gone up at the same time the total number of appeals has declined.
In 2023, 17.5 percent of appeals were upheld, compared with 23.1 percent in 2025. Last year, 2,564 work ability assessment decisions — or 5.8 percent of all work ability decisions — were challenged, while 577 of those appeals were upheld.
In the bulk (89 percent) of successful appeals, the reason was new information about the individual's health that had been submitted or emerged during the appeal process. In the remaining 11 percent of cases, the existing data was assessed on a different basis.
The number of court disputes has remained stable, with 51 work ability assessment decisions reaching the courts in 2023, and 48 in 2025.
According to the ministry, the decline in challenged decisions has been aided by continuous quality control of work ability assessments, improvements to guidelines and better-quality health data. A change in the outcome of a work ability assessment does not necessarily mean there is an error in the system, as a person's health may improve or deteriorate over time.
Last year, the work ability assessment remained unchanged in about 72 percent of reassessments. In 17 percent of cases, work ability was assessed as lower than previously, meaning the person's health had deteriorated. In 12 percent of cases, work ability was assessed as having improved.
There were 1,234 cases in which a person previously assessed as having no work ability was assessed as in fact having partial work ability upon reassessment. In 140 cases, people previously assessed as having no work ability were found upon reassessment not to have a reduced work ability.
The number of people with reduced work ability may be partly affected by hazards arising from the working environment, which in turn can reduce life expectancy and can reduced the number of years being employed while in good health. A safe and health-preserving working environment must support the maintenance of work ability and help prevent its decline, it was found.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Merilin Leetna
