The CEO of Finnish earnings-related pension provider Elo, Carl Pettersson, has called for a funded self-employed (YEL) pension system.

In a blog post, Pettersson said the reform of the YEL system is “not an easy exercise” as it must consider different perspectives and forms of entrepreneurship.

However, he set out several points for consideration from Elo, Finland's largest pension company for self-employed people. This included introducing funding for the pay-as-you-go system

“Currently, entrepreneurs pay significantly less into the scheme than is paid out of it in pensions. The YEL scheme is therefore heavily underfunded. So, the state is spending too much money from public funds to maintain the system. This amount is already hovering around half a billion euros a year,” he wrote.

He added: “Now is the time to kick-start the funding of YEL contributions and to take a visionary approach to how we fund the initial capital.”

He also argued that a system should be developed so that the level of YEL contributions can be easily determined based on real-time earnings data. Currently, the YEL contribution is set by the Ministry of Social Affairs annually. For 2025, this figure is 24.1 per cent, with an increased contribution for 53–62-year-olds of 25.6 per cent.

“It is in everyone's interest that the system is developed in such a way that the basis for contributions is clear and understandable: the entrepreneur, Elo and Finnish society,” Pettersson said.

Furthermore, he believes that as more people combine entrepreneurship with employment, pensions should accrue for all work done – currently, YEL insurance is mandatory for self-employed earnings over €9,208 per annum.

He therefore called for the same pension provision for employees and self-employed people to be introduced by 2030 – seemingly calling for a merger of the YEL and TyEL (statutory pension insurance for employees) schemes.

Finally, he called for a solution to the lack of occupational health services for the self-employed. Support for the self-employed is not currently available from occupational pension schemes, despite help being available to employees and employers to manage disability risk.

“At the system level, the question of who supports entrepreneurs in improving their work capacity and how to provide them with tools to tackle work capacity problems should be addressed.

“This would make both human and economic sense. At present, occupational pension companies offer occupational rehabilitation to self-employed people, which is a rather rigid measure for a situation where there is a significant reduction in working capacity,” he said.

He believes that entrepreneurs should have access to some form of early support processes and not be left to face these problems alone.

“What is needed now are bold reforms to the entrepreneurial pension system. The focus must be on making the self-employed pension scheme a system that stands on its own two feet in the long term and enjoys the confidence of entrepreneurs. Steps must now be taken towards this,” he concluded.

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