Keva, the agency responsible for managing municipal pensions in Finland, has announced that it has accidentally made payments to about 400,000 people a month too early.
The money, totalling an estimated 420 million euros, will arrive into pensioners’ bank accounts across the country on Thursday.
In a statement announcing the error, the agency said no payments will be made in January 2021 to those who receive a second installment of their pension in December, in order to compensate for the early payment.
Municipal pensions should not have been paid into customers' accounts until 4 January 2021, and the premature payments may have a knock-on effect on pensioners’ taxable income and social welfare benefits.
"This is the first error of this size in the payment of pensions, and I apologise," Keva's CEO Timo Kietäväinen said.
Meanwhile, Deputy CEO Kimmo Mikander told Yle the early payment was due to human error.
"It was noticed this morning that the municipal pensions were paid out ahead of schedule due to human error. As a result, municipal pensioners will receive an additional payment into their accounts tomorrow," Mikander said. "Of course, we are very sorry for this mistake and we apologise to our customers for having to inconvenience such a large group of municipal retirees."
The error only applies to the municipal sector, Mikander added, and not to any other pension payments made by Keva, for example public sector or state church pensions.
"It is essential that retirees prepare for this, that the next pension payment will not come in January but only at the beginning of February," CEO Kietäväinen said.
The agency’s statement added that the Tax Authority’s preliminary position on the payment error is that the pension incorrectly paid in December will be counted as 2020 income, but CEO Kietäväinen said the agency is still seeking clarification on this matter.
"Today we have been in contact with the tax authority as well as the Ministry of Finance," he said. "We do not have any answers yet."