Early education fees as of 1 August 2021

  • Early childhood education and care
29.10.2021 7.40Updated: 8.3.2022 9.37

The early education fees are calculated as a percentage of the family’s gross income. The highest fee is €288/month for the youngest child in full-time early education, 40% of the youngest child’s full-time early education fee (€115/month) for the second child, and 20% of the full fee (€58/month) for any other children in the family.

Family size

Family size includes all married individuals or those living in a relationship resembling marriage in the same household and their underage children living in the same household.

Income

Income includes all taxable earnings, capital income and tax-exempt income of the child, parent or other guardian and their spouse or other person living in a relationship resembling marriage in the same household. Flexible care allowance is calculated as income. Holiday bonus is added to the earned income.
Income does not include child home care allowance, child benefit, benefit according to the Disability Benefits Act (570/2007), child increase according to the National Pensions Act (568/2007), housing allowance, medical examination and treatment costs settled on the basis of an accident insurance, conscript’s allowance, front-veteran’s supplement, student financial aid, adult education subsidy, activity pay and reimbursement for travel costs paid in the form of income support, maintenance allowance according to the Act on the Rehabilitation Benefits and Rehabilitation Allowance Granted by the Social Insurance Institution (566/2005), maintenance allowance according to the Act on Public Employment and Business Service (916/2012), scholarships and other similar financial grants for studying, or reimbursement for costs of foster care. Income deductions concern child support paid to children outside the family and other corresponding expenses resulting from actual family relations as well as traditional life-annuity.

Income statement

A statement of the family’s income is given using an income statement form. The family does not have to state their income if, in the income statement form, the family agrees/has agreed to pay the maximum fee for the early childhood education time as the child’s care fee for the time being.

The family must state their salary income and benefit information using the statement form only, submitting of appendixes is not required in case the information can be found in the register and the family gives their permission to use the income register data. Appendices to entrepreneurial income and capital income must be submitted with the income statement.

If the family does not submit an income statement form with attachments, the family will be charged the maximum fee for their child in early education. If the charge is based on the absence of income data, the decision will not be corrected retrospectively.

Income statement forms are available at day care centres and online at Espoo.fi websites Early childhood education forms.

Revision of the early education fee

The early education fee will be valid until further notice. The family is responsible for reporting (in writing, with attachments) any substantial changes (+/-10%) to the family’s income (including salaries) or the family size, also in the middle of a year of operations. If the decision imposing the fee has been based on too low income-level information reported by the client, the fee will be rectified retroactively. The decision-maker has the right to check the information with the relevant authorities. The indices of the income limits used when determining early education fees will be revised as of 1 August 2022. The early education fee will also be revised if the valid regulations or decisions change.

Monthly payment

The monthly fee will be charged for a maximum of eleven calendar months per operating year (1 August–31 July). July is a free month, provided that municipal early education has begun no later than in September during the year of operations.

The payment percentages and the minimum and maximum gross income limits are as follows:

 

Family size Minimum gross income
€/month
 Payment percentage Maximum gross income limit
€/month
22 798 10,75 485
33 61010,76 297
44 099 10,76 786
54 588 10,77 275
65 07510,77 762

 

Table: Contribution rates for early childhood education, minimum and maximum gross income limits.

If the family size is larger than 6, the income limit that determines the fee is increased by €189 for each additional underage child in the family. If the family’s income is less than the minimum gross income limit or if the payment per child is less than €27, no payment is collected.

Fees collected for early education

You can calculate your family’s early education fee by using the following formula: Count your family size. See the corresponding minimum gross income limit per month. Subtract this number from your average gross monthly income. Use the remaining number to calculate a share according to the payment percentage (10.7%) = the early education fee. The fee is rounded to the nearest amount in euros. Families can read their decisions through the Suomi.fi service if they use the service. Otherwise the decisions will be sent by post.

The impact of early education time on the early education fee

Early education time hours (h) per weekEarly education fee of the full-time early education fee
At least 35 h100 %
More than 25 h and less than 35 h                                80 %
No more than 25 h60 %

 

Table: Effect of early childhood time on early childhood education fee.

Pre-primary education (20 h/week, 4 h/day) and preparatory education for pre-primary aged children (no more than 25 h/week, 5 h/day) is free of charge for the working year of pre-primary education. If a child needs other early education besides pre-primary education, preparatory education and free early childhood education for 5-year-olds, the fee is charged according to the following table:

Total share of early education, hours (h) per weekEarly education fee, share of full-time early education fee
At least 25 h80 %
More than 15 and less than 25 h60 %
No more than 15 h35 %

 

Table: If a child needs other early childhood education in addition to pre-school, preparatory education or free early childhood education for five-year-olds, the fee is charged according to the following table.

In addition to the child’s early education time, his/her regular notified absences within a calendar month are taken into account in the calculation of the weekly average early education time.

A written agreement must be prepared  with the early education unit on the child’s regular weekly and daily early education time and absences. The  family’s holiday periods (for ex-ample, summer, autumn, Christmas and winter holidays), as well as the child’s casual absences, are not counted in the regular early education time. As a general rule, the agreement on the  child’s early education schedule must be fulfilled for a duration of at least three months during a year of operations (1 August–31 July).

 

The impact of absences on the early education fee

The monthly payment is also charged for days absent with the following exceptions:

1. If the child is absent from early education on all the days of activity during a calendar month due to his/her illness, no fee whatsoever is charged.

2. If the child is absent from early education for at least 11 days of activity in a calendar month due to his/her ill-ness, the charged fee is half of the monthly payment. The early education unit must be notified of ab-sences due to an illness immediately after the ill-ness has begun.

3. If the child is absent from early education on all the days in a calendar month for a reason other than his/her ill-ness, the charged fee is half of the monthly payment. If the child is present for even a single day, the entire monthly fee is charged.

4. For any days that the child under the age of 2 is absent from early education for the duration of paternity allow-ance periods, as referred to in Chapter 9, Section 7 of the Health Insurance Act (1224/2004), no fee is charged. Paternity leave must be informed to the early childhood education unit no later than 2 weeks before the start of the paternity leave period.

Temporary early education exceeding five hours a day costs €29 per day, while early education lasting no more than five hours a day costs €15 per day. The corresponding payments for a second child are €15 and €8.

Free early childhood education for 5-year-olds

Children who were born year 2016 can attend to free early childhood education 20 hours per week from 1.8.2021 to 31.7.2022. Free early childhood education will be arranged for four hours a day from Monday to Friday in the child’s current early childhood education place at the day-care centre or in family day care. The early childhood education fee will only be charged for the time exceeding 20 hours a week.

Club activities are free.

Start and end of early childhood education 

The early education fee is charged from the first day of early education in accordance with the early education decision. If the early education place that was applied for and granted to the child is not accepted, and the place is not cancelled before the first day of early education as indicated in the decision, half of the monthly payment is charged. If the child’s early education place is terminated, invoicing ends on the final day of early education. The early education place must be terminated with a written notice at least two (2) weeks before the end of the need for early education ser-vices.

If the parents/guardians reserve an early education place for the child for the duration of their holiday and fail to cancel it in advance by the required deadline, half of the monthly early education fee, as defined according to the Client Fee Act (734/1992), is charged for the uncancelled early education place.

Invoicing

Monthly early education fees are invoiced in arrears in the middle of the following month, and the due date of the invoice is at the end of the invoicing month.

Issues concerning the child’s early education schedules, the need for early education and family information fall under the responsibilities of the director of the child’s day care centre or the instructor of private family day care.

Enquiries concerning the determination and invoicing of early education fees should be directed to the following par-ties of the Financial Administration that make the decisions on the client fees.

Early childhood education fees

+358 9 81627400The income statement with the necessary attachments can be sent to: Espoon Kaupunki, Talousyksikkö, Varhaiskasvatuksen laskutus, PL 30, 02070 Espoon kaupunki.

Contact information
Monday, Wednesday and Thursday  9-12 

There are 5 options to choose from:

1. Swedish-language day care
2. Leppävaara
3. Tapiola and Matinkylä-Olari
4. Espoonlahti
5. Espoo Centre