Applying for private early childhood education

A family may also choose private early childhood education for their child if they so wish. The options are outsourced and service voucher day care centres as well as day care centres, group family day care centres and family day care providers that operate with the private day care allowance.

Photo: Taru Turpeinen

Private early childhood education is early childhood education provided by a private company or community and supervised by the city. In Espoo, there are outsourced and service voucher day care centres as well as day care centres, group family day care centres and family day care providers that operate with the private day care allowance.

The application process and even the customer fees vary between different forms of private early childhood education and care. Further information on the application process and lists of private early childhood education units can be found below.

Service voucher day care centres

A service voucher is one way of arranging the municipality’s statutory early childhood education services. The city grants families a child-specific service voucher for early childhood education and care. If a child has been granted a service voucher, the family cannot receive private day care allowance or child home care allowance for the child in question.

The value of the service voucher is affected by the child's age, the size and income of the family, the child's weekly early childhood education time, and the possible sibling discount. In service voucher day care centres, the fees are the same or at most EUR 50/month/child higher than in municipal early childhood education. More information on fees at service voucher day care centres is available here.

Finnish speaking day care centres

Fill in the electronic application for an early childhood education place in the eVaka service at www.espoonvarhaiskasvatus.fi(external link, opens in a new window) Accessing the service requires strong authentication. eVaka works best with the Chrome browser.
In the section for application preferences, select your preferred day care centre(s). You can enter 1–3 preferred options. The same application may have both service voucher day care centres and municipal early childhood education units as preferred options.
Applications for service vouchers comply with the application and processing times of municipal early childhood education. Submit your application at least four months before the need for early childhood education begins. In urgent cases, the application can be processed more quickly. Read more about the application and processing times here.
After submitting your application, contact the service voucher day care centre(s) to which you have applied. Remember to check if you need to submit the day care centre’s own application for a place in early childhood education as well.
Wait for a day care centre place decision from the City of Espoo. You cannot conclude a service agreement with the service voucher day care centre before you have received the city’s decision on your application for a place in a service voucher day care centre.

Approximately one month before your preferred early childhood education start date, you will receive the decision on your child’s place in early childhood education. The decision will be sent to the Suomi.fi(external link, opens in a new window) service, if you have used it in some municipal or official service. Otherwise, the decision will be sent by post.
Accept the decision in the eVaka service at www.espoonvarhaiskasvatus.fi(external link, opens in a new window) or by returning the form attached to the decision to the day care centre. You must accept the place offered within 14 days of the date of the decision. Here is how you confirm your child’s place at a day care centre.
If you reject the early childhood education place offered to your child, your application will no longer be valid. If you wish, you can submit a new application. In this case, the aforementioned four-month processing period applies in the arrangement of a new place.
After you have accepted the place offered, contact the day care centre and conclude a service agreement with the day care centre for your child's early childhood education. Make sure that the agreement includes:
- how much time your child spends attending early childhood education and care (hours/week)
- whether this is a case of full-time or part-time early childhood education
- the price of the service and the aforementioned possible additional fee (no more than EUR 50/month)
- rules for terminating the place in early childhood education (incl. period of notice)
- possible exceptions regarding, for example, July (opening hours of the unit or provision of early childhood education in another unit in July, whether the client fee is paid for 11 or 12 months).
The service voucher client charge is calculated based on the income statement provided by your family. Provide your income information by submitting an income statement through eVaka. Read here how to submit an income statement.
You will receive a decision on the value of the service voucher in about one month after your child has started attending early childhood education at a service voucher day care centre. The guardian who made the application will be informed of the decision in the Suomi.fi(external link, opens in a new window) service, if the guardian has used the service. If the guardian has not used the service, the decision will be sent by post to the guardian’s home address.

You can terminate your child's place in early childhood education by notifying the service voucher day care centre directly. Do not terminate the place in writing until you have received a new early childhood education place decision for your child.
Please also take note of the period of notice and other terms and conditions related to the service agreement. The service provider has the right to charge a copayment (client fee) and any additional service fee for the notice period.
If you want to transfer your child to a municipal day care centre or another service voucher day care centre, for example, you can submit a transfer application in the eVaka service at www.espoonvarhaiskasvatus.fi(external link, opens in a new window). Granting the place observes the policies of Espoo City which you can review here. The transfer application is valid for one year. Read more about submitting a transfer application and the related processing times here.
Note! Always notify the service voucher day care centre if you move to another municipality. The City of Espoo's service vouchers are only for children living in Espoo.

How and with what application can I apply for a service voucher for early childhood education?

You can apply for a service voucher with the same application and in the same way as you would apply for a place in early childhood education. Under the application section “Preferred units”, select the service voucher unit to which you want to apply. The same application is your service voucher application. Decisions on service vouchers are made by early childhood education service counselling. Before making a decision, the staff will check that your child’s municipality of residence is Espoo.

Can I apply to several service voucher day care centres?

Guardians can select 1–3 preferred day care centres in their application. The preferred units can be service voucher and/or municipal day care centres. The service counselling team will make a decision based on the guardian’s wishes if there are places available in the preferred day care centre.

Do I need to select a municipal day care centre as a preferred unit?

Guardians can select 1–3 preferred day care centres in their application. The preferred units can be service voucher and/or municipal day care centres. You do not need to select a municipal day care centre.

I am unable to submit a service voucher application as I have already applied for a place in municipal early childhood education for my child. What should I do?

You can edit your existing application and add or remove preferred units.

Can a child attend part-time early childhood education with a service voucher?

A child can attend part-time early childhood education at a municipal or service voucher day care centre.

Can a service voucher be granted if we also receive child home care allowance or private day care allowance?

The service voucher is equivalent to early childhood education organised by a municipality under section 5 of the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care. For this reason, a family cannot have a service voucher while receiving child home care allowance or private day care allowance.

How do I accept a service voucher decision on the eVaka service?

You will be informed of a decision through the Suomi.fi service if you have activated the service. The decision will be sent to the guardian who submitted the application. If the guardian has not activated the Suomi.fi service, the decision will be sent to their home address by post.

You can accept the service voucher decision through eVaka or by returning the form sent with the decision to the day care centre. This is how you will confirm a place for your child at the day care centre, and a decision will then be made on the value of the service voucher.

What is the value of a service voucher? How much will our family pay?

The service voucher for early childhood education is income-based, as are the client fees for early childhood education. Your family’s child-specific out-of-pocket cost depends on the size and gross income of your family and on the weekly hours of early childhood education specified in the service agreement between your family and the day care centre. The sibling discount that is used in municipal early childhood education also applies to the service voucher. These factors are taken into consideration when calculating the out-of-pocket amount to be paid by your family. The out-of-pocket amount corresponds to the client fee for municipal early childhood education. In addition, the service voucher unit may charge an additional fee (max. EUR 50 per child per month). You can read more about the fees at service voucher day care centres here.

How and when will I receive a decision on the value of my child’s service voucher?

The decision on the value of a service voucher is made within approximately one month of the start of early childhood education. The decision will show the amount to be paid by your family, i.e. the out-of-pocket amount. In addition, the service voucher unit may charge an additional fee (max. EUR 50 per child per month).

What should I do if I want to change my child’s early childhood education unit?

If you as a guardian wish to move your child to a different early childhood education unit, for example a municipal day care centre, you will need to submit a new application. This application is known as a transfer application. Places are assigned in line with the guidelines of the Finnish Education and Early Education Committee (17 February 2011). Transfer applications are valid for one year.

You will need to terminate your client relationship with the current service voucher day care centre in writing, but not until you have received a decision on your child’s new early childhood education unit. Please also take account of the notice period stated in the agreement that you have concluded with the service provider.

Outsourced day care centres

The City of Espoo has concluded service purchasing agreements with some private day care centres. In these day care centres, the client fees are the same as in municipal early childhood education. More information about the client fees of municipal early childhood education and care is available here.

You can apply for a place in an outsourced day care centre by filling in an electronic application in the eVaka service at www.espoonvarhaiskasvatus.fi(external link, opens in a new window) In this case, the application process is the same as when applying for a place in municipal early childhood education, even the application and processing times are the same.

Some of the outsourced day care centres are applied to by directly contacting the day care centre. More detailed information on the application process can be found on the website of each day care centre.

Day care centres, group family day care centres and family day care providers of the private day care allowance

Espoo has private day care centres, group family day care centres and family day care providers whose early childhood education is eligible for the private day care allowance you apply for from Kela. Private day care allowance includes the care allowance, income-dependent care supplement and Espoo supplement.

The client fees of private service providers vary. Service providers determine their own client fees and decide on the selection of children. In private early childhood education, the client will have to pay the difference between the client fee and the private day care allowance. Read more about the private day care allowance here.

Apply for a place in private early childhood education by directly contacting the private day care centre, group family day care centre or family day care provider.

At least the following matters should be clarified in advance with the service provider:

opening hours
opening hours during holidays
backup care
the amount of the client fee and whether the fee is also charged for any holiday periods
notice period and terms of termination

Information on private early childhood education is available online. Private day care centres and group family day care centres for which you can get the private day care allowance are listed below on this page.

Private family day care providers usually advertise free places online and on social media, for example. Further information and private family day care providers’ contact details can be found, for instance, on the website of private family day care providers in Espoo (in Finnish).(external link, opens in a new window)

More information

You can contact our service guidance for more information on applying for private early childhood education. If you have questions about the value of the service voucher or the client charge, please contact the service voucher helpline.

Finnish early childhood education service guidance

+358 9 81631000vaka.palveluohjaus@espoo.fiMailing address PL 3125 02070 Espoon kaupunki

The service guidance team advises families on applying for Finnish-language early childhood education, pre-primary education and clubs. The team also provides information on matters related to childcare allowances.

Telephone service

Mondays 9-13 am
Tuesdays 9-13 am
Wednesdays 9-13 am
Thursdays 13-16 pm
Fridays 9-13 am

N.B. Service guidance is exceptionally closed on 9 October 2025.

Swedish-language early childhood education service guidance

+358 9 81627600dagis@esbo.fiPostal address PB 32 02070 Esbo stad

Telephone service

Monday 9-12 am
Tuesday 13-15 pm
Wednesday 9-12 am
Friday 9–12 am

The Swedish-language service guidance team gives families advice on how to apply for Swedish-language early childhood education and on matters related to childcare allowances.

Early childhood education service voucher

+358 9 81627401vaka.maksut@espoo.fiSubmit your income information to the Growth and Learning Sector’s Financial Management Unit through the eVaka service. Issues concerning the child’s early childhood education times, need for early childhood education and family information fall under the responsibilities of the service provider of the child’s early childhood education unit.

Enquiries concerning the determination of early childhood education fees in service voucher day care centres:

Telephone service

Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 to 12:00

Choose your area:

01 Service voucher

Applying for private early childhood education

Service voucher day care centres

Approved service voucher day care centres and their additional fees

How to apply for a place in a service voucher day care centre

Once you have received the decision of the City of Espoo on the allocation of a service voucher day care centre place

Terminating a place in a service voucher day care centre

Frequently asked about service voucher

Outsourced day care centres

Outsourced Finnish-language day care centres listed by district

Day care centres, group family day care centres and family day care providers of the private day care allowance

Private day care centres and group family day care centres in Espoo

More information

Finnish early childhood education service guidance

Telephone service

Swedish-language early childhood education service guidance

Telephone service

Early childhood education service voucher

Telephone service

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