Child care allowances

Parents can get the child home care allowance, if the youngest child of the family is younger than 3 years of age. The entitlement to child home care allowance begins once the parental allowance period has ended.

Adoptive parents can receive child home care allowance also for a child over the age of 3, until two years have passed since the start of the parental allowance period of an adoptive parent, including the first payment date.

Child home care allowance includes the statutory care allowance, the Espoo supplement (i.e. municipal supplement) and a possible care supplement that depends on the family’s income. The Espoo supplement is paid for the youngest child of the family. The amount of the Espoo supplement is EUR 160 per month for a child under the age of 2,5 years. As of 1 March 2023, the Espoo supplement will be €160 per month when the youngest child of the family is under 18 months old.

The entire child home care allowance (including the Espoo supplement) is paid to families by Kela. Child home care allowance and its supplements are taxable income.

The Espoo supplement does not need to be applied for separately. When the family applies for the statutory child home care allowance, the decision on the Espoo supplement is made at Kela based on the same application, if the family is entitled to the Espoo supplement. The family is only entitled to the Espoo supplement, if the family’s all children under school age are cared for at home and the applicant for the Espoo supplement is one of the parents.  However, the Espoo supplement is also paid, if an older sibling attends pre-primary education (4 h/day), which is free of charge. As of 1 March 2023, the conditionality of the supplement will be removed, i.e. the Espoo supplement will be paid even if the child’s sibling attends private or municipal early childhood education.

Flexible care allowance can be received by a parent or some other carer of a child who is under 3 years of age, who works on a weekly basis on average no more than 30 hours per week or no more than 80% of the normal working hours of a full-time job. The parent or some other carer must be employed or in service, an entrepreneur covered by the YEL or MYEL insurance or an agricultural entrepreneur or a grant recipient with the MYEL insurance.

The child, for whom the flexible care allowance is paid for, can attend day care.

Flexible care allowance as of 1 January:

Working hours up to 22,5 h/week:
Statutory care allowance €269,24 /month

Working hours over 22,5 h/week but up to 30 h/week:
Statutory care allowance €179,49 /month

Families are entitled to multiple child support when multiple children, i.e. twins, triplets, etc. are born or adopted to the family simultaneously. In this case, Kela pays parental allowance for 60 weekdays more starting with the second child.

If the families use these days so that they form a continuation to the normal parental allowance period (158 weekdays), the entitlement of children of families with multiples to early childhood education or the family’s right to apply for child home care allowance will be postponed with a corresponding period. For this period, families with multiples have the possibility of applying for the Espoo supplement as a so-called multiple child support.

The multiple child support is €160 per month. It is paid for no more than 60 weekdays when used as a continuation to the normal parental allowance period of 158 weekdays starting with a second child born or adopted at the same time.

The multiple child support is only paid if all of the family’s children under school age are cared for at home and the applicant is one of the parents. The multiple child support is not paid if an older sibling is in municipal or outsourced early childhood education or if an older child receives private day-care allowance.

The multiple child support is applied for with a separate form. A copy of Kela’s parental allowance decision and the tax card for social benefits must be appended to the form. The support will be paid retrospectively once the additional days have been used.

Applications:

Finnish Early Childhood Education

Päivi Nyholm/Kallionkujan päiväkoti
PL 63302, 02070 ESPOON KAUPUNKI
Puh: +358 46 8771651

Swedish-language Early Childhood Education

Svenska bildningstjänster
Lucia Bigos
PB 32, 02070 ESBO STAD
tel.  +358 9 81630640

The adoptive child Espoo supplement can be applied for by families who have adopted a child over 3 years of age. As of 1 March 2023, the Espoo supplement will be paid until 18 months have passed since the beginning of the parental allowance period or the child starts school.

The support is applied for from the City of Espoo. A copy of Kela’s child home care allowance decision and the tax card for social benefits to be separately ordered from the tax office annually must be appended to the application.

Finnish Early Childhood Education:

Päivi Nyholm/Kallionkujan päiväkoti
PL 63302, 02070 ESPOON KAUPUNKI
Puh: +358 46 8771651

Swedish-language Early Childhood Education:

Lucia Bigos/Svenska bildningstjänster
PB 32, 02070 ESBO STAD
tel.  +358 9 81630640