Private early childhood education is a good alternative to municipal early childhood education

Did you know that you can also choose a private early childhood education unit for your child? Private early childhood education can be provided at a day care centre, group family day care centre or the home of a family day care provider. One possibility is to hire a carer to work at your home.

You can get service voucher for private early childhood education from the city or apply for private day care allowance granted by Kela. In Espoo, there is also private early childhood education provided as a purchased service in outsourced daycare centres.

You can find a list of all Finnish-speaking municipal and private early childhood education units in Espoo here. Swedish-speaking municipal and private early childhood education units are listed here.

You can apply for a place for your child in a private day care centre that has been approved by the city as a service voucher day care centre. In this case, the city grants the child a service voucher that covers the majority of the service price.

The fees of service voucher day care centres are the same or at most EUR 50/month/child higher than in municipal early childhood education. Read more about the fees at service voucher day care centres here.

Apply for a place at a service voucher day care centre at www.espoonvarhaiskasvatus.fi(external link, opens in a new window).

The application and processing times for service voucher early childhood education are the same as in municipal early childhood education. As a rule, you must submit your application 4 months before you need early childhood education, read more about the application periods here.

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.

Purchased service early childhood education is only available in Finnish-language early childhood education.

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.

Private day care allowance includes the care allowance, income-dependent care supplement and Espoo supplement. Private day care allowance covers part of the service price. The prices of operators vary. In private early childhood education, the client has to pay the difference between the service price and the private day care allowance. You can check the private day care allowance amounts 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. Application and processing times may vary. When you have concluded an agreement with a private operator, you can apply for private day care allowance from Kela.

Day care centres and group family day care centres operating in Espoo for which you can get the private day care allowance are listed on our website. You can find more information about private operators on their own websites.

Private family day care providers usually advertise free places online and on social media, for example.

If you wish, you can also act as an employer and hire a carer to work at your home. You can apply for private day care allowance for this arrangement. Read more about hiring a carer to work at your home here.

Early Childhood Education Service Guidance is happy to guide and advise in matters related to private early childhood education. We provide advice on the service voucher and private day care allowance among other things.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you wish to know more! You can also read more about applying for private early childhood education here.