Benefits for families with children

Family benefits and assistance for families with sick children

BRIEFLY AND IN PLAIN LANGUAGE Contents

Kela’s benefits for the unemployed 2 Who can get benefits for families with children? 3 Before your is born 3 After your child is born 4 Support for adoptive parents 6 Kela card 6 7 Child care allowances 7 If your child becomes ill 9 Child maintenance allowance 10 Application and payment 11 Kela at your service 12 Benefits for families with children 2019

This brochure tells you about what You can also apply for benefits by kind of financial assistance Kela filling in an application form that gives to families with children you can get from any Kela office or from Kela’s website. The brochure describes the situation in 2019. It does not, however, www.kela.fi/forms include all the details on the different types of benefits that are The requirements that you must available. meet to qualify for benefits from Kela are laid down in law. More information about the benefit When Kela makes a decision amounts is available at about a benefit, the applicant’s circumstances are considered www.kela.fi/family individually. The applicants’ circumstances and You have to apply for benefits need for financial support vary provided by Kela. a great deal. You can apply for benefits online: For this reason, not everyone receives the same amount of www.kela.fi/asiointi benefit. (in Finnish), www.fpa.fi/etjanst (in Swedish)

1 Kela’s benefits for families with children

Kela provides financial assistance to You can get information about families with children in many ways, important services for families with starting from . With Kela’s children – such as day care, school help, parents can be with their and rental housing – from the children during the important first municipal government office in your months. Later, Kela provides own locality, or from its website. support for child care and helps Information about public healthcare with the costs of raising a child. services is available from maternity and child health clinics and from Kela provides the following benefits health centres. for families with children: • maternity grant Other types of financial assistance • maternity, special maternity, available from Kela are, for example: paternity and parental allowance • housing benefits • child benefit • benefits in case of illness • child care allowances • financial aid for students • assistance for sick and disabled • benefits available to those children performing their military or • child maintenance allowance. non-military service • unemployment benefits. Parental allowances are: • maternity allowance They are described in separate • special maternity allowance brochures. • paternity allowance • parental allowance. You can get advice online at:

www.kela.fi/kysykelasta

BENEFITS FOR FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN 1. FROM BIRTH TO BIRTH 3m 9m Maternity allowance Paternity allowance (9 weeks in total) ** Period within which entitlement to paternity allowance may be used Child benefit Parental allowance Child homecare allowance/Flexible care allowance Private day care allowance Partial care allowance ** can be taken in several shorter periods

2 The site is in Finnish, but you can Maternity clinic services are free of ask questions in English and get charge to you. a reply in English. You get good advice from the Who can get benefits for maternity clinic on how to prepare families with children? for pregnancy and birth. The clinic also monitors the health of the You can get benefits for families mother and the unborn baby. with children from Kela if you are covered by the Finnish social Mothers must have a medical security system and you live in examination before the 5th month Finland permanently. Others who of pregnancy has ended. After the work in Finland can sometimes get examination, you get a pregnancy assistance as well. certificate from the doctor or the maternity clinic that you went to. If you have lived in another country You need the certificate in order or if you are moving to another to apply for assistance from Kela. country, check if you can get social security benefits from Kela. Moving Maternity grant to Finland or away from Finland can When your pregnancy has lasted affect the benefits paid by Kela. 5 months, you can apply for maternity grant. You can choose Before your child is born between a maternity package and a cash benefit of 170 euros. Certificate of pregnancy The maternity package contains If you think that you may be care products and baby clothes. pregnant, contact the maternity clinic in your municipality.

9m 1 y. 2 y. 3 y. 1st grade 2nd grade 17 y.

3 Maternity allowance After your child is born Mothers must go on maternity leave at the latest 30 days before the After the child is born, the parents calculated time of birth. During the can spend time at home with the maternity leave, mothers are paid child. Kela pays a parental daily a maternity allowance. allowance during this period, which safeguards the family’s income. It is paid for a total of 105 working days, which is about 4 months. Maternity allowance After the child is born, the mother’s Mothers can go on maternity leave maternity leave continues for about at the earliest 50 working days 3 months. A maternity allowance is before the calculated time of birth. paid to mothers during this time. If they do, the payment of maternity allowance will also begin earlier. Paternity allowance Fathers can have a maximum of You must apply for maternity 54 days of leave – in other words, allowance no later than 2 months about 9 weeks. Of this time, the before the calculated time of birth. father can spend 1–18 working days, that is 3 weeks, at home with the Before you apply, check if your mother during the same period. employer will pay you salary If the family has twins, Kela pays an during the maternity leave. additional 18 working days of paternity allowance. Remember to tell your employer about your maternity leave at least You can take the rest of the leave 2 months before it starts. after the period of parental allowance has ended. You can take Special maternity allowance the leave all in one go or break it If, in your work, you come into up into shorter periods. contact with radiation, chemical agents or infectious disease, If you have already taken out 18 you can stay away from work as working days of leave, you can still soon as the pregnancy is confirmed. take out as many as 36 working You get a special maternity days. If you have not taken out any allowance during this time. paternity leave earlier, you can take out all 54 working days in one go.

4 Paternity leave must be taken out When the parental allowance ends, while the child is still under 2 years the child is about 9 months old. old. During the paternity leave, If the family has twins, Kela pays Kela pays you paternity allowance. parental allowance for an additional 60 working days. You can also apply for paternity allowance retroactively. But you A mother who is raising a child must apply for the allowance no on her own, can get an extended later than 2 months from the date parental leave. She can get an when the child turns 2. additional 54 working days of leave if her parental leave started on Before you apply, check if your 1 April 2019 or later. employer will pay you a salary Another requirement for an during the paternity leave. extended leave is that it has not been established who the father of Tell your employer about your the child is, or that there is no other paternity leave no later than 2 person who might have the right to months before your leave starts. get paternity allowance. If your leave is 12 working days or less, tell your employer at least The mother must have a medical one month before. examination after the birth, and submit a certificate about it to Kela. For more information, Kela needs the certificate in order to call 020 634 2550 be able to pay parental allowance.

Parental allowance You must apply for parental Either parent can take a parental allowance one month before you leave. Parents can also take the start your leave. leave in turns. Parental leave lasts 158 working days – that is about Parents can also work part-time 6 months. and look after their child in turns. For this period, Kela pays partial Kela pays a parental allowance parental allowance to both parents. during the parental leave.

5 How much can you get? Support for adoptive Maternity allowance, special parents maternity allowance, paternity allowance and parental allowance Kela supports the parents of an are usually calculated according to adopted child in largely the same the applicant’s working income. way as it supports biological parents. Adoptive parents cannot The allowance is always smaller than get maternity allowance, but they one’s salary – normally about 70% get a longer parental allowance of the income. period. Parental allowance is paid from the day when you first have the You can calculate the amount of adoptive child under your care. assistance available to you at: The father of an adoptive child can www.kela.fi/laskurit have paternity leave on the same (in Finnish) or terms as other fathers. www.fpa.fi/berakningar (in Swedish) If you adopt a child from another country, you can apply for The allowance is paid for working assistance from Kela to help cover days (including Saturdays). the costs of .

If you are paid a salary during your Kela card parental leave, Kela pays the parental allowance to your employer. The allowance is also affected by whether or not you have studied or been ill or without a job. The smallest allowance is about 690 euros per month (shortened below to EUR per month). A student, for example, gets this lowest amount.

The allowances paid to parents are subject to tax. When a child is born in Finland, information about this goes directly Pension and annual holiday from the hospital to the population entitlement adds up for the worker register and from there to Kela. when on maternity, paternity or parental leave. 6 The child is assigned a personal Child care allowances identity code. When the child has been given a name, Kela sends you After the parental leave, you can a personal Kela Card (a health • look after your child at home and insurance card) for the child. The get child home care allowance card is sent to your home by post. • arrange private day care for your child and get child home care Child benefit allowance or private day care allowance Kela pays child benefit for each child • work for up to 30 hours per week until the end of the month when the and get flexible care allowance child turns 17. • place your child in municipal (local) day care. Child benefit is paid according to the number of eligible children in the Child care leave family: After the parental allowance period, • for the first child either parent can stay at home on an EUR 94.88 per month unpaid child care leave to look after • for the second child their child until the child is 3 years EUR 104.84 per month old. • for the third child EUR 133.79 per month Tell your employer about your child • for the fourth child care leave no later than 2 months EUR 153.24 per month before it starts. • for the fifth and each additional child EUR 172.69 per month Child home care allowance You can apply for child home care Single parents get an increase, which allowance if your child is under is EUR 53.30 per child per month. 3 years of age and the child is cared for at home, for example. The carer The child benefit is tax-free income. can be the child’s parent or Child benefit is normally paid to the someone else, for example a mother or the father, or to another grandparent or a private day care adult responsible for the care of the provider. Child home care allowance child. is not available if the child is in municipal (local) day care. You can apply for child benefit at the same time as you apply for maternity, paternity or parental allowance. 7 The child home care allowance of a care allowance, a care consists of a care allowance and supplement and a possible a care supplement. municipal supplement.

The rates of the care allowance are The amount of the care allowance as follows: can be either EUR 172.25 per month • EUR 338.34 per month for one child or EUR 63.38 per month depending under age 3 on the extent of the day care • EUR 101.29 per month for each entitlement. additional child under age 3 • EUR 65.09 per month for a child The higher rate of care allowance is who has reached age 3, but is still paid, for example, if the parents under school age. work or study full time.

The care supplement can be paid for The lower rate is paid if the parents, one child only. The highest it can be or one of them, is at home all day, is EUR 181.07 per month. The care because they also have another supplement is linked to the income child to care for, or because they are of the parents. unemployed. The lower rate of care allowance is also payable for The child home care allowance is children who are of an age when taxable income. they can participate in early childhood education. Your home municipality (locality) may pay a municipal supplement A care supplement of up to to your child care allowance. EUR 144.85 per month may be You can ask the social available as well. Its amount is office or Kela for more information. linked to your income. If you are paid the lower rate of care Private day care allowance allowance, the care supplement Private day care allowance can be will also be reduced by 50%. granted if the child is cared for by a carer paid by the family or by a Kela pays the care supplement to private day care provider. The child the carer or to the day care provider. must be under school age. The private day care allowance is You cannot get private day care taxable income. allowance if your child is in municipal day care (council-run day care). Calculate the amount of child home care allowance or private day care Private day care allowance consists allowance that you can get: 8 www.kela.fi/laskurit The flexible care allowance is (in Finnish) or taxable income. www.fpa.fi/berakningar (in Swedish) Partial care allowance You can get partial care allowance Flexible care allowance if you work no more than 30 hours You can work 30 hours or less per a week while caring for a child. week and spend the rest of the Kela pays partial care allowance for regular work week taking care of children who are in the first or your child. You will then be paid less second year of school. in salary, but you will receive a flexible care allowance from Kela. The amount of partial care allowance is EUR 96.89 per month. Kela provides flexible care allowance It is taxable income. for children under the age of 3. If your child becomes ill Both parents can get flexible care allowance. However, they must take If your child becomes ill, you can a leave of absence from their job and take him/her to the municipal health look after their child at different centre or to a private doctor. Kela times or on different days. compensates you for part of the fees and treatments that a private doctor The flexible care allowance is paid prescribes. In addition to this, you according to how much you work. can get compensation for medicines. Kela does not offer The amount of the allowance can be compensation for health centre either EUR 241.19 per month or treatments. EUR 160.80 per month depending on how much, on average, you work Temporary care leave if a child per week. under the age of 10 gets ill If a child under 10 years of age See Kela’s website for details suddenly becomes ill, you can stay on the limits: off work to look after him or her. This is called a temporary care www.kela.fi/web/en/ leave. partial-care-allowance- amount-and-payment It can last a maximum of 4 days. Your employer is not required to pay Kela pays flexible care allowance you during a temporary child care only for one child at a time. leave. 9 Caring for a child who is seriously ill smaller than the child and/or disabled maintenance allowance Kela also offers support for the care • a child is adopted by only one of a child who is seriously ill and/or parent disabled. • a child does not have a legally established father The benefits and services available • a child has a legally established from Kela are: father, but it was not possible to • special care allowance for a parent confirm liability for child support who looks after a child under at the time when the paternity of 16 years of age the child was established. • disability allowance for children under 16 years of age The child maintenance allowance is • medical rehabilitation. EUR 158.74 per month for each child. It is free from tax. Child maintenance allowance Useful information for persons liable for maintenance If parents separate, the children If Kela pays child maintenance often live with one of the parents. allowance, it will collect any unpaid The other parent pays child support child support payments from the to the parent with whom the person liable for maintenance. children are living. The parent who The unpaid payments are called pays child support is called the child support debt. liable parent. If your financial situation is such Sometimes the liable parent does that you cannot pay off our child not pay child support, or there may support debt to Kela, you can apply not be a liable parent. In such a case to Kela for exemption from payment. Kela can pay child maintenance allowance to the parent in whose Application and payment custody the child is. Kela pays child maintenance You can apply for all of Kela’s allowance if benefits for families with children • the parent liable for child support online: has not paid it • due to the financial circumstances www.kela.fi/asiointi of the parent who is liable for child (in Finnish) or support, the child support is www.fpa.fi/etjanst (in Swedish) 10 See the application form for a list Kela pays maternity, paternity and of the documents you need to send parental allowances to the parent’s with it. All supporting documents bank account. Payment is made can also be submitted online. retroactively, usually every four weeks. You can also apply for benefits by filling in an application form that Child benefits are paid into the you can get from Kela’s website. parent’s or guardian’s account, usually on the 26th of the month. www.kela.fi/forms If banks are closed on that date or You can also pick up application the payment date follows a holiday, forms at Kela’s offices. child benefits are paid into your account earlier. If you apply for a benefit on an application form, send the form by You can apply for a change to a Kela post to Kela. Go to Kela’s website decision. There are instructions on to look up the address to which how to appeal in the enclosure you to send the application: get from Kela with your decision.

www.kela.fi/by-mail Social assistance is a form of last-resort You can also call Kela’s financial support customer service number 020 634 2550 You can apply for basic social and ask for the address assistance from Kela, if all your earnings and assets and other When your application has been social security benefits that you processed, a decision is sent to your have been granted, are not enough home address. The amount of the to cover your necessary everyday allowance and the grounds on which living expenses, such as food and it has been granted to you are stated housing. in the decision. You will receive a decision even if you have not www.kela.fi/social- been granted a benefit. assistance

11 Kela at your service On the internet By telephone

Visit Kela’s website for more Benefits for families with information: children 020 634 2550

www.kela.fi/english Note: Kela’s customer service numbers will change at Online assistance: the end of 2019. Check the numbers on www.kela.fi/kysykelasta Kela’s website: www.kela.fi/phone-numbers You can use the calculators to calculate the amounts of the Kela’s offices benefits: Address information for the Kela www.kela.fi/laskurit office nearest to you is available at (in Finnish) or www.fpa.fi/berakningar www.kela.fi/offices (in Swedish) Booking an appointment Kela’s online service is a safe and secure channel to manage your You can book an appointment for affairs. It can be found at an office visit or for phone service. If there is a big change in your www.kela.fi/asiointi circumstances or you need to (in Finnish) or discuss a complicated matter, it is a www.fpa.fi/etjanst good idea to book an appointment. (in Swedish) To book an appointment, call our customer service number or go to Sign in to the online service with your own online banking codes or www.kela.fi/appointments the mobile ID on your phone. Through Kela’s online customer Do you need an interpreter? service, you can: • apply for Kela benefits If you need interpreter assistance, • send additional documents contact Kela. More information on • get information about the status the internet: of your application • report changes www.kela.fi/interpretation • stop the payment of benefits. 12 Report changes Appeal instructions

If you receive a Kela benefit, You can apply for a change to a Kela remember to inform us immediately decision. Instructions on how to if there are changes in your appeal are provided with each circumstances. benefit decision. If you have Such changes can be, for example, questions, you should first contact changes in your housing or family Kela at the following numbers: situation or changes in income. Families with children Recovery of overpaid 020 634 2550 benefits Social Security Appeal Board If Kela pays you too much in benefits because of incorrect information, 0295 163 800 you must pay back the overpayment. www.samu.fi

www.kela.fi/overpayment

Overpayments Recovery Centre 020 634 4940

You are welcome to contact us! 9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday. For information about temporary changes to opening hours, see: www.kela.fi/phone-numbers 020 634 2550 020 634 2650 Conscripts Death of a family member Families with children Disability Housing benefits Kela card, European Health Insurance Card Social assistance Pensioners Students Rehabilitation Unemployment Sickness Moving to or from Finland 020 634 0200 Note: The customer service numbers will change in 2019, see www.kela.fi/phone-numbers.

13 Kela brochures available in English

Benefits for families with children

General housing allowance

Health and Rehabilitation

Benefits for students and benefits for conscripts

Financial support during unemployment

Pensions and retirement

Moving to or away from Finland

Basic social assistance

The brochures are available at Kela offices and citizen service points. Brochures in other languages at www.kela.fi/muutkielet Edita Prima Oy 2019 Oy Prima Edita