Child home care allowance (kotihoidon tuki) is paid to families whose child under 3 is not using municipal early childhood education. It starts directly after your parental allowance ends and can include a basic care allowance, an income-tested care supplement, and a local municipal supplement. You apply for it through Kela well before parental allowance ends.

What the child home care allowance (kotihoidon tuki) is

You can get child home care allowance if your child under 3 is not in municipal early childhood education, as an alternative to daycare in Finland. Child home care allowance consists of a care allowance (hoitoraha) and a care supplement (hoitolisä); Kela pays the care supplement for one child only, and its amount depends on the parents' income. Some municipalities pay a municipal supplement on top of the child home care allowance.

The City of Helsinki describes the allowance as being for a family whose child under 3 is cared for at home, by the child's guardian or another person such as a relative. You must pay income tax in Finland on the child home care allowance.

Who can claim it and when it starts

You can get child home care allowance if you are the child's parent, the parent's spouse or partner, or a legal guardian; the child is older than 6 months (at least 160 working days since the birth) and under 3; the child has no place in municipal early childhood education; and you care for the child yourself or have arranged for someone else to. You can also get child home care allowance for siblings under school age who have no place in municipal early childhood education, but not after the family's youngest child has turned 3. Child home care allowance cannot be granted for a child for whom parental allowance or private day care allowance is paid. The right to child home care allowance starts immediately after the payment of parental allowance ends, even if you take annual leave.

Under the current rules, the caregiver can be:

The allowance is paid to the parent, the parent's spouse or partner, or the legal guardian; if someone else such as a grandparent looks after the child, it is paid to the applicant, for example the parent. You can get child home care allowance if your child moves to Finland, and also if you come to work in Finland from an EU or EEA country or Switzerland and your child lives in one of those countries, though then without a municipal supplement. The allowance continues if your child stays abroad for at most 3 months; for a longer stay, payment ends on the date of the move, with some exceptions in the EU, EEA and Switzerland. For people who have lived in Finland for less than three years, caring for a child at home on child home care allowance is one of the situations in which you may be entitled to an assessment of integration service needs and an integration plan.

How much it pays

According to Kela's child home care allowance guide, the care allowance amounts are:

The care supplement is at most EUR 202.12 a month and depends on family size (up to 2 adults and 2 children under school age) and gross income; a spouse's or partner's income counts even if they are not the children's guardian, while the care allowance and the municipal supplement do not count as income. The full care supplement is paid up to certain income thresholds, above which it is reduced until none is paid:

The municipal supplement and its conditions vary by municipality and not all pay one; where the municipality has an agreement with Kela, Kela pays it automatically with the allowance, otherwise you apply to the municipality. In Helsinki, the Helsinki supplement is EUR 264 a month while the family's child is under 12 months, and nothing once the child has turned 1; it is paid only for the youngest child on the allowance, and you apply for it with the allowance from Kela. For twins or other multiple births you get the full under-3 amount for one child and the sibling increase for the others; the care supplement is paid for one child only.

When the allowance ends, and other benefits

Payment ends, among other situations, when the family no longer has a child under 3, when the child starts municipal early childhood education or school, or when the family moves abroad or the child is staying abroad. Child home care allowance is not paid for periods shorter than one month. You can work or take annual leave while you receive child home care allowance.

If Kela pays you the general social security benefit (yleistuki), child home care allowance paid to you or your partner is deducted from it, but a municipal supplement is not; it is also not deducted if one parent gets the allowance while caring for the child and the other parent is fully unemployed. For earnings-related unemployment allowance, ask your unemployment fund. Families with more than one child can get child home care allowance and private day care allowance at the same time, but for different children. If you hire a day care provider while on the allowance, you are the employer; the provider does not need the municipality's approval, and you must withhold tax, pay social security and statutory insurance contributions and report wages to the Incomes Register.

Working part time — the flexible and partial care allowances

Flexible care allowance is for a parent or guardian who looks after a child under 3 and works 1-30 hours a week (at most 80% of normal full-time hours) as an employee or as a self-employed person insured under YEL or MYEL. The rates are:

Flexible care allowance is taxable, and it can be paid from the child's birth to age 3 but not for the same period as pregnancy or parental allowance. It is available even if the child attends municipal or private early childhood education. You can get flexible care allowance and child home care allowance at the same time if the child is not in municipal early childhood education and someone else looks after the child during your working hours, for example your spouse claiming the home care allowance.

Partial care allowance is for a parent who works 1-30 hours a week, on shorter days, while caring for a child in the 1st or 2nd year of school (longer in some cases set by Kela). Partial care allowance is EUR 108.15 a month and taxable. Partial child care leave is granted by the employer; you must agree it with your employer and give at least 2 months' notice.

How and when to apply

The applicant must be the child's parent, the parent's spouse or partner, or a legal guardian, even if someone else cares for the child; if both parents care for the child, they agree who applies. You apply in Kela's OmaKela e-service (in Finnish and Swedish) or on form WH1e, which is in English; decision notices are only in Finnish or Swedish.

Kela recommends applying well before payment of the parental allowance ends. The allowance can be granted retrospectively for at most 6 months. You can apply for a fixed period; with no end date, the allowance is granted until the youngest child turns 3. Kela reviews the family's income for the care supplement every year, and you must reply to its message in OmaKela. The allowance is paid monthly on the last banking day of the month.

Proposed for 2027 — three years' residence and care by a parent

The Government has proposed changes that Parliament has not yet approved. If Parliament approves, from 1 January 2027:

Periods of allowance already granted would be paid to the end, and the changes would only affect follow-up and new applications. Kela says the amendments have not yet been approved by Parliament, that people who have applied do not need to contact it, and that it will give more information once Parliament has reviewed the proposal.