Child home care allowance in Åland
Child home care allowance is financial support for guardians whose children are not in municipal childcare, with the exception of playgroups. A guardian can also get child home care allowance to pay someone else to care for the child.
Information on child home care allowance and how to apply is available on each municipality’s website. You can find more information on childcare on the Info Norden page Childcare in Åland.
Components of child home care allowance
Child home care allowance consists of various forms of support. In addition to basic, extended and partial child home care allowance, there is also, for example, child home care allowance for siblings, basic and extended child home care allowance for multiple-birth families and adoptive parents as well as other supplements in connection with the basic component.
You can find more information on child home care allowance and supplements in the act on child home care allowance on the website of the Government of Åland, on the website of your municipality of residence and in the menu tabs below.
Basic child home care allowance amounts to 500 euros per calendar month. The allowance is paid for children under the age of three who are not in municipal childcare.
If the family’s total taxable income does not exceed 1050 euros per month, an income-based supplement may also be granted. The supplement is granted for a maximum of one year at a time and may also be provided in conjunction with child home care allowance for siblings.
Extended child home care allowance amounts to 700 euros per calendar month. The allowance is paid for a child under the age of three whose guardians provide care themselves and do not work for a total of up to eight months.
Each guardian is entitled to a continuous support period of up to four months, and the periods do not have to follow one another immediately. In cases of sole custody, there is entitlement to a continuous period of up to eight months.
Partial child home care assistance is not granted if basic child home care assistance is being paid. Guardians who work an average of no more than 30 hours per week to care for their child may be eligible for the benefit. The allowance amounts to 125 euros per calendar month and can be paid until the child turns three, during the first two years of school, and during the school year before starting school if the child is of compulsory school age and attends preschool. If compulsory education is extended, allowance can also be paid during the third school year.
Both guardians are entitled to partial home care allowance for the same calendar month, provided that they are not both absent from work at the same time to care for the child.
Right to child home care allowance
Guardians can apply for child home care allowance during parental leave and when the child does not attend municipal or private publicly supported child care, with the exception of play activities. Eligibility for child home care allowance begins 160 weekdays after the child’s birth, when the child is approximately six months old. Child home care allowance can be paid until the child turns three, with the exception of partial child home care allowance, which may also cover children in first and second grade whose parents have reduced working hours. Child home care allowance is not paid at the same time if one of the guardians is receiving parental allowance. The exception is child home care allowance for siblings.
If you move to Åland from mainland Finland, the child care allowance paid by Kela is discontinued from the beginning of the month following your move; you can apply for it from your new municipality of residence as of the day after the discontinuation. Private day care allowance is not paid in Åland.
Apply for child home care allowance
Applications for child home care allowance are made to your municipality of residence using the municipality’s e-services or using a paper form with supporting documents, such as Kela’s decision on the parental allowance period, your tax certificate, your tax card for benefits, etc. A complete list of the documents and attachments to be included with the application is available on the municipalities' websites.
More information
On the Info Norden website you can find information on child home care allowance in the other Nordic countries, as well as contact information for the authorities that can answer questions.
Please fill in our contact form if you have any questions or if you have encountered an obstacle in another Nordic country.
NB! If you have questions regarding the processing of a specific case or application, or other personal matters, please contact the relevant authority directly.