FinlandKela
Employees at up to 80% of full time qualify for flexible care allowance
Tiers turn on average weekly hours — 269.24 euros at 1–22.5 hours or 60% of full time, 179.49 euros above that up to 30 hours or 80% — and actual hours must not exceed the employer-certified figure.
By Taxxa AI OyPublished 7 September 2026
An employee who cares for a child under three alongside work qualifies for joustava hoitoraha, flexible care allowance, when working 1–30 hours a week or no more than 80% of the sector's normal full-time hours. The allowance tier follows average weekly working time: 1–22.5 hours, or at most 60% of normal full-time working time, brings the higher allowance of 269.24 euros a month; more than 22.5 and up to 30 hours, or over 60% up to 80% of normal full-time working time, brings the lower allowance of 179.49 euros a month. The higher tier requires working time to stay in its band for at least a month.Kela
The claimant must be the child's parent or other guardianKela, take part in caring for a child under three
Finlex, and belong to an eligible working category: employees, public officials, entrepreneurs with pension insurance, farmers and grant recipients
Finlex. Both parents may draw the allowance for the same calendar month if they are not absent from work at the same time to care for the child.
Finlex No allowance is paid to a parent receiving pregnancy or parental allowance at the same time, to one caring for the child while drawing home care allowance, or to one drawing partial care allowance for another child in the family.
Kela
An employee's actual weekly working hours must not exceed the weekly working time the employer reports. The employer certifies working time in Työnantajan päiväraha- ja korvauspalvelu, the employer daily-allowance and compensation service, or on paper form WH9Kela, and the employee attaches the certificate to the allowance application
Kela.
Kotihoidontuki, home care allowance, covers home care of a child under three who has no municipal early childhood education place; a parent or other guardian qualifies when the child is cared for at home. Osittainen hoitoraha, partial care allowance, covers employees working 1–30 hours a week because they care for a child in the first or second year of basic education. When a child under ten falls ill, the employee may take four working days of temporary care leave, for which Kela pays no benefit; in some situations Kela pays erityishoitoraha, special care allowance, to the sick child's parent.
The legal basis is Laki lasten kotihoidon ja yksityisen hoidon tuesta (1128/1996), sections 3, 13 and 13 a.Finlex
Certify the employee's full weekly working time in Työnantajan päiväraha- ja korvauspalvelu or on form WH9 so that it covers their actual weekly hours.