Caring for a child at home

After the parental allowance period, it is possible to stay at home to care for your child/children, and you can receive home care allowance from Kela for this. Up-to-date information on home care allowance and the amount you can receive can be found on Kela’s website(switch to another service).

Families have the opportunity to participate in open early childhood education activities and children can attend free early childhood education clubs, even if the family receives childcare allowance. Childcare allowance cannot be received if the child has a place in a municipal or private daycare centre, family daycare, group family daycare or if you receive private childcare allowance.

Tuusula municipal supplement for home care allowance for children under 2 years of age

The municipal supplement to home care allowance is a discretionary allowance paid by the municipality in addition to the statutory home care allowance paid by Kela. The home care allowance system is an alte ative to early childhood education. The amount of the municipal supplement to home care allowance is determined according to the age of the children. The municipality of Tuusula pays a municipal supplement of €150 per month for children under the age of 2.

The Tuusula municipal supplement is applied for and paid through Kela.

The conditions for payment of the municipal supplement are:

• Kela will only pay the municipal supplement if the parent is caring for all of the family’s children under school age. Kela will only pay the municipal supplement if the parent is caring for all of the family’s children for whom home care allowance is paid. However, if the family has a child of pre-school age, that child may attend compulsory pre-school education. If a child of pre-school age attends supplementary early childhood education, Kela will not pay the municipal supplement for any of the children in the family.
• Kela pays the municipal supplement if home care allowance is paid for all children in the family who are eligible for child care allowance. Kela does not pay the municipal supplement if any of the children are in municipal early childhood education or receive private care allowance. The form of support must be the same for all children.
• Kela does not pay municipal supplements if the family receives parental allowance.
  Parental allowance is a collective term for the following benefits: mate ity allowance, special pregnancy allowance, special mate ity allowance, pregnancy allowance, pate ity allowance, parental allowance, partial parental allowance and partial parental allowance.

Private care allowance and municipal supplement enable families to hire a carer for their home, either alone or together with another family. It is possible to receive private care allowance for hiring a carer for your home.

The group of children may consist of a maximum of four (4) children under school age and one child attending part-time pre-school. When considering hiring a childminder for your home, please contact the family daycare supervisor. You will find the contact details at the bottom of the page.

The family is responsible for finding a carer. The family pays the difference between the carer’s salary and the allowance, as well as the employer’s contributions from the total salary. The private care allowance and municipal supplement are paid to the carer. The
private care allowance and municipal supplement are child-specific, meaning that the total amount of the allowance is affected by the number of children.

Family obligations as an employer

If you hire an employee, you generally have the same obligations to fulfil as other employers. You can obtain information about employer contributions and other employer obligations from the tax authorities. 

Please note the following:

• Withholding tax
• Pension insurance
• Accident insurance
• Unemployment insurance contribution