Disability allowance for children

The child must have a chronic disability or illness diagnosed by a doctor and a statement issued by a doctor about their health. The statement can be in the form of a medical statement C or one of the following:

• a medical record containing the equivalent information that covers the treatment period or a visit to an outpatient clinic
• a treatment and rehabilitation plan containing the equivalent information.

The child will also typically have an existing treatment relationship with a healthcare provider due to their illness or disability.

The right to the allowance and its amount are evaluated based on

• how much care, treatment and rehabilitation the child needs
• how demanding it is to provide care and treatment for the child.

The care of a child may be demanding and require commitment also in normal situations, depending on the child’s age and stage of development. Therefore, Kela always makes an assessment as to whether the need of care and treatment is related to illness or disability and whether it is greater than normal among children of similar age.

A child can need more than the usual amount of care and treatment for example

• in everyday activities, such as eating, dressing or washing
• in moving
• in seeing, hearing or speaking
• in social interactions, such as self-expression, playing, or relations to other people
• in the treatment of their illness.

The child may need rehabilitation as well as exercises at home that are part of the rehabilitation process. Rehabilitation can take the form of e.g. physical therapy, psychotherapy, speech therapy or occupational therapy.

The child may need more than the usual amount of support, guidance or supervision in their daily lives. The care, treatment or rehabilitation needed by the child can be arranged at home, in day care or at school. In day care or at school, the child can be appointed a personal assistant or receive special needs instruction.

It is available if the child needs care and treatment because of an illness or disability on at least a weekly basis.

The basic rate can be paid for example for

• a child who, due to a mental health or behavioural disorder (e.g. a neurodevelopmental syndrome such as ADHD), needs regular support, guidance and supervision in daily activities to a greater extent than children of the same age.
• a child who has completed the first year of primary school but wets themselves about three times a week over a period of at least six months despite treatment with medication or a bedwetting alarm pad

The middle rate of disability allowance is available for children who have a right to the basic rate and whose illness or disability causes additional expenses on a continuing basis.

It is available if the child’s need of care and treatment due to illness or disability is demanding or time-consuming every day.

Disability allowance at the middle rate is available for example for

• a child who, due to a mental health or behavioural disorder (e.g. a neurodevelopmental syndrome such as ADHD), needs a lot of support, guidance and supervision in daily activities that children of the same age normally do not need.
• a child with diabetes treated with insulin.
• a child with a developmental disorder whose disability is so severe that there is a need for daily, time-consuming assistance and guidance with daily activities.

If a child has the right to disability allowance at the basic rate and the illness or disability causes continuous additional expenses, the child may be awarded care allowance at the middle rate instead of the basic rate. These additional expenses are referred to as special expenses. The special expenses must each month amount to at least the disability allowance at the middle rate.

They can include e.g. out-of-pocket costs for medical care and medication. Loss of income, fees for rehabilitative day care, natural health products and costs of recreational activities do not count as expenses for purposes of the disability allowance.

It is available for children who have an illness or disability requiring demanding care and treatment nearly around the clock. The person providing care and treatment needs an intricate level of knowledge and experience, and the child is dependent on their caregiver almost around the clock.

Disability allowance at the highest rate is available for example for

• a child with severe hearing or vision loss.
• a severely autistic child who needs continuous supervision and guidance.

The guardians must agree which of them will apply and whose bank account the allowance will be paid into. The allowance is paid into the account specified by the guardian who makes the application.

A change of recipient (for example in a follow-up application) must be accompanied by the consent of the guardian to whom the allowance was paid previously.

The payment of the allowance is not affected by which guardian the child lives with.

The wellbeing services county can ask Kela to recognise it as the recipient of the disability allowance, in which case will be paid to the county.

Read more about the payment of the disability allowance to the wellbeing services county (in Finnish)

Kela can award the allowance retrospectively for a maximum of six months.

If you are applying for continued payment, send the application and related supporting documents to Kela well in advance of the end of the payment period so that payment of the allowance is not interrupted. However, file the application for continued payment within six months of when the payment of the allowance ended. Please note that Kela will need the written consent of the guardian to whom the allowance was previously paid before payments can be switched to the other guardian.

Applications for a higher rate of allowance must also often be accompanied by a new medical statement.