Amount and payment of daily allowances for parents
The amounts of all daily allowances for parents, i.e.
are calculated in the same way. You can estimate the amount of the daily allowances for parents by using the calculator (in Finnish).
How is the daily allowance determined?
The amount of your allowance is based on your annual income. Your annual income is calculated for the 12 calendar months prior to the calendar month that precedes the start of your entitlement to the benefit. In certain situations, the allowance can be calculated on the basis of the last 3 months of the period.
Working days
Daily allowances for parents are paid for working days. Working days are Monday to Saturday, with the exception of midweek holidays. A midweek holiday is a holiday that falls on some other day than a Sunday.
The minimum rate
You are granted the allowance at the minimum rate if you have had no income at all or if your annual income is lower than the income limit entitling to the minimum rate.
In 2024, the minimum daily rate of allowance is
- 31.99 euros per working day.
Increased pregnancy and parental allowance
Pregnancy allowance is paid at an increased rate throughout the entire period. Parental allowance is paid at an increased rate for the first 16 working days. The increased allowance is 90% of your earnings, at the maximum. The increase applies to all parental allowance days, including parental allowance days that you have turned over to someone else. Each person who gets parental allowance will get the increase only once.
Daily allowances for parents payable for the same child
When different kinds of daily allowances for parents are paid for the same child, the allowances are calculated on the basis of the same income. When you go from being on one allowance to another, for example when you start getting parental allowance after having been paid pregnancy allowance, or you start a new parental allowance period after an earlier period of parental allowance, the income on the basis of which the allowance is calculated remains the same.
Example of income that has changed between parental allowance periods
Julia was on pregnancy and parental leave from 15 September 2022 to 30 April 2023. After that, she returned to work because she got a new, better paid job. Julia took out a second period of parental leave starting from 1 January 2024. The amount of the parental allowance for the latter period of parental leave is equal to the amount that was paid during the first period, although Julia’s income has increased between the periods.
Another baby within 3 years
If the estimated due date of your baby is before your previous child turns 3 years old, you can get daily allowances for parents on the basis of the same annual or earned income that was used to calculate the allowances for your previously born child.
This rule can always be applied, when the estimated due date of a new baby is before the previously born child turns 3.
Example of daily allowances for parents when a new baby is born before the previous child is 3 years old
The first child in a family was born in 2021, the second one in 2023 and the third one in 2025. The allowances for all three children can be calculated based on the same income as for the first-born child.
Similarly, adoptive parents can get parental allowance based on the same income as for a previously adopted child, if the new child is placed in the care of the adoptive parents before 3 years have passed since a previously adopted child was placed in their care.
When the annual income on the basis of which previous daily allowances for parents were calculated is used to calculate the new daily allowances for parents, the annual earnings are adjusted by a wage coefficient. This may result in a slight change in the amount of the allowance, even if the annual income used to calculate the allowance remains the same.
You do not have to notify Kela that you want your daily allowances for parents to be calculated on the basis of your previous income. Kela will automatically calculate whether it will be more favourable for you to receive daily allowances for parents based on the new annual income or on the same income as for your previous child.
Payment
Daily allowances for parents are paid in arrears up to 25 working days.
Kela sends the data on daily allowances for parents paid out to the national incomes register within five days of the date of payment.
Visit Kela's e-service to check the next payment date. Please note that our e-service is only available in Finnish and Swedish. Log in using your online banking user ID and password or a mobile certificate.