Amount and payment of special care allowance
The special care allowance is determined on the basis of an annual income. You can estimate the amount of special care allowance by using the calculator (in Finnish).
The annual income is calculated for a reference period of 12 calendar months prior to the calendar month that precedes the start of your work disability.
Kela cannot issue a decision on the allowance until the reference period for the annual income has ended.
There is a gap of 1 month between the reference period and the start of the allowance period, and the income during this time is not taken into account.
The following are taken into account in the annual income:
- wages and salaries
- salary for insurance purposes
- income under the self-employed persons' (YEL) and farmers' (MYEL) pension insurance schemes
- certain benefits
- certain compensations for loss of income
The annual income can consist of one or several of the aforementioned types of income. Kela usually receives the necessary information from the national incomes register and the insurance providers, so this information need not be reported to Kela separately.
If you have no income during the reference period or the income is very small, the amount of the allowance equals at least the minimum amount (€31.99 per day).
There is no waiting period that must be completed before qualifying for the special care allowance. It is paid in arrears for a specific number of working days at a time. Working days are the days from Monday to Saturday. Mid-week holidays are not working days.
During hospital care, the special care allowance can be paid to both parents if the doctor considers it necessary for both parents to participate in the care.
It can be paid to both parents at the same time also during rehabilitation.
During home care, the special care allowance can be paid to only one parent at a time.
Maximum duration of payment
The special care allowance is a child-specific entitlement. This means that the days for which it is paid to either parent are added together.
Special care allowance can be paid for up to 60 working days in relation to the same illness and in connection with care provided at an outpatient clinic, in a hospital, or in the form of rehabilitation.
During home care, the special care allowance can be paid for up to 60 working days.
Additional days of special care allowance
For particular medical reasons, it can be paid for an additional 30 working days. Such medical reasons are:
- a critical situation which requires the child to be monitored continuously
- after-care following a serious injury or burn
- the palliative care of a child
- providing care to a child on dialysis, if providing such care requires the child to be monitored continuously and the parent to be present, and
- other comparable medical reasons.