Benefits for a family after a child is born

The pregnancy allowance period lasts for a total of 40 working days. After the child is born, you will receive pregnancy allowance for as many days as are left of the 40 working days to be paid to you. If the child is born before you have started your pregnancy leave, the payment of pregnancy allowance will begin on the first working day following the birth. Further information is available on the InfoFinland page Support during pregnancy.

Am I eligible for parental allowance?

You can get parental allowance from Kela if the following conditions are met:

• You are caring for a child under 2 years of age or a child you have adopted less than 2 years ago, and you are caring for the child at home.
• You are not working
• You are eligible for Kela benefits

More information about eligibility is available on the page Finnish social security.

If you are the parent who is giving birth, you can get parental allowance (vanhempainraha) as soon as the pregnancy allowance period has ended, even if the child has not yet been born.

If you are the parent who is not giving birth, you can start the parental allowance period once the child is born.

For how long can I receive parental allowance?

Parents can receive parental allowance for a total of 320 working days, i.e. for approximately 13 months. Both parents are entitled to half of the days, or 160 days, of the parental allowance period.

If you are the child’s only guardian, you can use all the 320 working days and get parental allowance for a longer period.

If your family has twins, you can receive parental allowance for 84 weekdays longer.

You can receive parental allowance flexibly when you want until your child turns two.

If you have a job, notify your employer about your parental leave two (2) months before it begins. If you take no more than 12 working days of leave, notify your employer one month beforehand at the latest. Read more on the InfoFinland page Holidays and leaves.

Giving up parental allowance days for the benefit of someone else

You can give up a maximum of 63 working days of your quota of 160 parental allowance days to the child’s other parent.

• If you are the parent who is giving birth, you can give up parental allowance days with an application filed before or after the birth of the child.
• If you are the other parent, you can give up parental allowance days until after the child is born.

How much parental allowance can I receive?

The amount depends on your annual income. Parental allowance is always less than your salary. There is a calculator on the Kela website that you can use to calculate how much parental allowance you can receive.

If you do not have any income, you will receive the minimum amount of parental allowance. The minimum parental allowance is EUR 31.99/working day.

Apply for parental allowance at least two (2) months before you begin your parental leave.

Determine in good time whether or not your employer will pay salary during parental leave. You need the information for the parental allowance application. If you are paid salary during your parental leave, Kela will pay the parental allowance to your employer.

You can apply for parental allowances on the Kela website.

• Log in using your online banking credentials or a mobile certificate.
• The service provides advice on how to fill in the application form.
• At the same address you can also see how the processing of your application is progressing.
• After your application has been processed, you can see at the same address the amount of benefit you will be paid and the payment date.

The service is available in Finnish and Swedish.

Alternatively, you can apply for parental allowance by filling in a paper form. Post the application and its appendices to any Kela office. You can get help for filling in the application at the child health and maternity clinic.

If you take care of a child part of the day and work part-time at the same time, you can apply for partial parental allowance. Your daily working time must be no more than 5 hours per day. If you are employed, you must have concluded an agreement on part-time work with your employer.

The parents can also work part time and look after the child in turns or at the same time. For this period, Kela pays partial parental allowance to both parents.

If one of the parents wants to stay at home to take care of the child after the parental leave, they may receive child home care allowance. Read more on the InfoFinland page Benefits for looking after a child at home.(Link leads to external service)