Benefits for a family after a child is born

This page provides information about family leave benefits under the new law. If you have been granted benefits under the old law, you can find out more about them on Kela’s website.

The parental allowance system was reformed and the new law entered into force on 1 August 2022.

You will receive parental allowances according to the new law if your child’s due date is 4 September 2022 or later or if your adopted child is placed in your care on or after 31 July 2022.

You will receive parental allowances according to the old law if your child’s due date was before 4 September 2022, if the child was born on or before 29 July 2022 or if your adopted child was placed in your care before 31 July 2022.

If your family has started to receive parental allowances earlier, it will not be possible to change them after 1 August 2022 to comply with the new law.

You can apply for parental allowances if you are covered by Finnish social security and you have been covered by health insurance in Finland for the period for which you wish to receive parental allowance.

You can apply for parental allowances via the Kela website. Log in using your bank identifiers 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 proceeding. 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 parenthood allowances by filling in a paper form and posting it along with its appendices to any Kela office. You can get help in filling in the application at a maternity clinic.

The amount of parenthood allowance depends on the applicant’s income. Daily allowance is always less than wages, usually approximately 70% of the income. If you do not have any income, you will receive the minimum amount of parenthood allowance. Unemployed parents and non-working parents are also entitled to parental allowances.

If your employer pays you salary during your parental allowance period, Kela will pay the allowance to your employer. Notify your employer about your parental leave two 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 Family leave.

Parenthood allowances are taxable benefits for which you need to acquire a tax card. Read more on the InfoFinland page Taxation.

The pregnancy allowance period lasts for a total of 40 working days. After the child is born, you will receive pregnancy allowance (maternity allowance under the old law) 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.

The birthing parent can get parental allowance (vanhempainraha) as soon as the pregnancy allowance period has ended, even if the child has not yet been born. The other parent can start the parental allowance period when the child is born. Either guardian can get parental allowance. They can also get the allowance in turns.

Parental allowance can be received for 320 working days, i.e. approximately 14 months. Both parents are entitled to half of the days, or 160 days, of the parental allowance period. If the child has only one guardian, they can use all the 320 working days and get parental allowance for a longer period.

If a family has twins, the parental allowance period will be 84 weekdays longer.

You can receive parental allowance flexibly when you want until your child turns two. If you have a job, agree with your employer on parental leave.

Apply for a parental allowance at least two months before you begin your leave. Also find out in good time whether or not your employer pays 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.

According to the new law, Kela will no longer need a check-up certificate to be attached to the application.

You can give up and turn over a maximum of 63 working days of your quota of 160 parental allowance days to the child's other parent who is caring for the child, your partner or the partner of the child’s other parent.

The birthing parent can turn over parental allowance days with an application filed before or after the birth of the child. The other parent cannot give up parental allowance days until after the child is born. A parent must first give up a certain amount of parental allowance days before another person can claim them.

Jos hoidat lasta osan päivästä ja olet samanaikaisesti osa-aikatyössä, voit hakea vanhempainrahaa osittaisena. Päivittäinen työaikasi voi olla enintään 5 tuntia päivässä. Jos olet työsuhteessa, sinulla täytyy olla työnantajasi kanssa sopimus osa-aikatyöstä.

Vanhemmat voivat myös tehdä osa-aikatyötä ja hoitaa lasta vuorotellen tai samaan aikaan. Tältä ajalta Kela maksaa vanhempainrahan osittaisena kummallekin vanhemmalle.

Jos jompikumpi vanhemmista haluaa jäädä hoitamaan lasta kotiin vanhempainvapaan jälkeen, hän voi saada kotihoidon tukea. Lue lisää InfoFinlandin sivulta Tukea lapsen hoitamiseen kotona.