Early childhood education fee

The parents and guardians (married spouses and cohabiting partners living in the same household) and underage children of both parents or guardians living in the same household are taken into account in determining the family size. 

The gross income of the family means the income of the parents and guardians (married spouses and cohabiting partners living in the same household) and of the children taken into account in determining the family size. Taxable income, income from capital and non-taxable income count as income. Income from interest and benefits also count as income. Holiday pay of about 5 per cent is added to earned income. The following does not count as income: child home care allowance, child benefit, benefits under the Disability Benefits Act, housing allowance, study grant and adult education allowance. If you do not report your family’s income, you will be charged the highest early childhood education fee. 

The number hours your child spends in early childhood education affect the total amount of the fee. The daily care hours are specified in the service agreement you make before starting the service. The agreement is made for a minimum period of three months, and it cannot be changed for holiday periods. 

See in the table below how the fee is determined based on your child's daily care hours.

Early childhood education from Monday to Friday

Free early childhood education for 5-year-olds

5-year-old children are entitled to four hours of free early childhood education per day.

Free-of-charge early childhood education (4 hours a day) for 5-year-old children born in 2019 residing in Helsinki begins on 1 August 2024 and continues until the beginning of their pre-primary education.

Pre-primary education and early childhood education from Monday to Friday

Pre-primary education for 6-year-olds is free of charge for 4 hours a day. There is no free pre-primary education during school holidays, when the full fee is charged for each day of attendance for a 6-year-old child. 

Round-the-clock care fee based on the care hours

If your child’s need for early childhood education changes, agree on the change in advance with the manager of your child's early childhood education location. 

The fee will be changed starting from the date indicated in the agreement and a new decision will always be issued. The new agreement is made for a minimum period of three months. The service need may change due to changes in employment or studies, for example.

The early childhood education fee is charged for a maximum of eleven calendar months per operating year (1 August–31 July). No fee is paid for July. However, if the child's early childhood education has started on 1 October or later, the customer fee will also be charged for the following July. 

A family’s full-time fee for early childhood education is calculated as follows:  

• Select the minimum gross income limit per month of early childhood education according to the family size from the table. Subtract it from the average monthly gross income.  

Take 10.7% of the remaining figure to find out the fulltime early childhood education fee for the youngest child.

Family size, income limits and gross income for the lowest and highest fee as of 1 August 2024:

Early childhood education fees are index-linked on the basis of Section 16 of the Act on Client Fees. Index adjustments are made every two years. The next index adjustment will be made as of 1 August 2026. 

The maximum fee for full-time daycare is EUR 311 per month for the youngest child and EUR 124 (40%) per month for the second youngest child in early childhood education. For other children, the full-time daycare fee is 20 per cent of the youngest child’s fee, at maximum EUR 62. In all fee categories, a fee can be assigned for the second youngest child in full-time early childhood education, which is at maximum 40 per cent of that of the youngest child. 

Fees under EUR 30 regarding children are not charged. 

Income information may comprise a payslip showing accrual, holiday pay and fringe benefits, a receipt of maternity allowance, parental allowance and/or a receipt of child maintenance and child maintenance allowance. 

Income information is submitted to the Daycare Fee Unit either by post or via secure email, to which you can attach income receipts. 

Logging in to Secure mail requires online banking credentials, Mobile ID or an identity card with a chip. Send your income statement via secure email (opens in new tab)(Link leads to external service) . Enter the name of the child’s daycare centre in the subject field of the email. 

If you want to send the income statement and its attachments by post, you must pay the postage yourself. 

You can also take the income statement and its attachments to the daycare centre for forwarding. 

The client is responsible for the applications and income declarations, including attachments, sent to the client fee unit (Administrative Procedure Act, Chapter 4, Section 17 Responsibility of the document sender).

Remember to report any changes in your income and family size to the Daycare Fee Unit immediately. 

Income statement for determining the early childhood education fee, PDF (Does not apply to private early childhood education)

Reduction or waiver of the fee

The fee for early childhood education is determined according to the size of the family, the need for services and gross income. Once your fee has been determined, you can apply for a reduction or waiver of the fee. 

As income we consider the total net income of the family, and as expenditure rent/housing association fees, electricity and water charges, interest on student loans or mortgage and basic amount of social income. Expenditure does not include loan repayments, insurance fees, telephone bills, hobbies, or enforcement proceedings (judicial collection of debts).

Fee reduction or waiver application, PDF  (Does not apply to private early childhood education)

Provide your income information by submitting an income declaration in the Edlevo e-service. You must submit an income declaration at least once a year and anytime your income changes. We will check the income information from the Incomes Register upon the client’s permission. The permission is a one-off permission, meaning that you must give permission again each time you submit an income declaration.

The Edlevo e-service automatically sends a request for an income check if it has been more than 12 months since you last updated your income information. If you receive this reminder from the e-service, submit a new income declaration.

How to submit an income declaration

1.   Give your income information through the Edlevo e-service to the early childhood education Client Fees Unit.
2. Download the Edlevo app from an app store or sign in to Edlevo at https://hel.fi/vakapalvelu. Use your suomi.fi e-Identification to log in to the service.
3.  The income of the parent(s) or guardian(s) and the parent’s or guardian’s spouse living in the same household with the child must be reported. If necessary, the parent or guardian must report the income information of children living in the same household, e.g. information on maintenance support.
4.  Once you have logged in, click on the menu in the top right corner and select ‘income declaration’.
5.  In the income declaration, you can consent to your income being checked from the Incomes Register, if the information is available from the register. If you do not consent to checking your income from the Incomes Register, you must submit the information on your income as a separate appendix in the Edlevo income declaration.
6.  If you receive entrepreneur’s income, a grant or you have capital income, always provide appendices concerning them with your income declaration.
7.  If your income is irregular, attach a free-form report of where your income comes from. You can provide additional information that is essential in terms of processing the income information on the report.
8.   If you do not have Finnish online banking credentials, you can submit your income declaration using secure email or a paper form. You can also ask for an income declaration form at your child’s early childhood education unit.
9.  You can submit your income declaration and the necessary appendices via secure email(Link leads to external service) or post the form to: Client Fees Unit, PO BOX 58301, 00099 CITY OF HELSINKI.

The client fee for early childhood education is valid until further notice. If your family's income changes significantly or your family’s size changes, report the change without delay. Income information is reported by submitting a new income declaration in Edlevo. If your family’s income has increased and you, as a parent or guardian, have not reported it, we will charge the increased fee retroactively.
You can report changes to family size to the early childhood education Client Fees Unit by contacting [email protected](Link opens default mail program)

Please note: The client is responsible for any applications / income declarations and appendices that they submit to the Client Fees Unit (Administrative Procedure Act, chapter 4, section 17, Responsibility of the document sender).

The City of Helsinki has the right to check family information in the Population Information System, with Kela and with other authorities (Act on Client Fees in Early Childhood Education and Care 1503/2016, section 17).

If the family has not reported income information or changes in income, the client fee is charged retroactively for a period of six months or a maximum of one year.
 

Early childhood education customer fee decisions will be sent to the Edlevo e-service.

Log in to Edlevo e-service via the mobile app or online at  hel.fi/vakapalvelu . The mobile app is available on Google Pay and App Store. Logging in requires suomi.fi identification with Finnish online banking credentials or mobile certificate.

See instructions for using Edlevo e-service.