Absences and other changes

Effect of absences and other changes on customer fees

As a rule, the customer fee is also paid for days of absence. Even one day of attendance during a calendar month results in the full customer fee for the month to be charged.

However, the fee may be waived or reduced in the following situations:

Absences due to illness

If your child is absent for all the scheduled days of attendance during a month due to an illness, the customer fee is not charged.

If the child is absent due to an illness for at least 11 days of attendance during a month, half of the monthly fee is charged. The daycare centre must be notified immediately on the morning of the first day of absence.

Holidays announced in advance

If the child is absent on all the days of a month and the daycare centre has been notified in advance, half of the monthly fee is charged.

No fee is charged for July if the child has started in early childhood education and care in August of the current daycare and preschool year or earlier, and the child has not been absent due to a pre-announced holiday for more than 3/4 of the total days of attendance in a month during the daycare and preschool year. The daycare and preschool year is the period from 1 August to 31 July.

You must notify the daycare centre of your summer holidays and possible need for early childhood education during them in advance in the spring. More instructions on how to announce your holidays will be given separately each year.

Family leave

The family leave system was reformed in August 2022. The reform affects benefits paid by Kela. The reform tries to take into account the needs of families and households equally, including diverse families and various forms of self-employment.

The new rules on family leave apply to families where the child’s estimated date of birth is on or after 4 September 2022. Detailed information on the family leave system is available on the Kela website.

Temporary hold

If the child’s early attendance in childhood education has been put on hold temporarily for at least four months, no customer fee is charged for the duration of the hold.

The temporary hold must be agreed with the daycare centre’s director and reported on a form. Go to the forms (in Finnish).