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Early childhood education and care

The City of Kemijärvi offers municipal day care on a full-time and part-time basis, day care, temporary care and pre-school education.

Applications for early childhood education and care are always made via eAsiointi Changes to the need for the service are always made in writing when the child has a valid placement in early childhood education and care. The change must be notified in advance and generally takes effect from the beginning of the following month. As a general rule, changes are made for a minimum period of two months.

The Early Childhood Education and Care Fee Act entered into force on 1.3.2017

1 § The Early Childhood Education Customer Fee Act lays down the customer fee for early childhood education and care organised by the municipality in day care centres and family day care. For other early childhood education and care organised by the municipality and for early childhood education and care provided on a temporary basis by the municipality, a customer fee may be charged as decided by the municipality. Free pre-primary education is provided for in the Basic Education Act (628/1998).

Article 2 defines.

1) a service user is a child in early childhood education and care, and parents or other carers living with the child in the same household as the child.

2) family means persons living in a common household in a married or unmarried state and minor children of both of them living in the same household

3) early childhood education organised by a municipality means early childhood education organised in the manner provided for in Section 10 of the Early Childhood Education Act (36/1973).

4) the operating year means the period from the beginning of August of each year to the end of July of the following year

5) full-time early childhood education and care means early childhood education and care provided for at least 35 hours per week

6) part-time early childhood education and care means early childhood education and care provided for less than 35 hours per week.

3 § MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF THE FEE

The fee for early childhood education and care must not exceed the cost of providing the service. The fee may be charged according to the family’s ability to pay. The fee is set out in Articles 5 to 8.

4 § MONTHLY FEE AND ITS COLLECTION

A monthly fee may be charged for early childhood education and care provided in the form of day care centres and family day care within the meaning of the Early Childhood Education and Care Act. The fee may be charged for a maximum of eleven calendar months during the year of activity. However, if a child attends early childhood education and care in all months of the year of activity and is absent from early childhood education and care during the year of activity for reasons other than sickness for up to three quarters of the number of days of early childhood education and care for which the monthly fee is due, the fee may be charged for 12 months. Absences notified in advance shall be taken into account in calculating the number of days of absence. For more information on the charging of the fee for the period of absence, see the section on charging the fee for the period of absence.

If a child’s early childhood education starts or ends in the middle of a calendar month, the fee is set at a lower rate than the monthly fee, depending on the duration of the early childhood education. The amount of the fee is rounded up to the nearest euro.

If the child’s guardians live at different addresses, but the child is provided with early childhood education in only one municipality, the fee is based on the income of the family with which the child has his or her place of residence in accordance with the Act on the Population Information System and the Population Register Centre’s Certificate Services (661/2009). If the child is provided with early childhood education and care in two municipalities, the fee must be determined separately in each municipality. In this case, the fee is set at the monthly fee for part-time early childhood education and care.

5 § MONTHLY FEE FOR FULL-TIME EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE

The monthly fee for full-time early childhood education and care may not exceed an amount in euros equal to the monthly income above the minimum income threshold, as determined by a contribution rate based on the size of the family. However, the municipality may impose a maximum fee if the applicant does not declare the family income.

It should be noted that families are obliged to notify the authority responsible for the early childhood education and care fees of any delay in the notification of changes in the family’s income and family size. The early childhood education and care fee will be adjusted from the beginning of the following month, once the change in income has been notified. The municipality may impose a maximum fee if the applicant does not declare the family income. If the decision to impose the early childhood education and care fee is based on incorrect information provided by the customer, the fee may be adjusted retroactively for a period of one year.

Number of persons in the family	Income limit 1.3.2023 EUR/month	Payment rate
2	3874	10,7 %
3	4998	10,7 %
4	5675	10,7 %
5	6353	10,7 %
6	7028	10,7 %

For families of more than six, the income limit is increased by €262 for each subsequent child (from 1 March 2023).

6 § MONTHLY FEE FOR PART-TIME EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE

If a child attends early childhood education and care for an average of 20 hours or less per week, the monthly fee may not exceed 60% of the full-time fee. If a child attends at least 35 hours of early childhood education and care per week on average, the monthly fee may be the full-time fee. If a child attends more than 20 hours of early childhood education and care per week on average, but less than 35 hours, the municipality must charge a fee proportional to the duration of the early childhood education and care. Free pre-primary education under the Basic Education Act must also be taken into account as a factor in reducing the early childhood education fee. In calculating the average weekly time a child spends in early childhood education and care, the time spent in early childhood education and care during the calendar month is taken into account.

Extent of early childhood education and care per month / amount of the fee in relation to the maximum fee.

up to 84 h/month, 60 % of the fee	up to 107 h/month, 70% of the fee
up to 130 h/month, the customer fee is 80 %.	up to 150 h/month, 90% of the fee
more than 150 h/month, the customer fee is 100 %.

§ 7 MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM FEES FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE

For full-time early childhood education and care, the fee may not exceed EUR 295 per month for the first child and EUR 118 per month for the second child. No fee shall be charged for a child less than EUR 28 per child.

8 § DETERMINATION OF SIBLING CONTRIBUTIONS

If there is more than one child from the same family in municipal early childhood education and care, a full-time early childhood education fee may be charged for the youngest child in full-time early childhood education and care. For the next child in the age hierarchy in full-time early childhood education and care, a fee of up to 40 % of the fee for the youngest child may be imposed. The fee for each subsequent child shall not exceed 20 % of the fee for the youngest child. Where the fee is set for children other than the youngest child in the family, the calculation shall be based on the imputed full-time early childhood education and care fee for the youngest child.

9 § CHARGING FOR ABSENCE

The monthly fee provided for by law is also charged during the child’s temporary absence. If a child is absent from early childhood education and care for more than ten days in a calendar month due to illness, half of the monthly fee provided for in this Act shall be charged for that month. If the absence due to illness lasts for the whole calendar month, no fee shall be charged. Furthermore, no fee may be charged for days during which the child is absent during paternity leave periods.The early childhood education and care centre and the early childhood education and care office must be informed of any absence due to paternity leave periods at least two weeks before the planned start date of the paternity leave period. If the child is otherwise absent for the whole calendar month, half the monthly fee is charged.

10 § FEE FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE NOT WITHDRAWN

If the parents or other guardians of the child do not accept the place in early childhood education applied for and allocated to the child and the place has not been withdrawn before the start of the early childhood education in accordance with the municipality’s decision, the parents or other guardians of the child may be charged half of the monthly fee determined in accordance with this Act.

If the child’s guardians reserve an early childhood education place for the child during their leave and do not cancel it, half of the monthly fee determined in accordance with this Act may be charged for the early childhood education place not cancelled. However, even if the family’s income is so low that no monthly fee has been set for the child, half of the minimum fee may be charged for unused early childhood education and care.

11 § INCOME ON WHICH THE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE LEVY IS BASED

When deciding on the amount of the fee for early childhood education and care, the family income taken into account is the taxable earned income and capital income of the child, his or her parents or other carers, and the income of a person living with them in a common household in a married or unmarried relationship, as well as tax-exempt income. If the monthly income varies, the monthly income taken into account is the average monthly income of the last year. Taxable income may also include the corresponding taxable income determined in the last tax assessment submitted, increased by the percentages determined by the Tax Administration in its annual decisions on the basis for calculating the advance tax credit. Entrepreneurs must submit a profit and loss account and a balance sheet. If the entrepreneur has been paid a salary, a salary slip must also be submitted.

Forest income is taken into account as the average annual forest yield per hectare multiplied by the area of forest land, as determined in accordance with Section 7(3) of the Act on the Valuation of Assets for Tax Purposes (1142/2005). From this amount, 10 % and interest on forestry are deducted. In addition, the forest income shall be reduced at the request of the service user if the net cash value of the annual felling potential per holding is at least 10 % lower than the forest income on the basis of a statement issued by the Forest Management Association or the Finnish Forestry Centre. The reduction shall be equal to the difference between the forest income and the net cash value of the harvesting opportunity.

Child benefit, benefits under the Disability Benefits Act (570/2007), child supplement under the National Pensions Act (568/2007), housing allowance, medical and research expenses under accident insurance, military allowance, front-line allowance, study allowance, adult education allowance, housing supplement to study allowance, activity allowance paid as income support and travel allowance are not taken into account as income, maintenance allowance under the Act on Rehabilitation Benefits and Rehabilitation Allowance Benefits of the Social Insurance Institution (566/2005), expense allowance under the Act on Public Employment and Business Services (916/2012), study grants and other similar allowances, reimbursement of family care costs and child home care allowance.

The deduction from income takes into account alimony and other similar expenses arising from the actual family relationship, as well as a cash benefit (annuity) withheld for a fixed term or for life when the property is transferred.

The early childhood education contribution is set according to the situation at the time of payment, either on the basis of verifiable or estimated income.

The family can agree to pay the maximum fee, in which case no income statement is required; consent to pay the highest fee can be given on the income information form.

The income information must be submitted to the Early Childhood Education and Care Office no later than 4 weeks after the start of care or consent must be given on the income information form to allow the official to retrieve the salary and benefit information from the income register.

The Incomes Register does not contain information on, for example, capital and rental income, business, professional and agricultural income, maintenance allowance paid by a guardian, which is taken into account as a deduction in family income, and maintenance allowance/child support paid by a non-Kela institution.

Both guardians must sign the consent to the request for income register data, consent cannot be given on behalf of one of them. If within 4 weeks of the start of care, no income information has been provided or no consent given to the search of income information from the income register, the highest fee will be charged. The decision will not be retroactively corrected when determining the fee.

grants and scholarships not awarded for studies	training support
parental allowance, maternity allowance, paternity allowance, care allowance	special care allowance, flexible and partial
special maternity allowance	support for family carers
national pension – but no child supplement	daily sickness allowance
maintenance and subsistence payments (only for the child in care)	family pension
elinkorko	handicap bonus
specific support for immigrants	start-up money, research grant
labour market support	unemployment allowance
veterans’ allowance	integration support
rehabilitation allowance, rehabilitation support
allowances and daily allowances under the accident insurance scheme excluding reimbursement for medical treatment and examinations

12 ARTICLE 12 FIXING OF THE FEE FOR AN INDEFINITE PERIOD AND REVISION OF THE FEE

The early childhood education and care fee is set for an indefinite period. However, the fee must be reviewed if there is a substantial change in the family’s ability to pay, if it is obvious that the family’s circumstances taken into account when determining the fee have changed, if the scope of the child’s early childhood education and the way it is organised changes or if the fee proves to be incorrect.

If the decision to impose the fee is obviously based on incorrect information provided by the child’s parents or other carers, the fee can be corrected retroactively for a maximum period of one year.

If the number of hours of ECEC under the agreement is exceeded for two consecutive months or three times in a six-month period, the ECEC fee category is increased.

13 § NON-COLLECTION AND REDUCTION OF THE FEE

The fee for early childhood education and care must be waived or reduced to the extent that the collection of the fee would jeopardise the livelihood of the user or the family or the fulfilment of the parent’s or guardian’s statutory maintenance obligations. The reduction or waiver of the fee must always be made before the granting of income support under the Income Support Act (1412/1997).

14 § PURCHASED SERVICE AND SERVICE VOUCHER

If a municipality or joint municipal authority organises early childhood education as a purchased service within the meaning of Section 10(1)(4) of the Early Childhood Education and Care Act, the same fees shall be charged for the service as for the corresponding early childhood education and care organised by the municipality or joint municipal authority itself.

If early childhood education is provided in the manner referred to in section 10(1)(5) of the Act mentioned in subsection 1 by issuing a service voucher to the service user, the municipality may not charge a fee for early childhood education.

§ 15 FEE TO BE CHARGED TO NON-RESIDENTS OF FINLAND

A child living outside Finland may be charged a fee for early childhood education and care not exceeding the costs of providing the service, unless an international agreement binding Finland provides otherwise.

ARTICLE 16 INDEXATION OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND INCOME LIMITS

The euro amount of the income limits is adjusted in line with the change in the general index of earnings. The euro amount of the maximum fee for early childhood education and the euro amount of the minimum fee for early childhood education shall be adjusted in line with the change in the price index for local government education as part of the price index for public expenditure. These revisions shall be made every two years. The euro amounts adjusted by the index shall enter into force on 1 August of the year following the year of the adjustment. The next revision will take effect on 1 August 2022.

17 § RIGHT OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION BY THE AUTHORITY

State and municipal authorities and other public-law bodies, the Social Insurance Institution, the Pension Insurance Centre, pension funds and other pension institutions, insurance institutions, employers and unemployment funds are obliged to provide, at the request of the authority responsible for early childhood education and care, free of charge and without prejudice to the provisions on confidentiality, all information and reports in their possession concerning the financial situation of the service user and his or her family which have a material effect on the amount of the fee and which are necessary for the authority to determine the fee provided for in this Act or to verify the information provided to the authority. The above obligation shall also apply to the MFI if the authority responsible for early childhood education and care does not obtain sufficient information and explanations from the above-mentioned parties and if there are reasonable grounds to doubt the adequacy or reliability of the information provided by the service user or his family or their legal representative. The request must be submitted in writing to the MFI and the decision to submit the request is to be taken by the official designated by the body referred to in Article 11d of the Early Childhood Education Act. Before the request is made to the MFI, the person whose information is requested must be informed.

18 § INTEREST ON ARREARS

If the payment for the service has not been made by the due date, annual interest on arrears may be charged from the due date at a rate not exceeding the rate referred to in Section 4(1) of the Interest Act (633/1982). The due date for the payment of interest on arrears may not be earlier than two weeks after the receipt of the service on which the payment is based.

19 § ENFORCEMENT OF PAYMENT

The fee provided for in the Act and the interest on arrears are directly enforceable in accordance with the Act on the Enforcement of Taxes and Fees (706/2007).

ARTICLE 20 APPEAL

There is no right of appeal against the decision of the official concerning the fee. If the person liable to pay the fee is dissatisfied with the decision, he or she has the right to appeal the decision on the fee to be charged for early childhood education to the body referred to in Section 11d of the Early Childhood Education Act. The request for rectification of the decision must be made in writing within 30 days of the date on which the person liable for payment was informed of the decision. The decision is accompanied by instructions on how to submit the claim to the institution. An appeal against the decision of the body imposing the fee may be lodged with the Administrative Court within 30 days of notification of the decision in accordance with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (586/1996). The appeal may also be submitted within the said period to the body which took the decision, which must forward it to the Administrative Court together with its own opinion. An appeal against the decision of the administrative court may be lodged only if the Supreme Administrative Court grants leave to appeal. Such permission shall be granted only if it is important for the application of the law in other similar cases or for the sake of consistency of case-law to refer the matter to the Supreme Administrative Court.

Early Childhood Education and Care uses the eAccessibility website to report childcare hours. Booking childcare hours helps the carer to monitor the number of hours booked and the actual hours used. The nursery staff can see the hours booked by carers in their own system and therefore know when each child is present. These hours must be entered on the eAccessibility website by 12.00 on Wednesday of the previous week.

Head of Early Childhood Education, Haavisto Heidi: 040 861 6486 and Office Secretary Kaisanlahti Tarja, 040 487 2407, Early Childhood Education and Pre-school Education