Home and Family. Families with children: Benefits and housing allowances. In Easy English

Transcription

1 Home and Family Families with children: Benefits and housing allowances In Easy English

2 Contents Home and Family 1 Support for families with children 2 Who can get support given to families with children? 2 Before the child is born 3 After the child is born 4 Support for adoptive parents 6 Kela Card 6 Child benefit 6 Child care support 7 When a child gets ill 9 Maintenance allowance 9 Application and payment 10 Housing support 11 Who can get a general housing allowance? 11 How much general housing allowance can you get? 12 Calculating your housing benefit 14 Application and payment 15 Kela is at your service 16 Report all changes 16 Appealing (protesting) a Kela decision 16 Contact information 17

3 Home and Family This brochure tells you what financial benefits Kela gives to families with children and for housing. Benefits for families with children belong to all such families. The housing benefit is affected by the amount of income and property you have. Only those who have small incomes get it. Kela grants assistance only on the basis of applications, so all benefits must be applied for from Kela. You can apply for benefits via the Internet or by filling in application forms. The criteria for Kela support have been set in law. When Kela decides about granting some type of support, the life situation of each applicant is handled individually. The life situation and need for support of the applicant can be very different from person to person. For this reason, the amount of support can also be different. This brochure tells you the main points about Kela s support for families with children and for housing in Not all the small details about support are here. More information about services Other benefits connected with home and family are, for example: compensation connected with getting ill student support benefits received by those doing their military service unemployment benefits. These are presented in their own brochures. You can get information about important services for families with children such as daycare, school and rental housing from the municipal government office in your own locality, or from its website. You can get information about public health care services from child health clinics and health centres. 1

4 Support for families with children Kela supports the everyday life of families with children in many ways, starting from expecting a baby. With the help of Kela, parents can be with their children during the important first months. Later, Kela supports the care of the child and costs caused by having a child. Kela s benefits to families with children are maternity allowance parental daily allowances child benefit child care support assistance for ill and disabled children maintenance allowance. Parental daily allowances cover these kinds of support: maternity allowance special maternity allowance paternity allowance parental allowance. Who can get support given to families with children? You can get support from Kela given to families with children when you belong to the Finnish social security system and live in Finland permanent. Others also who work in Finland can sometimes get assistance. If you have lived in another country or are moving to another country, check your social security status from Kela. Moving to or away from Finland can affect the benefits paid by Kela. Before the child is born Pregnancy certificate When you think you may be pregnant, contact your locality s maternity clinic. Maternity clinic services are free they don t cost anything. Special maternity allowance 30 weekdays before calculated time of birth 50 weekdays before calculated time of birth Pregnancy confirmed Maternity allowance Calculated time / birth 1 month Paternity allowance 2 months Parental allowance 4 months 3 months 5 mon 2

5 You can get good advice from the child health clinic for your pregnancy period and birth. Along with this, the health of the mother and fetus are monitored. You must have a medical examination once before the fourth month of pregnancy has ended. You get a pregnancy certificate from a doctor or child health clinic. You need it when you apply for a maternity grant and maternity allowance from Kela. Maternity grant When a pregnancy has lasted for 5 months, you have the right to a maternity grant. A maternity grant is, as you prefer, a maternity package or a tax-free sum of money totalling 140 euros. The maternity package contains baby clothes as well as care products and materials. Maternity allowance Mothers normally go on maternity leave 30 days before the calculated time of birth. In this case, mothers receive a maternity allowance. It is paid for a total of 105 weekdays about 4 months. Apply for a maternity allowance no later than 2 months before the birth. If required, a mother can already go on maternity leave days before the calculated time of birth. In this case, mothers receive a maternity allowance earlier. Remember to inform your employer about your maternity leave no later than 2 months before it starts. Special maternity allowance If you come in contact in your work with radiation, chemical agents or infectious disease, you can stay away from work as soon as the pregnancy is confirmed. You get a special maternity allowance during this time. Extension for twins paternity allowance ths 6 months 7 months 8 months 9 months 10 months 11 months 12 months 15 months 3

6 After the child is born After a child is born, the mother and father are normally at home with the child for some time. Kela pays a parental daily allowance during this period, which safeguards the family s income. Maternity allowance After the child is born, the mother s maternity leave continues for about 3 months. A maternity allowance is paid to mothers during this time. Paternity leave and paternity allowance A father can have at maximum 54 free days in other words, about 9 weeks. Of this time, you can spend 1 18 weekdays or 3 weeks at home with the mother during the same period. You can have the rest of the leave after the maternity allowance or parental benefit has ended. If you have already had 18 weekdays free, you can still have 36 weekdays free. During the paternity leave period, you get a paternity allowance from Kela. You get this money if you live with the child s mother. If you haven t had any of this leave yet, you can have all 54 weekdays free. You can have paternity leave only before the child is two years old. Apply for paternity allowance no later than 2 months from the date the child is 2 years old. Inform your employer about your paternity leave no later than 2 months before your leave starts. If your leave is at maximum 12 weekdays, tell your employer no later than one month before. This 9-week paternity leave is a new thing, and it only concerns families. The new paternity leave is for families where the maternity allowance or parental benefit started after 1 January If the maternity allowance or parental benefit started in 2012, paternity leave is given in accordance with the old law. More information: telephone Mon-Fri 8 a.m.-6 p.m. You can have this period all at one time or have it in parts. 4

7 Parental allowance Either the mother or father can take parental leave. The mother or father can also have this free time in turns. Parental leave lasts 158 weekdays about half a year. Kela pays parental allowance for the parental leave to the parent who is at home caring for the child. When the parental allowance ends, the child is about 9 months old. If the family has twins, Kela pays 60 more weekdays of parental allowance. The requirement for parental allowance is the mother s medical examination within 5 12 weeks of the birth. Apply for parental allowance one month before you start the leave. The mother and father can also work part-time and look after the child for half a day in turns. For this period, Kela pays partial parental allowance to both parents. How much parental daily allowance can be received? Maternity allowance, special maternity allowance, paternity allowance and parental allowance are given the collective name parental daily allowance. They are calculated the same way. The amount of daily allowance is normally specified according to the applicant s working income. Daily allowance is always smaller than one s salary normally about 70% of one s income. Daily allowance is paid on the basis of weekdays, which also includes Saturday. If you get a salary during your parental leave, Kela pays the daily allowance to your employer. Daily allowance is also affected by whether or not you have studied or been ill or without a job. The smallest daily allowance is about 600 euros per month. A student, for example, gets this lowest amount. Parental daily allowance is taxable income. Tax is withheld in keeping with your tax deduction card. Pension and annual holiday adds up for the worker when on maternity, paternity or parental leave. 5

8 Support for adoptive parents Kela supports the parents of an adopted child the same way as with biological parents. Adoptive parents cannot get maternity allowance, but they get a longer parental allowance period. Parental allowance is paid from the day that you receive the adoptive child for your care. Kela Card When the child is born in Finland, information about this goes directly from the hospital to the population register and from there to Kela. The child gets a personal identity code and, after getting his/her name, a Kela Card (a health insurance card). The card is mailed home. The father of an adoptive child can have paternity leave on the same terms as other fathers. If you adopt a child from another country, you can apply for assistance from Kela to help cover the costs caused by the adoption. Child benefit Kela pays child benefit for each child till the end of the month when the child is 17 years old. Child benefit is paid as follows (on 1 March 2013): For the first child euros / month For the second child euros / month For the third child euros / month For the fourth child euros / month For the fifth and each of the next children euros / month. 6

9 A single parent gets an increase which is euros per child per month. Child benefit is tax-free income. Child benefit is normally paid to the mother or father or other guardian. You can apply for a child benefit at the same time you apply for a maternity allowance. Child care support When parental leave has ended, the parents decide about child care. You can look after the child at home and get home care assistance arrange private daycare for the child and get home care assistance or private child care assistance place the child in municipal (local) daycare. In this case, you do not receive child care assistance from Kela. Child-care leave After the parental allowance period, a father or mother can stay at home to look after the child during unpaid child-care leave until the child is 3 years old. During the child-care leave, Kela pays home care assistance. Inform your employer of your child-care leave no later than 2 months before it starts. Home care assistance If a father or mother takes care of a child under 3 years old at home, the parent can apply for home care assistance. The caregiver can also be someone else, such as grandparents or a private daycare service producer. Home care assistance cannot be received if the child is in municipal (local) daycare. Home care support includes a care allowance and possible care supplement. Care allowance is (in 2013): for one child under 3 years old euros / month for other brothers or sisters under 3 years old, each euros / month for brothers or sisters that are over 3 years old but not yet school age euros / month. Only one child gets a care supplement, and it is at maximum euros / month. The amount of the care supplement depends on income. 7

10 Home care assistance is taxable income. Your home municipality (locality) may pay a municipal supplement to your home care assistance. Ask for more information from the social welfare office. Private care assistance Private care assistance can be applied for if there is a child in the family who is under school age and looked after by a caregiver or other daycare service producer paid by the family. Private care assistance cannot be received if the child is in municipal (local) daycare. This support includes a care allowance of euros / month per child (in 2013). Along with this, you can get a care supplement of euros / month at maximum per child. The amount of the care supplement depends on income. Kela always pays this assistance to the caregiver or to another daycare service producer you are paying. Private care assistance is taxable income. Partial care allowance Child-care leave can also be partial. In this case, your working time is shorter and you get less salary. The mother and father can both be on partial child-care leave, but at different times. For example, the father can be at work on different days than the mother. You can be on partial child-care leave only if you have had the same employer for at least 6 months during the last year. Kela pays partial care allowance for a child who is under 3 years old as well as at school and in the 1st and 2nd classes. To get it requires that you work a maximum of 30 hours / week because of child care. Work time can be, for example, 6 hours a day or 4 days a week. Partial care allowance is euros / month. Care allowance is paid for only one child at a time and is taxable income. 8

11 When a child gets ill If your child gets ill, you can take him/her to the municipal (local) health centre or to a private doctor. Kela compensates part of the fees and treatments that a private doctor prescribes. Along with this, you can get compensation for medicines. Kela does not compensate for health centre treatments. Temporary care leave if a child under the age of 10 gets ill When a child who is under 10 years old suddenly gets ill, you can stay away from work on a temporary care leave to look after him/her. This can last a maximum of 4 days of care. The employer does not need to pay any salary during temporary child-care leave. Caring for a child who is seriously ill and/or disabled Kela also offers support for the care of a child who is seriously ill and/or disabled. Support modes are special care allowance for a parent who looks after a child under 16 years of age disability allowance for a child under 16 years of age Kela s medical rehabilitation. Maintenance allowance If the parents separate, the children often stay with one of the parents and the other one pays alimony maintenance assistance from the one parent to the other. If alimony cannot be arranged or it ends up small, you can apply for a maintenance allowance from Kela. You can get a maintenance allowance if the parent obligated to pay alimony has not paid it alimony is smaller than the maintenance allowance a child is adopted by only one parent the paternity of a child born outside the marriage has not been confirmed. Maintenance allowance is euros / month per child (in 2013). Maintenance allowance is tax-free. Information for the parent who must pay alimony If Kela pays a maintenance allowance, it collects alimony that is still unpaid by the parent who must pay alimony. This is called alimony debt. If you cannot pay your alimony debt to Kela because of your financial situation, you can apply from Kela for permission not to pay it. 9

12 Application and payment You can apply for all of Kela s benefits for families with children in Kela s offices application forms. You can also print the forms which you can get from Kela online at Deliver the filled-in application forms to Kela. Check the application dates. Check from the application form what attachments you need to send with the application. For more information, telephone You can also go to Kela s offices to get more information. Payment of allowances When Kela has handled your application, you get the decision about the allowance sent to your home. The amount of the allowance and the criteria for it are entered in the decision. You also get a decision when it is negative. Kela pays maternity, paternity and parental allowances to the bank account of the mother or father. The payment comes to the account later, normally every four weeks. Child benefit normally comes to the bank account of the mother, father or other guardian on the 26th day of each month. If the banks are closed on that day or the payment date is after a holiday, the child benefit payment already comes to the account earlier. 10

13 Housing support Kela s types of housing support are general housing allowance student aid housing supplement for students conscript s allowance military service-based housing allowance for those doing their military service pensioner s housing allowance. Only the general housing allowance is presented in this brochure. Who can get a general housing allowance? Kela pays a general housing allowance for costs caused by housing. You can get a general housing allowance if your income is small and you live in Finland permanent. Support can be paid to one person or to a household. Household A household means the people living permanent in the same residence. Normally a household is made up of a married or unmarried couple or a family. One person can also be a household. A general housing allowance can be received for a rented residence or an owned flat/house. Rented residence: You can get a housing allowance for rent as well as water and heating costs if they are paid separately. House: Property maintenance costs as well as part of the interest paid on housing loans are taken into account as housing costs. Owned residence: Housing costs include assessment (housing maintenance payments), separately paid water and heating payments and part of the interest on housing loans. Maintenance costs Maintenance costs are the payments for heating, water and other maintenance if they are paid separately. Heating charges are added to housing costs at about euros per square metre, depending on the heating system. Water payments are approved at about euros per person maximum. If you ve got a housing loan, housing costs are approved to 55% in other words, over half the interest paid in a year on loans. 11

14 How much general housing allowance can you get? Housing allowance can be at most 80% 4/5 of your housing costs. You always pay at least 20% of your housing expenses 1/5 yourself. A housing allowance does not pay for all housing expenses, however only moderate housing costs specified in accordance with the law. The government specifies the maximum amount of housing expenses each year by which the housing allowance is calculated. Maximum amounts are affected by size of the residence total number of persons living in the residence location of residence age of residence heating system of the residence. More information from Kela s offices. Size of the residence The maximum size of the residence is specified as follows: Number of persons Number of square metres If you live alone, the housing allowance is calculated at maximum according to 37 square metres, even if you live in a larger residence. If two people live in the same residence, the housing allowance is calculated according to 57 square metres, even if the residence is larger. Place, age and heating of residences The municipalities (localities) are distributed into 4 municipal groups in keeping with the costs to live there. The first municipal group includes Helsinki. Living there is most expensive, so a bigger housing allowance is received there. The next municipal group is made up of Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen. The third municipal group includes the big cities and municipalities (localities) close to Helsinki. All other municipalities make up the fourth municipal group. Housing allowance for a residence in a new building is bigger than for a residence in an old building. In a building with central heating, the housing allowance is bigger than in a building where there is some other kind of heating system. Maximum housing costs Housing allowance is calculated in keeping with the government s approved maximum housing costs. They are calculated in accordance with size, age and location. 12

15 For example, the approved housing costs in Helsinki go from about euros to euros per square metre. Example: Matti lives in a new rental flat in Helsinki. The surface area of his flat is 20 square metres. He pays 400 euros / month for rent. The maximum housing costs approved are euros per square metre in other words, 307 euros / month. The housing allowance is calculated in accordance with these maximum costs, not the real rent (400 euros). Basic deductible Before the final amount of housing allowance is clear, basic deductible is taken away from the housing costs. Its size depends on the household income and property. The bigger the income is, the larger the deductible. If income is very small, there is no basic deductible at all. The size of basic deductible is affected by the entire household s total number of people gross income* per month property. *Gross income means before taxes have been taken away. Income limits Every year, the government confirms the income limits under which there is no basic deductible. Income limits are from 700 euros to 1,795 euros, depending on the size of the household (in 2013). If income is smaller than the income limits, there is no basic deductible at all. The government also confirms the income limits on getting a housing allowance. If the household s income is bigger than the income limits, no housing allowance can be granted at all. Income limits are from 1,555 euros to 5,350 euros, depending on the size of the household (in 2013). If income is inside the income limits, a certain percent of basic deductible is taken away from housing costs, depending on income. The property belonging to you and your household also affects the amount of the housing allowance 13

16 if the property goes over a certain limit. A home in your own use is not counted as property. Check the income limits of the housing allowance and the property limits on Kela s website: Calculating your housing benefit The housing allowance is calculated as follows: First the basic deductible is taken away from housing costs. The housing allowance is 80% of the leftover sum. Try Kela s calculator There is a calculator on Kela s website with which you can calculate whether or not you can get a housing allowance. The calculator also calculates the amount of the allowance. Example: Jaakko lives alone in Turku in a new flat. Its surface area is 37 m 2 and the rent with water payments is 515 euros / month. Jaakko s gross (before tax) income is 698 euros / month. Calculation: Maximum housing costs according to Kela s charts are 37 m2 x euros / m 2 = euros. Because of the smallness of income, there is no basic deductible. The housing allowance is 80% of housing costs x 0.80 = euros / month. For housing, Jaakko pays = euros / month himself. (The calculation is based on the situation in 2013.) (The calculators are in Finnish and Swedish only.) 14

17 Application and payment You can also get application forms from Kela s offices. Deliver the filled-in application forms to Kela. Check the application dates and income limits. Check from the application form what documents you need to send with it. Ask for more information from one of Kela s offices. Deliver the application forms to Kela s office. Check the application dates and income limits. Check the application for the extra documents you should send along with it. Payment of housing benefits When Kela has handled your application, you get the decision about the allowance sent to your home. The amount of the allowance and the criteria for it are entered in the decision. You also get a decision when it is negative. Kela pays the general housing allowance to your bank account on the first banking day of the month. The housing allowance can also be sent to your landlord/landlady, for example, if this is agreed. Kela checks housing allowances every year. Your housing allowance may also be checked earlier than this if your life situation has changed for example, if your income gets bigger or smaller. Ask for more information: Kela s service number is Mon Fri 8 a.m. 6 p.m. or at Kela s office. 15

18 Kela is at your service On the Internet You can get information about Kela s benefits at Kela s website: You can calculate the amounts of benefits with an online calculator (in Finnish and Swedish only). At Kela s online Customer Service, you can: apply for Kela benefits get information about the handling of your application send attachments report changes stop getting support. By phone Support for families with children Housing support Kela s offices Kela s offices are at your service in all matters connected with Kela benefits. Contact information for Kela s offices is at: Reserve a time You can reserve a time at Kela s office or by telephone. Reserve a time if the subject is complicated. Reserve a time at: or telephone Kela s service number. Interpreting If you need interpreting help, contact Kela. Report all changes If you receive a Kela benefit, do remember to inform us quickly if there are changes in your situation. These can be, for example, changes in your housing or family situation or your income. Kela may take benefits back If Kela pays too much in benefits because of incorrect information, it must take the money back from you. Appealing (protesting) a Kela decision You can complain about Kela s decisions about housing and family benefits to the Social Security Appeal Board. Send your complaint to Kela. 16

19 There are instructions on how to appeal in the attachment you get from Kela with your decision Kela s employees must keep all personal matters secret. They are not allowed to speak of matters regarding their clients to outside persons. Kela The Social Insurance Institution of Finland Nordenskiöldinkatu Helsinki P.O. Box 450, Helsinki Telephone exchange Fax Appealing a decision Social Security Appeal Board Siltasaarenkatu 12 A P.O. Box 330, Helsinki Telephone exchange Kela s services on the Internet You can handle matters more and more often on the Internet at a time that best suits you. You can find Kela s online services at Kela s online services Calculators you can use to calculate the total amount of benefits. Application forms for benefits which you can fill in and print. A question form you can use to ask about Kela benefits or matters connected with Kela. At Kela s Customer Service ( you can fill in application forms and reports send attachements check your benefit information, such as whether or not your application has been handled and when the benefit will be paid read letters and decisions Kela has sent to you change your bank account information. You login to Customer Service with your online banking ID. Service in Finnish and Swedish. PunaMusta Oy

20 Kela s brochures in Easy English Brochures printed and online: suomeksi på svenska Davvisámegiella eesti keel Русский Home and Family Benefits and housing allowances for families with children Health and Rehabilitation Compensation for illness and daily allowances, rehabilitation and disability benefits Studying Financial support for students and allowances for military conscripts Unemployment Financial support for the unemployed Pensions and retirement Pension security, housing allowance and care allowance Moving to or away from Finland How to get into the Finnish social security system and what happens when you move from Finland to another country