Early childhood education and care and pre-primary education customer fees

The fees charged for early childhood education and care are based on the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care.
The early childhood education and care fee is determined on the basis of the family’s size, the agreement concluded on the child’s care hours as well as the family’s taxable earnings, capital income and tax-free income.

Family size
In the family size are included spouses or co-habiting partners living in the same household as well as minor children living in the household with them. If the child’s guardians live at different addresses but early childhood education and care is only provided for the child in a single municipality, the fee is determined on the basis of the income of the family with whom the child lives according to the data in the Population Information System. If early childhood education and care is provided for the child in the areas of two municipalities, the fee is determined separately in both municipalities following the usual rules for part-time early childhood education and care.

Agreement on care time
An agreement is concluded on the time the child will spend in early childhood education and care every month (service need), which affects the fee amount

• • If the child attends early childhood education and care for at most 84 hours, the family is charged 50% of the full-time care fee
  • If the child attends early childhood education and care for over 84 hours but less than 146 hours, the family is charged 75% of the full-time care fee
  • The fee charged for at minimum 146 hours of care is the full-time early childhood education and care fee
    The agreement is concluded in the child’s place of care at the beginning of the care relationship or from the beginning of a calendar month for at least three months. It cannot be concluded retroactively. The child’s care hours must be notified in advance at the latest on the Sunday at the beginning of the week preceding the week in which care is needed. If the monthly care time stated in the agreement is exceeded, a higher fee will be charged from the beginning of the month in question and for at least three months.

Income
When determining the early childhood education and care fee, a Euro amount based on the family’s size is deducted from the family’s total gross income.

A decision on early childhood education and care customer fees is based on submitting an income report or accepting the highest customer fee.

New customer families must produce an income report at the latest when the child starts attending early childhood education and care. If the income report attachments have not been submitted by the requested date or they are incomplete, the highest fee will be charged for early childhood education and care. The difference between the highest fee and fee based on the income report is non-refundable.

A request for an income report is sent to families annually as text and e-mail messages.
However, the income report request does not remove the customer’s duty to submit a new income report on their own initiative if the family’s size, income or payment capacity change essentially during the operating year (by over 10%), or if changes occur in the family’s circumstances (unemployment, parental allowance, child care allowance, studies).
The request is sent using the contact details that have been saved for the guardians in the customer information system.

If the income check shows that the valid fee decision is based on incorrect or incomplete information provided by the family previously, the fee may be charged retroactively for at maximum one year.

For the purposes of determining the fee and checking the information, the early childhood education and care authority can access information held by the tax authorities and Kela as well as the Income register without asking for the customer’s consent (section 17 of the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care Customer Fees).

The parents of children attending early childhood education and care either accept the highest fee or submit their income information electronically to Early childhood education and care online services.

If the parents are unable to submit their income information through the e-service, the information can be sent by post to the address:

City of Kuopio
Early Childhood Education and Care Services
Suokatu 42 (PL 1097)
70110 Kuopio

or leeve in the mailboxes outside Suokatu 42 A.

Pre-primary education for 4 hours a day is provided free of charge.
A fee is charged for early childhood education and care that complements pre-primary education. The early childhood education and care fee for morning or afternoon care before or after pre-primary education is determined on the basis of the family’s size, gross income and service needs.

The fee charged for early childhood education and care that a child needs in addition to free pre-primary education is determined as follows:

Hours	% of full-time fee	Max. €/month
max. 84 hours/month	40	124,00
over 84 hours, less than 146 hours/month	60	187
147 hours/month	90	280,00

Once made, a fee decision is notified to the guardians by e-mail and text message, and it is valid until further notice. If the customer has not accepted an electronic communication, the decision will be mailed to their home address. The customer can accept an electronic communication in the Early childhood education and care online services.

Fee for temporary care

• • Full time, more than 5 hours/day, €18.00/day
  • Part time, less than 5 hours/day, €11.00/day

• • If a child is absent due to an illness for more than 10 working days in a calendar month, one half of the monthly fee will be charged.
  • If the child is absent due to an illness for all working days in a calendar month, no fee will be charged.
  • If the child is absent due to a reason other than illness for all working days in a calendar month, one half of the monthly fee will be charged. In other cases, the full monthly fee will always be charged.
  • If early childhood education and care provision starts or ends in the middle of a calendar month, the fee will be charged for the period in which the care relationship is valid.
  • If a child whose parent is on parental leave is absent from early childhood education and care, no fee will be charged for this period. The waiving of fees also applies to siblings placed in early childhood education and care who are in home care during this parental leave. Advance notification must be given of parental leave as stated in the Act on Early Childhood Education and Care. The child retains their care place during parental leave.
  • The early childhood education and care fee is charged for no more than 11 months in an operating year (1 August 31 July). July is free of charge for children who have attended early childhood education and care without interruption from the beginning of the operating year.

Early childhood education and care customer fees are billed in arrears once a month. The reference number of the invoice changes from month to month. The customer can pay the bill as an e-invoice by concluding an e-invoice agreement on the website of their bank.

For more information on early childhood education and care services, and the content of the invoices or the transfer of the due date, contact the secretaries.

Monetra Oy takes care of billing, monitoring of payments and sending out reminders. If the customer ignores a reminder, enforcement is entrusted to Revire Oy, Intrumjustia Oy or the Enforcement Authority.

A service voucher is paid to a private service provider.
The family’s early childhood education and care fee (the share paid by the customer) for private early childhood education and care is determined following the same rules as the fee for early childhood education and care fee provided by the municipality. When concluding the service contract, the service provider must tell the customer if the fees are different from those charged for municipal early childhood education and care (including additional fees, fees charged when the child is absent, period of notice).
Before the child starts attending care, the family must produce an income report, after which a decision on the service voucher can be made and the family’s share of the fee determined.
A private service provider charges the early childhood education and care fee to the family.

Read more:  Private early childhood education and care

For more information on early childhood education and care services customer fees, contact the secretaries.

On weekdays, calls are taken

• • on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays between 9:00 and 11:00
  • on Wednesdays between 13:00 and 15:00

For personal meeting, you must make an appointment in advance by phone or email.

Puistokaupunki, Pirtti-Saaristokaupunki, Jynkkä
Customer Fee Secretary
Mervi Kauhanen, 044 718 3732
mervi.kauhanen(at)kuopio.fi

Särkiniemi, Särkilahti, Levänen, Keskusta, Haapaniemi, Niirala, Neulamäki, Eteläinen maaseutu, Kurkimäki, Hiltulanlahti, Vehmasmäki, Rytky, Hirvilahti, Kaislastenlahti
Customer Fee Secretary
Sari Räsänen, 044 718 3351
sari.kristiina.rasanen(at)kuopio.fi

Männistö, Saarijärvi, Kelloniemi, Inkilänmäki, Kettulanlahti, Rahusenkangas, Maaninka, Juankoski, Riistavesi, Vehmersalmi
Customer Fee Secretary,
Maria Jernfors, 044 718 8985
maria.jernfors(at)kuopio.fi

Nilsiä, Puijonlaakso, Länsi-Puijon, Julkula, Päiväranta, Karttula and other cities
Customer Fee Secretary,
Marja-Liisa Bågman, 044 718 8985
marja-liisa.bagman(at)kuopio.fi

The child’s place of care should be contacted about any changes to the care hours and/or family size.