Early Childhood Education and Care Customer Fees

Early childhood education and care income limits starting from 1.8.2024:

The youngest child is the most expensive child. The largest possible fee for the youngest child is 311,00 € per month. In age order, the next child’s fee is 40 % of the youngest child’s fee, a maximum of 124,00 € per month. The monthly fee is 20 % of the youngest child’s fee for all following children, a maximum of 62,00 €. Fees lower than 30 € are not charged.  

Example: the total monthly gross income of a family of four is €6400,00 including holiday pay. A 5% holiday bonus is added to the monthly gross income. The minimum gross income limit 5956 € is deducted from the family’s income = €444. The fee percentage is calculated 10,70% = €48,00, which is the monthly early childhood education and care fee for full-time care. 

Table where you can check other income limits from 1st of August 2024:

Contract on early childhood education and care service need starting from 1.8.2021 

Other fees 

• Temporary early childhood education and care is charged 18,20 € a day per child in full-time daycare, and 11,00 € a day per child in part-time daycare. A maximum of five (5) care dates of temporary early childhood education and care can be used per month. 

• Open early education is free of charge 

• If a child in preschool or daycare (full-time) needs full-time care during fall, Christmas, and winter breaks, the reserved care dates are charged based on service need 

• If a child in free of charge preschool needs early childhood care during preschool breaks, a contract is made with the daycare centre manager and a fixed daily fee is charged (full-time care 18.20€ per day and 11.00€ for care dates of less than five (5) hours) 

• Early childhood education and care fees are not charged during paternity allowance periods (Early Childhood Education and Care Act 11a §). The family must inform the daycare centre manager about absences during paternity allowance periods. The family is not allowed to utilize early childhood education services for the child the paternity allowance is being paid for.  

Declare your income in eVaka

If your family's income changes substantially or your family size changes, notify us of the change without delay. If your family's income has increased and you as a guardian have not reported this, we will charge the increased fee retroactively.

Please note that the client fee cannot be reduced retroactively. We can take into account the reduced income in the customer fee from the beginning of the notification month at the earliest. The City of Oulu has the right to check the family's information from the Population Information Register (Digital and Population Data Services Agency), Kela and other authorities (Act on Client Fees in Early Childhood Education and Care 1503/2016, Section 17). Information on changes in income or circumstances is not available without a notification from the guardian.

Family income includes 

The service user’s (the child or children in early childhood education and care) and the people’s, living with them in the same household in marriage or in circumstances comparable to marriage, taxable income and capital income, tax-free income, and revenue substituting income.  

If you are unable to declare your income online, you may use the form below. The income declaration must be delivered to the early childhood education and care customer payment team via mail: PL 90015 Oulun kaupunki or delivered to Customer Payments team, Ympäristötalo Solistinkatu 2 90140 Oulu. 

Income declaration form for daycare fees

Legislative amendment as of 1.1.2024. The accrual of holiday compensation has been restored. If a person has untaken holidays at the end of the employment relationship, the compensation paid for them postpones the start of entitlement to earnings-related daily allowance. The accrual of holiday compensation and the waiting period do not run at the same time. The waiting period begins after the accrual of any holiday compensation. Holiday compensation will be accrued if it is paid on the basis of an employment relationship that ended on or after 1.1.2024. 

Absences from early childhood education and care are compensated only when: 

• If the child is absent due to illness for all care dates of an entire calendar month, no fee will be charged for that month 

• If the child is absent due to illness for at least eleven (11) care dates of a calendar month, half of the customer fee will be charged for that month 

• If the child is absent for any other reason than illness for all care dates of an entire calendar month, half of the customer fee will be charged for that month 

• No fee is charged for days when the child is absent from early childhood education and care during periods of paternity and parental leave. During periods of paternity and parental leave, the family does not have the right to use an early childhood education place for the child for whom they are on paternity and parental leave. Information about paternity and parental leave must be notified in advance to the early childhood education centre

• When the child starts or ends early childhood education and care in the middle of a calendar month, the customer fee is charged based on the amount of used care dates. The fee will be lower than the full monthly fee. 

Incorrect early childhood education invoice

Contact the early childhood education client payment team, (error in invoice or payment period for an undue invoice) tel. 08 558 45300, select 2 (Tue-Thu 9.00-12.00) or email varhaiskasvatusmaksut@ouka.fi The customer payments team will investigate whether the invoice was formed according to incorrect income information or because of a recording at the daycare centre. If the daycare centre has made a recording error either in the service need or in the diary, the daycare centre will submit a request for invoice correction.

Other invoice inquiries: please contact the City of Oulu's customer invoicing service number tel. 08 5585 4770 (Mon-Thu 9.00-12.00) or email asiakaslaskutus@ouka.fi.

The accounts payable and payment transactions of the City of Oulu are handled by Monetra Oy:

Accounts receivable, tel. 040 138 1801 or 044 703 0818. Email ouka.myyntireskontra@monetra.fi 

Do you have questions about customer fee processing? 
Early childhood education and care customer payment team 

Tel. 08 558 45300 
On-call service Tue-Thu 9.00-12.00 (choose number 2)
E-mail: varhaiskasvatusmaksut@ouka.fi 

The early childhood education and care customer payment team may grant payment time for undue early childhood education invoices for a maximum of three months from the due date. Interest will be charged on the payment period used.

Income declarations relating to customer payments and private daycare service vouchers are processed and decided by the early childhood education and care customer payment team. The team is located in Ympäristötalo, Solistinkatu 2, 90140 Oulu.
Postal address: varhaiskasvatuksen asiakasmaksutiimi PL 75 90015 Oulun kaupunki. 

Deliver the income declarations via eVaka. Income declarations are not delivered via registry. 

You can add additional information about your income in details area. 

You can find decisions about customer fees in eVaka (Settings > Decisions).

Early childhood education and care customer payment team 

• Visiting address: varhaiskasvatuksen asiakasmaksutiimi, Customer Payments team, Ympäristötalo Solistinkatu 2 90140 Oulu 
• Postal address: varhaiskasvatuksen asiakasmaksutiimi, P.O. box 75, 90015 Oulun kaupunki 
• Phone number: 08 558 45300 – choose number 2. On-call service Tue-Thu 9.00-12.00 
• E-mail: varhaiskasvatusmaksut@ouka.fi 
• You can consult the customer payment team on matters of early childhood education and care customer payments, income declarations, and municipal early childhood education and care payment decisions and private early childhood education and care service voucher decisions 

Customer fees charged during summertime are based on the decree of public charges and the decision made by the Board of Education and Culture on at least six-week absence and July fees (Board of Education and Culture 26.2.2014 § 28). 

When is July free of charge? 

In municipal early childhood education and care, customer fees are charged for a maximum of eleven (11) months per year of activity (1.8.-31.7.). The fee is based on early childhood education and care starting time. 

The summertime payments are determined based on the starting time as follows: 

• If the child’s early childhood education and care has started 31.8. or earlier the July of the following year is free of charge 
• If the child’s early childhood education and care has started 1.9. or later and the child is absent for July, the month will be free of charge 
• If the child’s early childhood education and care has started 1.9. or later and needs on-call care services in July, only the used care dates are charged 

During the summer, families have the opportunity to save on client fees. If the child is absent from day care for at least six consecutive weeks between 1.6. and 31.8., no client fee will be charged for that period. Payments are determined by the income of the families.

Over six-week absences must be notified between 5.5.-16.5.2025 in eVaka, the notification is binding. Absences that are notified after this date will be charged.  

Exception: changes to contracts can be made for special reasons; for example, guardian’s temporary or permanent lay off or changes in holiday times caused by the employer. Written certificates of such changes must be delivered to the daycare centre. 

You may apply for possible reductions or discounts from customer fees from the early childhood education and care customer payment team tel. 08 558 45300 (Tue-Thu 9.00-12.00, choose 2) or e-mail varhaiskasvatusmaksut@ouka.fi. You may ask for the form for possible nullification or reduction from the customer payment team. You must return the filled in form to the customer payment team. 

The director of early childhood education will make the final decisions on possible reductions or nullifications. 

Grounds for possible reductions are: 

The family is on income support 

Families on income support may have their customer fees nullified or reduced. 

The family arranges night and weekend care themselves 

If the family doing shift work arranges the child’s night and weekend care by themselves when the daycare centre is closed or the family is not provided care services, 20% is reduced from the monthly customer fee or the actual expenses are reduced from the monthly customer fee according to the family’s verification. Verification of expenses must be delivered together as attachments with the application. 

Student living in two municipalities 

30% of the customer fee can be reduced if the student lives in two municipalities and does not receive housing allowance for one rented apartment. Verification (lease and receipts of rent payments) must be delivered together as attachments together with the application. 

Customer under enforcement 

By rule, the customer fee is not reduced. The guardian can appeal for the enforcement to be considered in the family’s overall condition. Oulu’s Enforcement Authority’s catalog and list of taxable enforced items together as attachments with the application. 

Changes to the family’s overall condition 

When customer fees have not been paid due to surprising expenses caused by a surprising divorce or common-law divorce (fees are paid by both guardians), verification of surprising expenses must be delivered together as attachments with the application. The fee is revised to match the guardian’s income. A payment plan is made if necessary. 

Medical expenses 

Large medical expenses can affect the family’s ability to pay if the family’s income has decreased due to illness. One-time discount of 50% can be reduced from the customer fee. Verification of medical expenses must be delivered together as attachments with the application. 

Child’s time in hospital and rehabilitation 

Customer fees can be reduced at discretion due to the child's high hospital expenses during the hospital and rehabilitation period. Supporting documents for paid hospital and rehabilitation period fees must be attached to the application.

Direct your early childhood education and care customer fee invoices to your online bank. 

When you direct your charge invoices to your online bank write down the social security number of the guardian whose name first appears on the customer fee. This information is used to direct the charge to the right customer in the city of Oulu’s invoicing system. 

Invoices right to your online bank 

The city of Oulu offers a chance to its customers to direct their early childhood education and care charges right to your online bank as e-invoices.  

An e-invoice is an electronic invoice that appears directly in the customer’s online bank. The sent invoice appears as a normal invoice in the online bank. You can register to receive the city of Oulu’s e-invoices whenever. The e-invoice instructions can be found in your online bank. Further guidance is found from your bank’s customer service.  

The 26th day of each month is the fixed deadline for early childhood education and care customer fees.  

What is the benefit of e-invoices? 

• No need for constant writing of account and reference numbers, no typos, the form is always ready for payment 

• No need to worry about keeping and destroying the paper invoices, the invoices are safe in an electronic archive 

• The invoices can be inspected and paid wherever you have internet access, even when traveling 

• No more monthly early childhood education and care customer invoice among your mail 

Who can receive Oulu’s e-invoices? 

Either guardian can make an e-invoice agreement and direct the invoices to any online bank account as long as the social security number of the guardian whose name appears first on the customer fee invoice is filled in into the agreement. 

The income registry is a database used by many authorities that consists of income, pension, and benefit data.  

Income data is visible in the income registry starting from 1.1.2020 and pension and other benefit data is visible starting from 1.1.2021. The employer or other paying party declares the income and other payments to the income registry. The declaration must be made within 5 days of making the payment. Entrepreneur revenue is not declared to the registry. 

The families deliver their income declaration and agree to the use of the income registry via eVaka. The income registry can be used to verify income even without consent (Act on Client Fees in Early Childhood Education and Care § 17, authority’s right of access to a document). 

The families must inform possible coming changes to the families or their sizes, such as returning to work after unemployment, unemployment, new maternity or parental allowance, child care allowance, beginning studies. Information about these changes does not arrive to the customer payment team; therefore, the family is obligated to inform the team of changes in income and family size. 

Income declaration is made via eVaka no matter if the family is using municipal or private daycare services. 

When does the charging for a preschool aged child end? 

• Free of charge preschool education ends 31.5. If the child is in care starting from 1.6., the charging decision is based on full-time early childhood education and care fees. Meaning that the fee will be charged as long as the care place is in effect. If the child is in daycare only for a few days in the summer, only the used care dates are charged. If the child is in daycare in August before transferring to school, the care in August is charged as long as the care place is in force. 

Why does the payment decision show a different sum than the invoice? 

• The payment decision always shows the monthly fee. The reason why the sum on the invoice is smaller is because the child has started early childhood education and care mid-month and thus only the charged care dates are charged. The sum is smaller on the invoice also when the child leaves early childhood education and care services. 

Why do I receive so many payment decisions? 

• A new payment decision is developed every time the child’s information is updated. If there are changes in the child’s family (such as a new common-law marriage or marriage, new child is born, or a child turns 18), a new payment decision is developed. When the child’s service need changes (such as transferring from full-time to part-time daycare or the family makes a new contract for lower service need which affects the customer fees), a new payment decision is developed. Updates to legislation and indexes affect early childhood education and care fees and the income limits change. All these changes cause a new payment decision to be developed.  

What kinds of income affect the early childhood education and care fees? 

• Earned income (gross) (includes any production subsidies paid with salary) 

• Taxable perks (for example car, food, phone, and apartment perks) 

• Capital income (for example interest, dividend, and rent revenue) 

• Revenue from independent exercise of a profession and entrepreneurship (includes business start-up allowance) 

• Taxable daily allowances (does not include allowances under travel regulation) 

• Pensions and life annuity (includes those of children in day care) 

• Child support and allowance for children in day care 

• Daily allowances regulated by the Unemployment Allowances Act with increases for any children 

• Daily allowances with increases for any children, labor market subsidies with increases for any children, and educational allowances paid by Kela 

• Educational allowances and earnings-related training allowance for labor market training  

• Apprenticeship training allowances 

• Rehabilitation allowance paid by Kela or insurance company 

• Health Insurance Act regulated illness allowances, maternity or parental allowance, paternity or parental allowance 

• Flexible home care basic allowance paid by Kela 

• Accident insurance daily allowance and disability indemnity 

• Dependent care allowance paid by the municipality 

• Private caretaker care income 

• Research grants 

• Other continuous personal income 

• Holiday compensation (5% from gross income per month) since 1.8.2020 

• Holiday compensation as of 1.1.2024, if the employee has untaken holidays at the end of the employment relationship, the compensation paid for them postpones the start of entitlement to earnings-related daily allowance

Children’s income is considered for children in early childhood education and care 

Which kinds of income does not affect the early childhood education and care customer fees? 

• Child allowance 

• Child care subsidy 

• Pensioner care allowance 

• Increases for children according to legislation 

• Housing allowance 

• Disability allowance 

• Medical expenses performed due to accident insurance 

• Conscript's allowance 

• Field allowance 

• Student financial aid 

• Housing allowance in student financial aid 

• Adult education allowance granted by the education fund  

• Operating aid and travel compensation paid as income support 

• Maintenance allowance under the Rehabilitation Allowance Act  

• Maintenance allowance for Labor policy-related adult education under the Rehabilitation Allowance Act 

• Grants and other comparable aids for studies 

• Daily allowance paid according to the travel regulations 

• Expenses compensation such as daily allowance abroad 

• Child's home care allowance 

• Income support 

Child support and other expenses caused by actual family relations and traditional life-annuity are subtracted from income. 

When do the invoices arrive and when are they due? 

• The early childhood education and care invoices are charged always retrospectively, for example, November invoices are charged in the beginning of December and the charges are due by the end of December. The fixed due date is the 26th of each month, but mid-week holidays and weekends can affect the due date slightly. It is recommended to adopt e-invoices to reduce the amount of unnecessary paper invoices. Read more on online invoicing. 

What is the 12th invoicing month? 

• The early childhood education and care invoices are charged only for eleven (11) months in a calendar year. If the child has started early childhood education and care 1.8. or earlier, the following year’s July is free of charge, whether the child is in care or not. If the child has started early childhood education and care 1.9. or later, the following year’s July is charged based on the on-call care dates used. If there is no need for early childhood education and care is not needed during the on-call service period, July will be free of charge.  

When will there be refunds? 

• If the child is absent due to illness for eleven (11) or more days during one calendar month, the charge will be halved for that month. If the child is absent due to illness for the whole calendar month, there will be no charge at all for that month. If the child is absent due to some other reason than illness for the whole month, the charge will be halved for that month; if the child uses a single care date during the month, the month will be charged in full. Fall break, Christmas break, and winter break do not affect the early childhood education and care charges. Summertime absences are reviewed case by case.  

Changes in family 

• If there are changes in the family (new marriage or common-law marriage, divorce or common-law divorce), please inform the early childhood education and care customer payment team about it and about possible address changes. E-mail: varhaiskasvatusmaksut@ouka.fi, or tel. 08 558 45300 (on-call service from Tuesday to Thursday from 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m). The charge is defined by the income of the guardian with whom the child lives with, according to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. The income of the new spouse or common-law spouse is considered as the family’s income when defining the early childhood education and care charge.  

Collecting customer fees from children in preschool during fall break, Christmas break, and winter break 

• If the child is absent during fall break, Christmas break, or winter break, the charges will not be affected 

• If a child in preschool or early childhood education and care (full-time) needs full-time care during fall break, Christmas break, or winter break, the charge will be determined based on the used care dates and service need. 

• If a child in free of charge preschool needs early childhood care during preschool holiday times, a temporary care contract is written with the daycare centre manager and a fixed fee is charged per used care date (full day 18,20€, and for days of five (5) hours or less 11,00€).