Private daycare centres
You can apply to a private daycare centre by contacting a private daycare centre of your choice directly.
The private daycare centre decides on the admission and determines the care fee. The service provider makes a written care agreement with the guardian. In the agreement, the guardian and the provider agree on matters such as the care fee, care hours, holiday periods, holiday period payments and the notice period for cancelling a place in early childhood education.
You can apply for private daycare allowance from Kela.
Private daycare centres
- Southern district
- Central district
- Western district
- Northern district
- South-Eastern district
- Eastern district, no 1 and 2
- North-Eastern district
See private daycare centres on the Service Map(Link leads to external service)
Private daycare centres provide early childhood education in many different languages, such as English, Spanish, French, Swedish, German, Russian and Estonian. Read more about the different options on the Early childhood education in different languages page.
The Education Division operates in cooperation with the private service providers of early childhood education and guides, advises and monitors the operations of private daycare centres.
Guidance and monitoring of private early childhood education
District Manager Riikka Reunanen, tel. 040 827 6926, riikka.reunanen@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program).
District Manager Jenni Tirronen is in charge of private Swedish-language early childhood education, tel. 050 362 4285, jenni.tirronen@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program).
Private family daycare
Private family daycare is a form of early childhood education that takes place in the family daycare provider’s own home. A family daycare provider can care for a maximum of four under school-aged children full-time, and one pre-primary education aged or school aged child part-time (25 hrs/week). Family daycare providers are independent professionals who make the admission decisions of children by themselves. The guardian and the family daycare provider always make a written care agreement. The private family daycare provider determines the care fee.
Further information about private family daycare providers
Service Organiser Auli Stenberg
Tel. 09 310 26396
auli.stenberg@hel.fi (Link opens default mail program)
P.O. Box 58300, 00099 City of Helsinki
Private daycare allowance and Helsinki supplement
If you choose private early childhood education, you can receive private daycare allowance for it from Kela, The Social Insurance Institution of Finland. The earliest the allowance can be paid is from the beginning of the month the child turns 9 months.
The private daycare allowance consists of the statutory childcare allowance, earnings-related care supplement and the Helsinki supplement.
Statutory parts of private daycare allowance and Helsinki supplement from 1.3.2026
| Private daycare allowance | Statutory care allowance | Helsinki supplement** |
Income-based care allowance* |
Helsinki supplement to the care allowance* | Benefits in total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Daycare centre care,
child under the age of 3 |
192.28 | 820,00 | 0–265.85 | 60.00 | 1.012,28-1.338,13 |
|
Daycare centre care,
child over the age of 3 |
192.28 | 544,00 | 0–265.85 | 60.00 | 736,28-1.062,13 |
|
Family daycare,
child under the age of 3 |
192.28 | 404,00 | 0–265.85 | 60.00 | 596,28-922,13 |
|
Family daycare,
child over the age of 3 |
192.28 | 236,00 | 0–265.85 | 60.00 | 428,28-754,13 |
|
Contractually employed care provider,
child under the age of 3 |
192.28 | 500.00 | 0–265.85 | 60.00 | 692.28–1,018.13 |
| Contractually employed care provider, child over the age of 3 | 192.28 | 160.00 | 0–265.85 | 60.00 | 352.28–678.13 |
| Early childhood education that supplements pre-primary education | 70.75 | 185,00 | 0–132.93 | 60.00 | 255,75-448,68 |
* The care supplement is determined according to the family's income. If the family is granted a care supplement, the family is paid an additional Helsinki supplement of EUR 60.
** The Helsinki supplement is paid for full-time early childhood education, i.e. when the time allocated for early childhood education is, pursuant to the care agreement, over 25 hours a week (does not apply to Early childhood education that supplements pre-primary education).
Separate compensations in addition to private care allowance to be paid on the basis of an application
| 5-year-old compensation from 1.1.2026 | 60 |
| Sibling compensation | 150 |
| Pre-primary education compensation | 520 |
Applying for private daycare allowance and payment of benefits
No private daycare allowance will be paid if your child has a place in municipal early childhood education.
Kela pays the private daycare allowance directly to the private daycare centre, the private family daycare provider or the contractually employed care provider working in the family’s home.
If your family’s place of residence is Helsinki and you have more than one child in private early childhood education, or in both municipal and private early childhood education, you may receive sibling compensation for private early childhood education.
The City usually pays the sibling compensation for the eldest siblings in the family. If one of the eldest siblings is in municipal early childhood education, the sibling compensation is paid for the youngest sibling in private early childhood education.
The maximum amount of compensation per child is EUR 150 per month. If the deductible of a child’s fee is less than EUR 150, the amount of the compensation is the same as the deductible.
The City pays the sibling compensation to the private early childhood education service provider on a monthly basis. The service provider will reduce the deductible of the client fee of the child receiving the compensation by the same amount that the City pays as compensation.
Amount of compensation and how to apply for it
Fill in the online application form for sibling compensation(Link leads to external service). Filling in the online application requires strong authentication. Only the guardian of the children can apply for the sibling compensation.
Please apply for the sibling compensation for the 2026–2027 operating year primarily by submitting an online application.
Attach the service provider’s attachment, completed and signed by the service provider, to your online application. There are no restrictions on the file format for the attachment, so you can attach the service provider’s attachment as photos, for example.
Request the attachment from the service providers whose early childhood education services your family’s eldest children attend. If one of the older siblings is in municipal early childhood education, you should request the attachment from the provider of the youngest sibling's early childhood education services.
You can also apply for the sibling compensation by using the compensation application form. You can request a compensation application form from your private early childhood education service provider, from your private daycare centre or by email from yksityinen.varhaiskasvatus@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program).
Application period for sibling compensation
Applications for sibling compensation for the 2026–2027 operating year must be received by the Register Office no later than 31 December 2026.
However, if one of the children in your family has not started early childhood education until after 1 December 2026, you may submit the compensation application to the Register Office within three (3) months of the child starting early childhood education.
If the Register Office does not receive the application by the deadlines stated above, the application will be rejected and no sibling compensation will be granted for the 2026–2027 operating year. This also applies to the coming months of the 2026–2027 operating year. It is the responsibility of the guardian to ensure that the deadline is met, regardless of whether they submit the application to the Register Office electronically, by post or in person.
Complaining about private early childhood education
- Prepare your complaint using the form Complaint about the operations of early education, PDF. You can also make an complaint as a free-form letter.
- You should describe in as much detail as possible what you are dissatisfied with. There is no time limit for making an complaint, but you should do it as soon as possible in order to facilitate the handling of matters.
- You should primarily submit the complaint to the person in charge of the daycare centre in question, i.e. the manager of the private daycare centre or unit.
- In general, complaints are processed within one month, except during holiday periods, in which case the response time may be longer. If investigating the matter requires a longer period of time, you will be informed of the estimated processing time.
The response to the complaint will explain how the matter has been investigated, specifying the reasons and detailing any further measures taken on the basis of the complaint. The response to the complaint cannot be appealed.
Information for service providers
The City of Helsinki controls and monitors private early childhood education and instructs service providers on establishing a unit for private early childhood education.
A service provider can apply for a compensation for organising four hours of early childhood education for 5-year-old Helsinki residents daily. To receive the compensation, the service provider must reduce the children’s early childhood education fee by 60 EUR per month.
The amount of the compensation depends on the number of Helsinki resident children born in 2021 that the service provider has in their early childhood education per month. As of 1 January 2026, the amount of the compensation paid for service providers for a 5-year-old child is 60 EUR multiplied by the number of these children.
To apply for the compensation, the service provider must fill out an application form. The application must be submitted to the City of Helsinki Registry Office.
After receiving a decision on the compensation, the service provider must send a monthly e-invoice to the City of Helsinki based on the number of 5-year of children.
The Regional State Administrative Agency issues a licence to a provider of private daycare centre facilities. If you are planning to set up a private daycare centre, you must apply for a licence from the Regional State Administrative Agency and can only start operating once you have obtained a licence. Learn more about applying for a licence on the The Regional State Administrative Agency's website.(Link leads to external service) Municipalities and Regional State Administrative Agencies provide advice and guidance to private providers as early as the planning stage of early childhood education services. It is a good idea to contact the City of Helsinki when you start planning a private daycare centre.
Finnish-language private early childhood education: Service Manager Katja Almusa, katja.almusa@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program), tel. 09 310 41138.
Swedish-language private early childhood education: Jenni Tirronen, Regional Manager for Early Childhood Education, jenni.tirronen@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program), tel. 09 310 73014.
If you are planning to work as a private family daycare provider, you should contact the City of Helsinki in good time. Before you start operating, you must also submit a written notification to the City of Helsinki and wait until it has been officially accepted. For more information and a notification form, please contact Auli Stenberg, Service Manager, auli.stenberg@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program), tel. 09 310 26396.
A private service provider must draft a self-monitoring plan in order to ensure the appropriateness of the early childhood education operations. The self-monitoring plan is the primary monitoring method for the quality and content of the services. Valvira National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health provides more detailed provisions for the content, drafting and monitoring of the self-monitoring plan.
General advice and instruction related to business operations is provided by Business Helsinki(Link leads to external service)
- Starting operations for a private early childhood education unit: Service Organiser Katja Almusa, katja.almusa@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program), tel. +358 (0)9 310 41138.
- Becoming a private family daycare provider: Service Organiser Auli Stenberg, auli.stenberg@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program), tel. +358 (0)9 310 26396.
- Private Swedish-language early childhood education and opening a unit: District Manager for early childhood education Jenni Tirronen, jenni.tirronen@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program), tel. +358 (0)9 310 73014.
Information about support for private care is available on the Kela website: For private daycare providers (page in Finnish, opens in a new tab)(Link leads to external service) and Kela's forms, opens in a new tab(Link leads to external service).