Private early childhood education and care and the service voucher

Early childhood education and care voucher

The family can apply themselves or be referred to private early childhood education in day-care centres or family day-care providers approved by the municipality as providers of service vouchers.

Once you have been allocated an early childhood education and care place by a private provider and have signed a service contract with them, please fill in an online application for a service voucher to the municipality using the link below.

Service voucher application (opens in a new tab)

Service voucher rulebook 2025, pdf
Service voucher prices 1.8.2025, pdf

Parents’ income information and the necessary attachments must be submitted via e-care for the purpose of determining the co-payment no later than the month in which the child’s early childhood education and care starts in a private early childhood education and care centre. The customer can also accept the highest co-payment through this service. Alternatively, the carer can give consent to the register of income for benefit and salary information by e-mail to the service secretaries. For more information on the submission of income statements, please contact the Early Childhood Service Secretaries and refer to this annex.

Electronic services (suomi.fi login)

A family’s customer fee in private early childhood education and care is the same as the municipal customer fee for early childhood education and care. If the price charged by the service provider is higher than the maximum value of the service voucher, the family has to pay the difference between the value of the service voucher and the service price set by the service provider. The service voucher does not cover the costs if the service provider collects a fee to cover the costs of excursions, for example.

Contact details of the early childhood education and care service secretaries:

Touhula and Pilke music day nursery Sheet music
Anne Pelkonen
044 740 1615
firstname.surname(at)siilinjarvi.fi

Norlandia, private family day care Apilat, Jenni Väyrynen, Piia Savila, Mirja Ruotsalainen, Pikku Tiitiäinen Oy, Kuopio English Playschool, Kuopio Christian Day Care Centre Timantti and Pöllöpoppoo
Niina Raatikainen
044 740 1973
firstname.surname(at)siilinjarvi.fi

Private care allowance and related municipal allowance

Home or private care is subsidised by a home care allowance or a private care allowance and the associated municipal allowance.

Private childcare allowance is a subsidy financed by municipalities and paid by KELA to a family whose child under school age is looked after by a carer employed by the family or by a private childcare provider. KELA pays the subsidy directly to the service provider.

Read more about private care support and hiring a carer on the KELA website

For more information:

Private family day care with a municipal allowance

Under the Early Childhood Education Act, a private family day care provider must notify the municipal supervisory authorities when becoming a child care provider.
The municipal allowance only applies to families in Siilinjärvi.

Private family day care providers in Siilinjärvi:
Name Phone number Region
Eija Eld 040 573 8226 Aappola
Pirita Paarnio-Nupponen 040 825 2205 Räisälä

Municipal application for private care allowance, pdf

Supervision of private early childhood education and care

The municipality has a statutory obligation to approve, direct and supervise private early childhood education and care provided in the municipality (VKL § 10; VKL § 28; YksSosL § 34). A prerequisite for the payment of the service voucher and the municipal bonus is that the municipality has approved the provider of early childhood education and care. The municipality must ensure that the service providers meet the conditions and requirements for operation. The Regional State Administrative Agencies supervise the activities of municipalities and require that they have in place structures, sufficient expertise and resources for the statutory guidance, advice and supervision of private services.

The number of eligible personnel in early childhood education and care, as well as the planning and use of facilities, must be organised in such a way that the objectives laid down for early childhood education and care can be achieved (ECEC § 5; ECEC § 5a). The premises of day nurseries and group family day nurseries are supervised according to the same principles as municipal units.

In early childhood education, staff qualifications and child/adult ratios are key. Qualification requirements are laid down in the Early Childhood Education Act and Decree (ECEC 540/2018 Chapter 6, Decree 753/2018).

The authority responsible for private early childhood education in the municipality of Siilinjärvi makes an annual inspection and supervision visit to all private day-care centres, group day-care centres and family day-care centres in the municipality, in agreement with the service provider. During the visit, the relevant issues are discussed with the provider and a supervision document for private early childhood education and care is completed. If a monitoring visit is agreed, the documents and items to be discussed and checked during the visit are also agreed. The inspection document also records the items checked and any further measures agreed jointly.