Support for home care fees

A fee is charged for services provided at home by the wellbeing services county and the care and nurture services of private companies. You should check if you are entitled to financial support for this.

You may be entitled to care allowance granted by Kela if the following criteria are met:

• you are retired full-time
• you have an illness or a disability that has been diagnosed by a doctor
• for at least a year you have had problems in your daily life at home because of your illness or disability
• you need assistance or guidance due to illness or disability.

Your income and wealth do not affect the care allowance for pensioners.

If your functional capacity has declined because of age or illness or some other similar reason, you can usually purchase household services without having to pay VAT. You may also claim tax credit for household expenses for the services you have purchased.

You may qualify for a discount, or the fees may not be charged, if your income is very low. You may also be entitled to social assistance if your income does not cover your essential expenses. The home care services that you need and that have been written down in the client plan prepared for you may be considered essential expenses.

You can use a service voucher to buy social and health care services that wellbeing services county has to organise for its residents. A service purchased with a service voucher is an alternative to a service provided by the wellbeing services county itself. You can ask the service advisers for older people about service vouchers.