Benefits
Financial assistance
A temporary assistance when you are unable to financially support yourself.
Contents
Everyone has the right to apply for financial assistance and to have NAV conduct an individual assessment of their case.
Normally, you must have legal residence in Norway in order to qualify for financial assistance. You are not eligible for financial assistance if you are abroad.
When all other income opportunities have been fully exploited, but are not sufficient, you may be entitled to financial assistance. Other income opportunities can be income-generating work, own savings and other financial rights.
You are entitled to information, advice and guidance regardless of whether you qualify for financial assistance.
Emergency assistance is intended to cover bare essentials for a limited time. This includes
- food
- travel expenses
- bills you must pay to prevent necessary services, such as electricity, etc., from being disconnected
- housing expenses
You use the application for financial assistance if you need help in an emergency. You should also contact NAV office in the municipality where you are located immediately, or call NAV at
55 55 33 33.
If you have nowhere to sleep and stay for the next 24 hours, you can also apply for help with finding temporary (emergency) accommodation.
In this chapter
You can apply for assistance with expenses you can not cover on your own.
You can apply for assistance with
You can apply for assistance with expenses needed to live, so-called living expenses or subsistence.
It can for example be expenses for food, housing (such as rent), electricity, heating, municipal fees, etc. Other examples of living expenses include dental expenses, clothing and leisure activities.
You can also apply for assistance with expenses for special occasions, such as holidays and confirmations.
You can apply to cover expenses for medical help, psychologist or dentist, as well as for necessary medication. Normally, you will not be entitled to assistance for expenses incurred in connection with alternative types, forms or places of treatment.
Dentist expenses
You can check if qualify for assistance from Helfo to cover dentist expenses. You can also ask your dentist if it is possible to make a repayment agreement if you cannot pay the entire bill at once.
If you cannot get support from Helfo and do not have the finances to get a repayment agreement, you can apply to NAV for financial assistance to pay these expenses in part or in full.
You can apply for assistance with covering the deposit when you sign a lease if you do not have the means to cover it yourself.
NAV normally provides this type of assistance in the form of a deposit guarantee, but may also offer financial assistance in the form of a deposit to an escrow account.
Many people are getting high electricity bills right now and are struggling to be able to pay them. Several temporary arrangements have been established to help households with high electricity costs.
What can NAV help you with?
If you need financial assistance with your electricity bill, you may qualify for financial assistance from NAV.
When the NAV office is considering your application, they may require you to apply for housing allowance from the Norwegian State Housing
Housing allowance from the Norwegian State Housing Bank
If you have low income and high housing expenses, housing allowance from the Norwegian State Housing Bank can be an option for you. The housing allowance scheme was extended i 2023.
The temporarily increased rates applied until March 2024. From April, the housing allowance is calculated using normal rates again. The electricity subsidy will not be paid for April. Read more on the Housing Bank's website (in Norwegian).
Compensation scheme for high electricity costs
The Storting has decided that households will get a deduction in the bill from their grid company or electricity provider when electricity prices are extraordinarily high. The scheme is active in 2024. Go to regjeringen.no to read more about the electricity support scheme (in Norwegian).
We can give you information, advice and guideance if you want help to find out what you can be entitled to.
If you have low income and high housing expenses, a housing allowance from the Norwegian State Housing Bank can be an option for you. Read more about housing allowances at husbanken.no. You can also watch this video about housing allowance (English text).
Do you have trouble paying your debt?
Normally, you cannot get financial assistance cannot be pay debt. In some cases, NAV will consider granting financial assistance to cover debts. This includes, for example, situations where you are about to have the electricity to your home disconnected, and there are no other options available to prevent this from happening.
If you have debt, you can get financial counselling.
You are entitled to information, advice and guidance regardless of whether you qualify for financial assistance. The following information is in Norwegian:
Information, advice and guidance
Counselling
How much you can get in financial assistance will depend on your situation, your income and your expenses.
All municipalities have indicative rates for subsistence. Some municipalities have their own rates, while other municipalities follow the state's indicative rates.
State guidelines for financial subsistence benefits, as adopted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion.
These rates are valid from 1 January 2024.
| Benefit paid to | Amount |
|---|---|
| Singles | NOK 7,850 |
| Married/cohabitant couples | NOK 13,100 |
| Person living in shared accommodation | NOK 6,600 |
| Children aged 0–5 | NOK 3,850 |
| Children aged 6–10 | NOK 3,950 |
| Children aged 11–17 | NOK 5,150 |
The rates are used as a starting point to calculate how much you can be paid, but this must also be assessed based on your situation. The rates cover expenses for the basic needs such as food, clothing, communication, household items, hygiene and more. Living expenses, such as rent and electricity, are added.
Are you married, live with a partner, or have a child?
You have certain rights and obligations as a provider. If you are married or live with a partner, and you have a child together, you have a mutual obligation to provide for your joint child. If you are married, you and your spouse have a mutual obligation to provide for each other.
If you are married, you and your spouse have a mutual obligation to provide for each other. This means that we will consider your collective financial situation when we assess your need for financial assistance.
If your spouse has an income, but they are not supporting you financially, we will consider your financial situation and potentially grant financial assistance. Examples of situations where this could be relevant include:
- if you are staying in a crisis shelter
- if you are living in hiding from an abusive spouse
- if you are trying to get away from a forced marriage
- if your spouse is serving time in prison
- if your spouse is not providing for you for other reasons
If you have children, other obligations and arrangements apply when you are applying for financial assistance. We emphasize children’s needs in our assessment.
Child benefit does not affect how much you can get in financial assistance.
If you are not the custodial parent for your children, you can apply for assistance with expenses in connection with contact. Financial assistance for contact will normally be considered based on the scope of contact.
Children over the age of 18 have the right to have their situation assessed on an individual basis in terms of financial assistance. As a parent, you may be required to provide for children over the age of 18, provided the child is in school and you have the means to do so.
Children are not obligated to provide for their parents or siblings. If your child has a job in their spare time or in school holidays, this income will not be included in the family’s finances when we assess the need for financial assistance.
Partners who live together do not have a mutual obligation to provide for each other. However, if you have a child together, we will normally consider both of your finances when we assess the need for financial assistance.
Parents who live together and have joint children have an obligation to provide for their children according to their financial ability. This means that the one of you who has an income high enough to provide for your joint child, is expected to do so alone. In families where one or both parents have children from previous relationships, we may assess part of the family separately.
Financial assistance is a temporary benefit. How long you can get assistance for will depend on your situation.
When you receive financial social assistance, you receive follow-up from NAV so that you can become self-sufficient.
If you need help finding out what your options are, please contact your NAV office. You can also call us.
Other options
More information for you who
In this chapter
When you apply, you must provide information about yourself and your financial situation. You can document your information through attachments to your application.
- bills / receipts for what you have applied for assistance with, such as rent or electricity
- your tax return
- your tax settlement
- your pay slip, if you have a job
- bank statements for all of your bank accounts, including current balances
- documentation of housing (lease)
- proof of identity
- a valid residence permit
If need more information from you in order to prosess your application, we will contact you.
You can apply for financial assistance with things you need assistance with. There is only one application form where you describe what you need assistance with. You apply to the NAV office in the municipality where you are currently staying.
How we assess your application
We assess your need for financial assistance with you and perform an individual assessment of your application.
In our assessment, we take into account all of your necessary living expenses, your income and your potential for future income.
We also take into account your age, your family circumstances, your living situation and your health. If you have children, we emphasize their needs in our assessment.
It is important that you tell us about all of your income and expenses in order for us to accurately assess your situation and your need for assistance.
If you want someone to help you contact NAV, you can authorise a person you trust (grant him/her power of attorney) to do it for you.
The authorisation can be used when contacting your NAV office.
You decide for yourself what the authorisation shall apply to, and how long it lasts.
If you have applied digitally, you can find a list of all of your applications for assistance at nav.no. Here you can among other things follow the status of your application and see if you need to submit additional information before we can process it.
Processing time for applications
The processing time for financial assistance varies. If your need for help is acute, you should receive a prompt response.
If we need more information to process your application, we will contact you. In order to get a quick response to the application, you should provide the information we need as soon as possible.
If it is more than one month, you will receive a provisional reply.
Are you in an emergency?
Then you should contact the NAV office in the municipality where you live.
When your application has been processed, you will receive a written response, also called a notice of decision. You can log in to read the decision.
In the notice of decision you can read what you are entitled to.
he letter also includes information about activities you must participate in as part of your follow-up from NAV.
If you believe we made an error when we processed your application, you may appeal.
Submit your appeal to the NAV office that processed your application. The term of appeal is three weeks from the date on which he received notice of the decision.
You cannot complain digitally. You can print out a complaint form that you can fill in by hand. You can either send the complaint digitally as an attachment to your application, send it by post or deliver it to the NAV office that has processed your application.
Processing time for complaints
If you believe we made an error when we processed your application, you may appeal.
Submit your appeal to the NAV office that processed your application. The term of appeal is three weeks from the date on which he received notice of the decision.
The municipalities may have different response times, but you should receive a response within a reasonable time. If more than one month has passed since you complained, you will receive a letter stating that the processing time has been extended.
The appeal should include information about
- which decision you are appealing. You can also include the decision you are appealing.
- what you believe the error is, and what you want to be changed.
- your signature
You can include information as an attachment with your appeal.
Do you need help with an appeal?
Your NAV office can help you if you need help writing your appeal. Request a meeting at your NAV office. If you want to bring a person you trust with you, you can do that.
You can also go through a lawyer or authorize someone else to appeal on your behalf.
Appeals are processed again by the NAV office that originally processed your application. It varies from municipality to municipality how long you have to wait for a response. If more than a month goes by, you are entitled to a preliminary response. If your appeal is successful, you will receive another notice of decision.
If your appeal is not successful, it will be forwarded to the County Governor, who will do a new assessment of your case. The NAV office will notify you in writing if this happens. The County Governor will inform you of processing times and what will happen next with your appeal.
Once the County Governor has decided your case, you will be notified in writing. If the County Governor sides with you, the NAV office must process your application again and you will receive a new notice of decision.
If your appeal succeeds, you may be entitled to compensation for necessary costs incurred in connection with getting the decision changed. One example of such costs are legal costs. If that is relevant for you, you can submit a claim for compensation for legal costs to the NAV office that changed, sometimes called revised, the decision.
Payment dates vary from municipality to municipality. You will find information about payments in the letter you have received regarding our decision and in Your payments (in Norwegian).
If the payment date falls on a weekend or a bank holiday, you will normally receive your payment on the day before.
Holiday pay
There is no holiday pay on this benefit.
Tax
No tax is deducted from the money.
Your advisor can set conditions (requirements) about an activity or an action to help you with your financial situation. The activity obligation should help you achieve your goals of financial independence.
If you fail to meet the requirements you agreed to with NAV, it may have consequences for your financial assistance from NAV.
For example, NAV may require that you
- attend counselling interviews,
- apply to relevant jobs,
- participate in employment seminars and schemes,
- participate in work training or other employment activities,
- participate in education and training programmes
- attend Norwegian classes
- apply for other benefits from NAV
For applicants under the age of 30
If you are under 30 years old, NAV will require you to participate in certain activities in order to qualify for financial assistance. The goal is to help you find employment or start an education, so that you will be able to provide for yourself with your own income.
As a general rule, you must stay in Norway to be entitled to financial assistance.
If you are going to travel abroad, you must clarify this with the NAV office before you travel. Traveling abroad can affect your payments.
Contact us if you are going on holiday or traveling abroad.
If there are changes in your situation, it may affect the follow-up or the payment you receive from NAV. That’s why it is important that you notify NAV about it. It can for example be changes in your income, family or employment situation, and others.
If you are married or living with your partner, you must also notify NAV if your spouse’s/partner’s situation changes.
If you are not sure whether your change will affect your payment, there will be more information in the notice of decision you received from us. You can also call us..
- You start earning more or less than what you have previously told NAV.
- You are moving
- Your marital status changes, such as getting married or divorced, moving in with or separating from a partner, or your partner/spouse dies.
- Your family situation changes because you have a child, one of your children moves out, or you no longer provide for your child or children.
- You get a payment in the form of dividend on shares, funds, the sale of property/assets, etc.
Oppdatert 19.06.2024
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