Child care benefit for single parents

Generally, you may be entitled to child care benefit if

To qualify for child care benefit, you must be in work or in the process of setting up your own business and leave the looking after of your child(ren) to others.

If you have an illness that prevents you from working, you can receive child care benefit for up to one year. The illness must not be chronic (permanent).

If you combine work with education or looking for work, you can get this benefit if you pay for child minding while you are at work.

If you are currently not in work, but are registered with NAV as a job seeker or taking education that NAV has approved, as a general rule you will not be entitled to this benefit. In this case, you can apply for benefit for child minding.

This benefit is intended to contribute towards covering your expenses related to having your child in day care. Expenses for food, nappies, etc. are not covered.

You must provide documentation of your child minding expenses with an invoice made out to you. This invoice must be specified and indicate the expenses related to having a child in day care separately.

If you have private child minding arrangements, such as a babysitter or child minder, you must submit the agreement you have with the person who looks after your child when you apply. Here is a [template for an agreement on private child minding arrangements (PDF 52 kB) (in Norwegian). This template also indicates what information we need to process your application.

For example, if you work in the evening, at night, shift work, weekend work, commute or work at sea, you can get support to cover the costs of child minding after kindergarten and child care at school outside school hours (SFO). You must provide documentation of your working hours.

The same applies if you have a job that entails that you have to be away from home for extended periods of time. In order for an absence to be regarded as longer than usual, it must exceed ten hours per day. You must provide documentation of your working hours.

This benefit covers 64 per cent of your child minding expenses, such as kindergarten, child care at school outside school hours (SFO), or a babysitter or child minder. In other words, you have to pay at least 36 per cent of the expenses yourself.

You can have the costs of child minding covered up to a defined upper limit set by the Storting.

You are not entitled to child care benefit if your monthly income, multiplied by 12, comes to more than NOK 744,168, i.e. six times the National Insurance basic amount (“G”).

We include all your earnings in our calculation. Any benefits you receive from NAV will also be included in the calculation:

• unemployment benefit
• sickness benefit
• attendance allowance, care benefit, training allowance
• work assessment allowance (AAP)
• parental benefit
• carer support / foster care allowance

If you receive cash-for-care benefit, the amount of benefit you receive per month will be deducted from your documented monthly expenses for child care. The cash-for-care benefit will be deducted from your child care expenses for both the child(ren) you receive cash-for-care benefit for and other children who live with you.

This applies even if the cash-for-care benefit is paid to someone else who lives with you and the child.

Thus, if your cash-for-care benefit is higher than your child minding expenses, you will not be entitled to child care benefit.

You may be entitled to reduced parental fees for the kindergarten place if your income is below the municipality’s threshold. Some municipalities have similar arrangements for parental fees for child care at school outside school hours (SFO). Contact your municipal authorities for more information about this.

You must notify us if you are granted reduced parental fees by the municipal authorities, because it may affect your child care benefit. If you receive too much benefit, we can demand that you pay back the excess.

The main rule is that you can receive child care benefit until your child has completed their fourth year at school. There are no other restrictions on how long you can receive benefit for, as long as you continue to meet the conditions.

After the fourth year of school, children can usually look after themselves after school while their parents work. This is also the last year children are generally entitled to child care at school outside school hours (SFO).

In some cases, you may be entitled to receive child care benefit after your child has completed their fourth year of school:

• If you have children who need significantly more looking after than other children of the same age. You must provide documentation of this need in the form of a statement from a doctor, specialist or other health care professional.
• If you have a job that means you have to be away from home for extended periods of time. In order for an absence to be considered longer than usual, it must exceed ten hours per day. You must provide documentation of your working hours.
• For example, if you work in the evening, at night, shift work, weekend work, commute or work at sea. You must provide documentation of your working hours.

Child care benefit is normally granted for one year at a time, and you must reapply each year and provide documentation of your expenses each year.

You will receive benefit up to the end of June each year. July is usually a payment-free month in kindergartens and child care at school outside school hours (SFO). If you nevertheless have child care expenses in July, you must provide documentation of this.

You can receive transitional benefit for up to three years. Periods during which you receive benefit will be deducted from this period if you receive child care benefit. This applies if:

• you are entitled to transitional benefit during this period, but have not applied for it
• you are entitled to transitional benefit during this period, but have chosen not to receive it
• you have been granted transitional benefit, but your income is too high for the benefit to be paid

You can apply as soon as you have received an invoice from the childcare scheme for the month in which you are applying for benefits. If you apply for child care benefits as of August, you must attach an invoice for August.

You can apply online or on paper. It is important that you fill in all the relevant fields and submit all the necessary documentation, so that your case can be processed promptly. You will be notified as you fill in the application if you need to provide documentation of any of the information you have provided.

The questions in the application, together with any documentation, provide us with the answers we need to process your application. If we need more information, we will contact you.

You may contact NAV if you want more information and guidance, and/or help filling in the form.

You will receive a written decision when the application has been processed.

Have you received a decision from us that you think is wrong? You can complain to the NAV Unit that issued the decision. They will reassess your case. If they do not agree with your complaint, they will forward it to the NAV Appeals Management Unit.

You can also use a lawyer or give a power of attorney to a person who complains on your behalf.

More about

Your benefits for single parents may be suspended for one month if you, without reasonable grounds:

• resign from your job
• turn down a job offer
• fail to return to work after your period of parental leave
• refuse to participate in labour market schemes
• fail to attend meetings with NAV

If you have provided incorrect information or failed to provide information, your benefit may be suspended for up to three months the first time you do this and for up to six months if this happens more than once in a three-year period.

Child care benefit is paid from the month you qualify for the benefit.

You can receive retroactive payment of benefit for up to three months from when you apply if you were entitled to benefit during this period. To claim this, you must submit the invoices for the relevant months.

Benefit will be paid by the 20th of every month. The day on which the benefit is paid may vary from month to month.

In your payment overview, you can see upcoming payments several days before the actual payment date. 

The time of day when the payment will be credited to your account will vary, as it is your bank that transfers the payment into your account. Payments can therefore arrive in your account in the afternoon or evening. 

If you are entitled to retroactive child care benefit, you will receive this money shortly after your application has been processed.

Holiday pay

There is no holiday pay on this benefit. 

Tax

No tax is deducted from the money.

You must notify us of changes if

• your child minding expenses change
• you discontinue the child minding arrangements
• you are granted reduced parental fees for child minding
• your work situation changes
• your monthly income, multiplied by 12, is more than NOK 744,168 i.e. six times the National Insurance basic amount (“G”)
• you are granted cash support or other benefits from NAV
• your application for separation or divorce is refused
• you start living with your partner, enter into a civil partnership, or get married
• you start a relationship with someone you have previously lived with and have children with
• you are expecting another child
• the child access arrangements change
• the day-to-day care of the child is temporarily or permanently left to others
• you will be spending time abroad
• you move
• you or the other parent moves very close to one another, i.e. the same building, the same block of flats, next door, or a building around the same courtyard, etc.
• you become ill and this prevents you from working

You must notify us if:

• you are going to spend more than six weeks abroad
• you are going to travel abroad and have already spent six weeks outside Norway during the past 12 months
• you are going to travel abroad, and this stay will result in you having spent more than six weeks abroad during the past 12 months

If you are moving or have moved, we must assess whether you are still entitled to this benefit.

You must send us information about:

• whether you still live alone, or are sharing your home with another adult. If you live in a marriage-like relationship, we will need your partner’s name and date of birth
• whether your children are registered in the National Registry as living at your address after you have moved
• any changes to your child access agreement
• the child(ren) has changed child minding arrangements. In this case, you must submit documentation of your current expenses
• you have changed jobs. In this case, you must document your new employment

In general, you and your children must live in Norway for you to receive single parent benefits. In some cases, you may still be entitled to single parent benefits if you move or stay abroad.