This chapter discusses the benefits that children with disabilities and their parents or other guardians can receive. It describes the conditions you must fulfil to obtain the benefit, how much you can receive and how you apply.

The chapter includes:

• Care allowance for children with disabilities (omvårdnadsbidrag)
• Care allowance for disabled child (vårdbidrag)
• Additional cost allowance (merkostnadsersättning)
• Contact days (kontaktdagar)
• Temporary parental allowance (tillfällig föräldrapenning)

In what situation can I claim?

Children with disabilities and their parents or other guardians can receive various types of benefit. Children covered by the Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (LSS) can receive personal assistance (personlig assistans) from the municipality. In certain cases, they can receive assistance allowance (assistansersättning) from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. They can also receive car allowance (bilstöd) to purchase or adapt a car or other vehicle suitable for their disability. These benefits are described more in the chapter Benefits for people with disabilities.

As a parent or other legal guardian, you can receive care allowance for disabled child/ children with disabilities if your child requires additional healthcare or supervision or additional costs benefit if you have additional costs due to the child's disability. Parents of children covered by the LSS can also receive temporary parental allowance for 10 contact days per year or during temporary sickness until the child is 23 years old. Parents of children with disabilities who are not covered by the LSS can receive temporary parental allowance due to temporary sickness of the child until the child has turned 16.

What conditions do I need to meet?

Care allowance for children with disabilities

Parents with children who have disabilities that requires extra care and provision can apply for care allowance for children with disabilities. If your child requires more supervision and healthcare than a child without sickness or disability and will need it for at least 6 months, you can receive Care allowance for disabled child. Care includes direct care actions but also other help such as special training or helping or motivating your child. This can also mean supervision so that your child does not run away or get into dangerous situations. You can receive care allowance for disabled child from when the child is born until June of the year in which the child turns 19.

Care allowance for disabled child

If your child requires more supervision and healthcare than a child without sickness or disability and will need it for at least 6 months, you can receive care allowance for disabled child. Care includes direct care actions but also other help such as special training or helping or motivating your child. This can also mean supervision so that your child does not run away or get into dangerous situations. You can receive care allowance for disabled child from when the child is born until June of the year in which the child turns 19. Care allowance for children with disabilities will replace care allowance for disabled child, but they will run in parallel for a period to come. However, it is not possible to apply for care allowance for disabled child after 1 January 2019.

The benefits, Care allowance for children with disabilities and Additional cost allowance, entered into force on the 1 January 2019 and will eventually replace the Care allowance for disabled child:

Additional cost allowance

The additional costs allowance for individuals with higher cost of living due to their disability will apply to both children and adults with disabilities. The new benefit includes several simplifications that will make the benefit more foreseeable and clear for persons with disabilities, e.g. the new legislation will more clearly define which living costs are included in the additional cost benefit for persons with disabilities.

Contact days

You can receive benefit for 10 contact days per child per year if your child is up to 16 years of age and is covered by the LSS, if you have sickness benefit qualifying income (SGI).

You can receive benefit to participate in parental training, visit the child's school or take part in activities organised by the school. The child does not always need to accompany you. Contact days can be used by people other than the child's biological parents such as those living with the parent, family home parents or other people who have custody of the child.

Temporary parental benefit

If you are the parent of a child covered by the LSS, you can also obtain temporary parental benefit after the child has turned 12. The same applies to those who live with a parent, family home parent or another guardian. You can receive remuneration if you need to refrain from work due to the child's sickness or infection. If you receive care allowance for disabled child, you cannot receive temporary parental allowance for the same care and supervisory needs for which you already receive care allowance for disabled child.

You can in some cases receive temporary parental benefit for a maximum of 120 days per child and per year until the child turns 21. If your child attends the special school's senior high school or has severe mobility problems and attends a special senior high school, you can receive benefits until the end of the spring term in the year in which the child turns 23.

Other support for children with disabilities

Parents of children covered by the LSS can also receive assistance allowance and vehicle allowance. These benefits are described in more detail in the chapter People with disabilities.

What am I entitled to and how can I claim?

Care allowance for children with disabilities

You can receive it for both care and supervision. You can receive full, three-quarter, half or one-quarter care allowance. How much you receive depends on the Swedish Social Insurance Agency's assessment of your child's needs.

Care allowance for disabled child

You can receive care allowance for disabled child for both care and supervision together with additional costs, or only for additional costs. This can include costs for medication, special food, washing and much more. You can receive full, three-quarter, half or one-quarter healthcare benefit. To receive the lowest amount, the child must need healthcare for at least 7 hours per week, require significant supervision or the additional costs must be large. There is no specific limit for higher amounts. How much you receive depends on the Swedish Social Insurance Agency's assessment of your child's needs.

If you receive support only for additional costs, you can receive remuneration which depends on how high your costs are. You can receive care allowance for disabled child for more than one child but not more than two full care allowances. It is not possible to apply for Care allowance for disabled child after 1 January 2019.

Additional cost allowance

The amount you receive depends on how high your additional costs are. There are five different levels. Additional cost allowance is tax free. You apply on a form from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency.

Contact days

For contact days you receive the same remuneration as when you are at home with sick children. This is around 80% of your income. If you have e-ID, you can apply for contact days on My pages on the Swedish Social Insurance Agency's website. You can also apply using a form.

Temporary parental benefit

You receive around 80% of your income in remuneration. If you have e-ID, you can report and apply for temporary parental benefit on My pages on the Swedish Social Insurance Agency's website. In other cases you can report to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency customer centre and then apply on a form.

Jargon busters

LSS stands for Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments. You can find the act under Know your rights.

Family home parent is a person responsible for everyday care in a family home where a disabled child can be placed. They were previously called foster parents.

SGI stands for sickness benefit qualifying income. The main rule is that your sickness benefit qualifying income is based on your work.

E-ID - see the chapter on Benefit during sickness.

PBB stands for price base amount. This is an amount which is used in several Swedish laws. It changes every year to follow the general price level in Sweden.

Forms you may need to fill in

• 3084 Application for care allowance for child with disabilities
• 3085 Application for additional cost allowance

Contact the Swedish Social Insurance Agency customer centre to order forms for contact days.

Know your rights

Sweden:

• Act (2018:1614) concerning additional costs benefit and care allowance for children with disabilities
• Social Insurance Code (2010:110) - Chapter 48-52.

EU:

• Invalidity: your rights abroad as EU citizens

Who do you need to contact?

Swedish Social Insurance Agency
Website: www.forsakringskassan.se
Customer centre e-mail: kundcenter@forsakringskassan.se
Customer centre telephone: +46 771524524

Find your local Social Insurance Agency

Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKR) has contact details for all municipalities in Sweden.