Carers Rights Movement - Finland

Finland

There are over 300,000 (estimate) family carers in Finland

• Of them some 29,000 receive family carer’s allowance from their respective municipalities under The Act on Family Caregiving
• The municipality may arrange various social and healthcare services to backup family caring. The main types of services are home help and home nursing; meals on wheels; rehabilitation, short-term care etc.
• The law ensures a minimum caregiver allowance of EUR 310.Caregivers in heavy caring situations will receive a minimum of EUR 620 a month. (taxable)
• Time off for the carer: at least 3 days / month
• When the carer is continuously or with only minor interruptions tied up to caring.
• The Municipality has to ensure that the care for the care recipient is appropriate during family carer’s time-off. Taking days-off or recreational time do not reduce the amount of family carer allowance.