Family leave for the self-employed

As a self-employed person, you can take time off work to stay at home with your children

As an entrepreneur, you are entitled to the same family leave benefits as employees: maternal leave, parental leave and child care leave. For the duration of the leave, you can receive parental allowance from Kela: maternity allowance, special maternity allowance, paternity allowance, parental allowance and partial parental allowance. In addition, you can be granted flexible care allowance if your child is under 3 years of age and your weekly working hours are on average no more than 30 hours or a maximum of 80% of normal full-time working hours. Read more about family leave on Kela’s website (Kela.fi).

Your allowance also increases your future pension. Read more about how social benefits increase your pension.

Your YEL income determines the amount of your parental allowance

The parental allowances paid by Kela is determined based on annual earnings. As a self-employed person, your annual earnings are based on the YEL income. If you work as a wage-earner outside your own company in addition to your entrepreneurial activities, the amount of your allowance is affected by both your earnings as an employee and your YEL income as a self-employed person. The annual earnings are calculated based on the earnings from the 12 calendar months preceding the calendar month when the entitlement to the benefit begins. More information on how annual earnings are determined is available on Kela’s website (kela.fi).

If you apply for the parental allowance for a second time, it may be determined based on the income used as the basis for your previous parental allowance if your child’s calculated time of birth is before your youngest child turns three years.