Benefits
Cash-for-care benefit
Cash-for-care benefit can be granted if you have children between the ages of 13 and 19 months, who do not attend kindergarten full time.
Contents
To qualify for cash-for-care benefit, your child must have turned 1 year old and cannot attend a publicly funded kindergarten full time.
If your child attends kindergarten part-time, you may be entitled to 20, 40, 60, or 80 per cent cash-for-care benefit.
Generally, both you and the child must live in Norway. If your child is in Norway for at least 12 consecutive months, the child is considered a resident. Separate rules apply to EEA citizens.
You must also have been a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme for at least 5 years. If the child lives with both parents, 5 years membership is required for both parents.
When Nav assesses the conditions for membership, social security periods in other EEA countries will also be considered. You must obtain documentation of these social security periods from the EEA countries in question.
What qualifies as social security periods varies from country to country. For example, it may be place of residence, work periods, or both.
Note that only EEA citizens and third-country nationals who are considered family members of EEA citizens can add social security periods from other EEA countries to periods in the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. If the social security periods are from another Nordic country, Austria, Luxembourg or the Netherlands, citizenship is irrelevant.
If you live permanently with children who are not your own, you may be entitled to cash-for-care benefit. You cannot claim cash-for-care benefit for children who are in foster care or in an institution.
Are you a foreign worker in Norway?
There are some situations where you may be entitled to cash-for-care benefit as a foreign worker in Norway.
- If your entire family lives in Norway and will be living here for at least 12 months, you may be entitled to cash-for-care benefit. This applies to all foreign nationals who are resident in Norway, registered in the National Population Register, and have a residence permit or other legal residence.
- If you are an EEA citizen or a family member of an EEA citizen*, and you work in Norway, you may be entitled to cash-for-care benefit even if you will be staying in Norway for less than 12 months.
*If you are an EEA citizen or a third-country national considered a family member of an EEA citizen, you are covered by the EEA Regulation that applies to this benefit.
Nordic conventions and certain social security agreements may entail that citizens of non-EEA countries who are not considered family members of an EEA citizen are also covered by the EEA Directive.
- If the parent who lives in the other EEA country is working or receiving a benefit deemed equivalent to work, and this person is entitled to cash-for-care benefit in the EEA country, Nav will cover the difference between the Norwegian benefit and the benefit paid by the other EEA country.
- If the parent who lives in the other EEA country is not working or receiving benefits deemed equivalent to work, you will be entitled to full payment of cash-for-care benefit from Norway.
You may be entitled to cash-for-care benefit from Norway if the other parent works or receives national insurance benefits or a pension from Norway. This also applies if you and the other parent are divorced, separated or have never lived together.
You can apply in the country you live, or send an application directly to Nav.
When Nav receives your application, we will investigate the other parent’s situation and consider whether you are entitled to cash-for-care benefit from Norway. We will always collect information about your situation from the country you live in.
If you live alone with the child, the cash-for-care benefit will be paid to you.
New practice after 1 August 1998 in accordance with EEA regulations
Among other things, these changes mean that parents who live with the child in another EEA country, may have an independent right to cash-for-care benefit if the other parent is covered by the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme.
Please contact Nav if you think you have been affected by this, and you want us to review your case again
Read more about the change of practice and how to contact us: Change of practice for family benefits (in Norwegian)
- If your employer in another EEA country has sent you to Norway on an assignment, you are not entitled to cash-for-care benefit in Norway. The reason is that you still have your employer in the other country, and you are still a member of the social insurance scheme there.
- If you have a spouse or cohabiting partner who also moves to Norway, and who is considered a resident in Norway according to EEA regulations, they may be entitled to cash-for-care benefit even if they stay in Norway for less than 12 months. Nav will in each case assess whether you are a resident in Norway according to EEA rules. When we assess residency, we consider, among other things, the duration of your stay, your family connections, and your housing situation.
- If your spouse or cohabiting partner and your child moves to Norway with you, and your spouse or partner takes up employment here, they will become a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. This means they may be entitled to cash-for-care benefit even if they stay in Norway for less than 12 months.
- If your employer has sent you on an assignment to Norway, you are not entitled to child benefit or cash-for-care benefit in Norway. The reason for this is that you still have an employer in the other country, and you are still a member of the social insurance scheme there.
- If your spouse or cohabiting partner and child move to Norway with you, and your spouse or cohabiting partner takes up employment here, they will become a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme. If both of you already have at least 5 years social security coverage in either Norway, other EEA countries or a combination of the two, you may also be entitled to cash-for-care-benefit.
In this chapter
If your child does not attend kindergarten at all, you may receive 100 per cent cash-for-care benefit, which is NOK 7,500 per month.
If your child attends kindergarten part-time, you may be granted 20, 40, 60, or 80 per cent cash-for-care benefit.
How much kindergarten time you have been granted determines how much you will receive in cash-for-care benefit, not how much time your child actually spends in kindergarten.
Example:
Your child has been granted a full-time place in kindergarten, but only attends one day a week. In this case, you will not be entitled to cash-for-care benefit, since your child has the opportunity to attend kindergarten full time.
Rates
Cash-for-care benefit rates are set annually by the Storting and may therefore be subject to change.
Cash-for-care benefits are paid monthly.
Rates in effect from 1 August 2018:
| Granted time in kindergarten (hours per week) | Amount per child |
|---|---|
| No time in kindergarten (100 percent cash-for-care benefit) | NOK 7,500 |
| Up to 8 hours (80 percent cash-for-care benefit) | NOK 6,000 |
| From 9 to 16 hours (60 percent cash-for-care benefit) | NOK 4,500 |
| From 17 to 24 hours (40 percent cash-for-care benefit) | NOK 3,000 |
| From 25 to 32 hours (20 percent cash-for-care benefit) | NOK 1,500 |
33 hours or more (not entitled to cash-for-care benefit) | NOK 0 |
You can receive cash-for-care benefit for children between 13 and 19 months, starting the month the child turns 13 months, up until and including the month the child turns 19 months. You can receive cash-for-care benefits for a maximum of 7 months.
If the child starts kindergarten, there are different rules for how long you can receive cash support depending on when your child is born or adopted:
- For those who have children born or adopted from 1 January 2024 or later, the cash allowance is paid up to and including the month before the child is allocated place in kindergarten.
- For those who have children born or adopted before 1 January 2024, the cash allowance is paid up to and including the month the child is allocated place in kindergarten. This does not apply if your cash for care benefit ended on August 1, 2024, or earlier.
If you have adopted children, you can be granted cash-for-care benefit for a period of up to 7 months after the 100 per cent parental benefit period is over. The cash-for-care benefit period can be used until the child starts school.
If you received a lump-sum grant upon adoption, you can, at the earliest, be granted cash-for-care benefit from the month after the 100 per cent parental benefit period for adoption would have expired.
If you care for young children, you may accumulate pension rights for care work. This could contribute to a higher pension when you retire.
Other options
More information for you who
Application for cash-for-care benefits
You may apply at the earliest the month the child turns one years old. If you as parents live together, only one of you needs to apply.
If you do not live together, the parent the child primarily lives with must apply.
If you have an agreement of joint residence for the child, pursuant to Section 36 of the Children Act, you may agree to share the cash-for-care benefit. The agreement must be in writing and signed by both parents. You must agree to share the benefit and both parents must apply. Only full cash-for-care benefit can be shared.
The application will specify which types of documentation and which attachments you must include.
Please contact Nav if you need more information and guidance and/or help filling out the application.
If you and/or your child are foreign citizens, you must provide documentation of a residence permit in Norway.
If you apply for cash- for-care benefit according to the EEA rules or the Nordic Convention, you must attach:
- your employment contract
- copy of the first page of your passport
- the child’s birth certificate
- supplementary form Nav 34-00.15.
If the child is not registered in the Norwegian population register, you must provide the child’s birth certificate.
If the child is adopted, you must attach documentation showing when you got custody of the child.
If the child has joint residence and you want to share payment, you must attach the joint residence agreement. Both parents must apply. The joint residence agreement must be signed by both parents and dated.
- If the child is not registered in the Norwegian population register: A certificate from your country of residence confirming that you are the parent of the child you are applying for benefit for (birth certificate). It is the population register or another competent authority in your country of residence that can provide you with a certificate.
- ID number and address in your country of residence for you, the child and the other parent.
- Documentation of your employment (copy of employment agreement).
- Confirmation from another EEA country that you have been covered by a social security scheme for at least 5 years. If you have been a member of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme for 5 years, you do not need to attach such confirmation. Periods of coverage in Norwegian and foreign social security schemes, respectively, can be added to achieve at least 5 years of social security coverage. Note that only citizens from EEA countries or third-country nationals who are family members of an EEA citizen can combine social security periods from other EEA countries with Norwegian social security periods. If the social security period is from another Nordic country, citizenship is irrelevant.
If you are self-employed, you must attach:
- Copies of order confirmations and invoices for the period before you became liable for VAT.
- Ledger overview for the period after you became liable for VAT.
- Printout from the Brønnøysund register confirming your role in the company.
Supplementary form for disbursement of benefits in another EEA country
Use this form if you work in Norway and your child lives in another EEA country. The form is attached to the application.
Once we have received your application, we will check the information you provided against public registers and kindergarten enrolment lists from your municipality.
If you are an EEA citizen, Nav will usually collect information from your home country, among other things on whether you, or the other parent of the child, are receiving cash-for-care benefit or equivalent benefits from this country.
In some countries there is a central institution that will respond to these types of enquiries, whereas in others they are handled at regional or local levels. That is why you must specify the municipality and region, county, state or similar in which your family members live.
If we have questions, we will contact you.
You will receive a written decision when we have processed your application.
Processing time for applications
The processing time is the time from when we receive your application until we have made a decision. Remember that we need all the necessary documentation to process your application.
In some cases, we need documentation from EEA member states and other countries with which Norway has a social security agreement. The processing time may be longer in these cases because we have to collect documentation from foreign authorities (SED documents).
| Case concerns | Expected case processing time |
|---|---|
| Application | 2 months |
EEA application | 8 months |
Have you received a decision from us that you think is wrong? You can appeal to the Nav office that issued the decision. They will reassess your case.
Complain about a decision
The decision will have information about how to proceed if you want to complain, where to send your complaint and the term of complaint. If you have questions about the decision, you can contact us.
Processing time for complaints
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.
| Case concerns | Expected case processing time |
|---|---|
Complaint to the Nav unit | 10 weeks |
Complaint to the Nav Appeals Management Unit | 4 months |
In this chapter
Cash-for-care benefits are paid monthly.
Please be aware that these dates are when Nav guarantees you will have the money in your account.
| Payment dates in 2025 |
|---|
| 31. January |
| 28. February |
| 31. March |
| 30. April |
| 30. May |
| 30. June |
| 31. July |
| 29. August |
| 30. September |
| 31. October |
| 28. November |
| 16. December |
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.
Holiday pay
There is no holiday pay on this benefit.
Tax
No tax is deducted from the money.
Notifiy us of assigned place in kindergarten
Use this form to notify us that a child you receive cash-for-care benefit for will start attending kindergarten.
You also have to notify us if
- your family situation changes
- you are planning to stay or move abroad
- your employment situation abroad changes
Travelling to another EEA country
You may keep the cash-for-care benefit for up to 3 months if you and your family are staying abroad. The requirement is that you do not work during your stay.
Generally, if you are planning on staying abroad for more than 3 months, the cash-for-care benefit will cease the month you leave Norway.
If you are staying or moving to another EEA country, separate rules apply.
You must notify Nav of which country you are travelling to and how long you are intending to stay there. If your stay abroad lasts longer than planned, you must also notify us.
Staying in or moving to another EEA country
The cash-for-care benefit will cease if the child moves abroad. You may, however, qualify for cash-for-care benefit if your child lives in another EEA country if
- one parent is working in Norway, on the Norwegian continental shelf or on a Norwegian ship (in Norwegian)
- both parents live with the child, and both parents are compulsory or voluntary members of the Norwegian National Insurance Scheme
- one parent is receiving disability benefit or pension from Norway due to former work activity
- one parent is receiving sickness benefit, work assessment allowance or another activity-based benefit from Norway
- both parents live in Norway, while the child lives in a different EEA country
You must apply specifically for cash-for-care benefit pursuant to EEA rules.
If one of you works in another EEA country outside Norway, and the child lives in this country, the cash-for-care benefit will be paid from the country of employment.
If this country’s cash-for-care benefit is lower than the Norwegian cash-for-care benefit, Nav will cover the difference.
When Nav has received your application, we usually need to collect documentation from your country of residence. Among other things, we need to know whether you, or the other parent of the child, are receiving cash-for-care benefit or an equivalent benefit from this country.
In some countries there is a central institution that will respond to these types of enquiries, whereas in others they are handled at regional or local levels. That is why you have to specify the municipality and region, county, state, or similar in which your family members live.
Updated 02/24/2025
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