You can receive compensation to take care of a child who is reached the age of 12 but not yet 16 if the child needs more help than usual at that age. This may for example apply, if you need to accompany the child to a doctor's appointment or if otherwise healthy children become ill and cannot take care of themselves.

To receive compensation for caring for a child who has turned 12 but not 16 years old, you need a doctor's certificate from the first day you stay home.

If you apply for compensation for vab when accompanying your child to a doctor's appointment, it is sufficient for your doctor to sign your doctor's receipt, or state in a certificate that it was necessary that you accompanied your child.

If your child has a long-term illness or disability and the basic illness deteriorates or if they become acutely ill with another disease, you may receive compensation for vab if your child has turned 12 but not 16 years of age.

If your child needs special supervision or care due to illness or disability, Försäkringskassan may decide that you can receive compensation for vab in the same way as for a child who has not yet reached the age of 12. This is called a preliminary decision. If you have a preliminary decision, you will need a certificate from the 22nd day of the illness.

To apply for a preliminary decision, you need to ask your child's doctor for a medical opinion for a preliminary decision.

Keep in mind that if you receive care allowance or nursing allowance, you cannot receive compensation for vab if the care allowance or nursing allowance covers the same need for supervision and care.

Parents of a seriously ill child up to the age of 18 can receive compensation for an unlimited number of days.

You can receive compensation if:

• there is a distinct threat to the child’s life or
• if the child, after or in direct connection to a life-threatening condition, receives treatment for the illness and the child’s life is in jeopardy without this treatment.

If the child is seriously ill, both of the parents have the right to compensation for the same child and time for an unlimited number of days.

If your child is seriously ill, the doctor must write a statement. It must include a diagnosis and a description of the child's illness and treatment.

If you are the parent of a child who has recently been seriously ill, and who needs to be protected so they do not become infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, you can receive preventative compensation for vab if you need to refrain from working. You need a doctor's certificate that states that the child needs to be protected from infection by the virus.

To be entitled to compensation, you need to refrain from working and your child must have been seriously ill during the year 2020.

Preventive compensation for vab can be paid from 1 July 2020 until at the latest. The child must be under 18 years of age.

A child is assessed as being seriously ill when

• there is a distinct threat to the child’s life or
• if the child, after or in direct connection to a life-threatening condition, receives treatment for the illness and the child’s life is in jeopardy without this treatment.

The compensation can be paid to the parent who needs to refrain from work and care for the child. All parents of the child may be entitled to the allowance if they refrain from work to protect the child from infection and are unable to work from home. The parent and the child must either be registered at the same address, or the child must spend the same amount of time with his or her parents. The compensation is paid for a maximum of 184 days per parent.

If your child has not yet reached the age of 16, the same rules apply for your child as to children who are not covered by the LSS.

Parents of children covered by the LSS can receive compensation for so called contact days up to, the child reaches the age of 16. You can apply for contact days if you, for example, will be participating in a parent education course, visiting the child’s preschool or school, or taking part in an activity arranged by the preschool or school.

Read more about contact days here

Contact days

If you child is between the age of 16 and 18, you can also receive compensation to care for a sick child (vab) if:

• there is a distinct threat to the child’s life or
• if the child, after or in direct connection to a life-threatening condition, receives treatment for the illness and the child’s life is in jeopardy without this treatment or
• the child’s underlying illness worsens
• the child becomes acutely ill with another illness.

If you child is between the age of 18 and 21, you can also receive compensation to care for a sick child (vab) if:

• the child’s basic illness worsens or if
• the child becomes acutely ill with another illness.

No matter how old your child is, you cannot be compensated if

• you are already receiving childcare care allowance or child carer’s allowance for the need of supervision and care
• the child's ordinary caregiver is sick or infected.

If your child is 21 or older and is attending an upper-secondary school for children with disabilities or has a severe physical disability and is attending a special upper-secondary school, you can receive compensation for vab up until the end of the spring semester the year the child turns 23 years of age.