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Care of a sick child (vab)

If you need to stay home from work or refrain from receiving unemployment benefit, you can receive compensation for care of a sick child (vab).

You can receive compensation for caring for a sick child

You can receive compensation for caring for a sick child

  • from the day when the child is 8 months old up until the day before the child turns 12. There are times when you are entitled to compensation even if the child is older or younger, for example if the child is covered by the Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (LSS).
  • if you stay home from work or refrain from receiving unemployment insurance to take care of a sick child.
  • if you accompany the child to the doctor, children's health centre, dentist, or child and adolescent psychiatric services.
  • if you are home with the child because the ordinary caregiver is sick.
  • if you are participating in a course arranged by a healthcare provider in order to learn how to care for your child.
  • if you are insured in Sweden. You usually are if you live or work here.
  • if the child lives in Sweden or within the EU/EEA or Switzerland.

 

There are certain situations where you can receive compensation for caring for a child younger than 8 months. This applies if:

  • the child is in hospital, or
  • the child has a permanent place in child care and you need to stay home from your work to care for the child

 

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.

If your child has reached the age of 18 and you do not have a preliminary decision, you will need to apply for vab compensation on a form.

How many days can I receive compensation for caring for a sick child?

You can receive compensation for caring for a sick child for a maximum of 120 days per year. For the final 60 days, you can only receive the compensation if the child is ill and not if the child's regular caregiver is ill.

If there are several people caring for the sick child, you can share the compensation days.

How do I apply?

1. Apply for temporary parental benefit (vab) (in Swedish)

Once the child has recovered and you are back at work or begin to seek work again, you must apply for compensation for the days you cared for the child. Remember to apply no more than 90 days from the first day you were home with the child.

If the child is ill for more than one week

Beginning with the 8th day of illness, you must send in a certificate from a doctor or nurse. The days for which you do not take out compensation for care of a sick child, for example Saturdays and Sundays, also count as part of the sickness period.

 

Notify the Public Employment Service (Arbetsförmedlingen) if you are taking care of a sick child and cannot participate in your programme. When you apply for compensation, you indicate that you were absent for temporary care of a child on the relevant days. You will receive compensation for the days you cared for a sick child.

If you are unable to log in to My pages (Mina sidor), you can apply using the form:
7114 Application for activity grant, development allowance and introduction benefit (in Swedish) Pdf, 845 kB.

2. Disbursement

Processing your application normally takes 30 days from the date we received it. You will receive your compensation on the 25th.

When will the disbursement appear on My pages (Mina sidor)?

As soon as we have processed your application, you can see your preliminary disbursements under Disbursements (Utbetalningar) on My pages (Mina sidor). The actual disbursement will be shown 1 bank day before the money is paid out.

Special disbursement dates

Special disbursement dates and processing times

3. Keep track with the vab calendar

My pages (Mina sidor) contains the vab calendar, where you can see when and how many days you, the other parent or another person cared for a sick child.

You can:

  • share the calendar with the other parent or the other individual who cared for the child during the illness, and see a breakdown of who used which days.
  • keep track of whose turn it is to stay home the next time the child falls ill.
  • see all days you applied for or received compensation for this year and last year.
  • choose if you want to look at one or more children.

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