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Child allowance

Child allowance is financial support that is automatically paid out to parents who live and have children in Sweden.

Can I receive child allowance and large family supplement?

You can receive child allowance if the following applies to you:

  • You are the legal custodian of a child who is younger than 16 years old and who lives in Sweden.
  • You and the child are insured in Sweden.

You can receive large family supplement if you have at least two children for whom you are receiving child allowance. This also applies if you are receiving extended child allowance or study allowance for them.

If you or the other parent live in, work in or are receiving a pension from another EU/EEA country or Switzerland, this may affect your child allowance. This also applies if your child lives in another EU/EEA country or Switzerland. Contact us on 010‑115 10 20 to find out what applies in your particular case.

EU family benefits

 

Who receives the child allowance depends on when the child was born. Unless you have notified that you want to change the distribution, the following applies:

  • The child allowance is divided equally between you if the child was born on or after 1 March 2014.
  • All of the child allowance is paid to the person who gave birth to the child if the child was born before 1 March 2014.

If you have sole custody of the child, all of the child allowance will be paid out to you.

The large family supplement is usually paid out automatically to the person receiving the child allowance, but in some cases you will need to apply for it.

What do I need to do to receive child allowance?

You do not need to apply for child allowance. It is paid automatically if you are the legal custodian of the child and you and the child are insured in Sweden. The first disbursement will be made in the month after the child was born and will be paid out up to and including the quarter when the child turns 16 years old.

 

You do not need to apply for child allowance but Försäkringskassan needs information from you in order to take a decision on child allowance. This is what you must do:

  1. Submit form 5456 Information for investigation of insurance affiliation.
  2. You must also submit the adoption consent document and information about when the child came into your care.

You can receive child allowance earliest from the month after the child came into your care.

5456 Information for investigation of insurance affiliation Pdf, 862 kB.

 

You and the other parent can change who will receive the child allowance by logging in to My pages.

If you and the other parent do not agree on who will receive the child allowance, Försäkringskassan can examine your application even without the other parent signing the application.

Once you have registered, we will start investigating where the child lives and who is entitled to the child allowance. We will start by contacting the other parent and informing them of the information you have given us. We will contact you if we need more information from you before we make a decision on child allowance.

Since we need to check the information with the other parent, it will take longer to process the case than if you both register together.

When will the distribution of the child allowance change?

If you agree, the new distribution of the child allowance will take effect the month after you both have approved the application.

If you do not agree, it may take longer because we have to make an investigation about the child's accommodation.

Disbursement

Information about when you receive your payments:

Utbetalningsdatum och handläggningstider (in Swedish) External link.

What happens to the child allowance when the child turns 16?

When your child turns 16, they will no longer receive child allowance. The month of your child's birthday determines how long they will receive child allowance.

 

If your child turns 16 in January – June, the final child allowance disbursement will be in June. You will not receive child allowance or study allowance for July and August from the year the child turns 16.

If your child begins studying at upper secondary school in the autumn, CSN (the National Board of Student Aid) will begin paying out study allowance to your child in September.

 

If your child turns 16 in July – September, the final child allowance disbursement will be in September.

If your child is studying at upper secondary school, CSN (the National Board of Student Aid) will begin paying out study allowance to your child in October. The study allowance will then be paid out every month with the exception of July and August.

 

If your child turns 16 in October – December, the final child allowance disbursement will be in December.

If your child is studying at upper secondary school, CSN (the National Board of Student Aid) will begin paying out study allowance to your child in January of the following year. The study allowance will then be paid out every month with the exception of July and August.

 

If your child has reached the age of 16 and is still at compulsory school or special school, you will receive extended child allowance from Försäkringskassan until the child leaves school.

You do not need to do anything. The school will inform us that your child should receive extended child allowance.

 

You can continue receiving large family supplement for a child who has turned 16 if the child:

  • lives with you
  • is studying full time at an upper-secondary school, compulsory school or special school
  • is unmarried.

This applies up to and including the month of June of the year the child turns 20.

If you received a decision on large family supplement after 1 January 2019

If your child has reached the age of 16 and is studying full-time at upper secondary school, the large family supplement follows the payment of study allowance from CSN. This means that the large family supplement will not be paid out until after the first disbursement of study allowance.

For example, if the first payment of study allowance is made in January, the large family supplement for January will be paid at the beginning of February. Subsequent payments will then be made on the 20th of each month up to and including June of the same school year.

 

Since CSN does not pay out study allowance in July and August, you will have to wait for the large family supplement until the first payment of study allowance for the school year takes place at the end of September.

The large family supplement for July, August and September will be paid out in mid-October.

The payment of large family supplement is paused every summer for children studying with study allowance. This means that for children who turn 16 in January-June, the payment of large family supplement for the summer months will be made retroactively, even though the child has not yet started upper secondary school.

 

If you have two children, one at upper secondary school and the other at compulsory school, your large family supplement will be paused during the summer. All the large family supplement for July, August and September will be paid at the beginning of October.

If you have two children aged 16 or over and one 14-year-old, your large family supplement will be paused during the summer. All the large family supplement for July, August and September will be paid at the beginning of October.

If you have three or more children and one of them attends upper secondary school, during the summer you will only get large family supplement for the children at compulsory school. The large family supplement that you get for your oldest child will be paused during July, August and September. You will receive that money at the beginning of October. You will receive the large family supplement for the other children as usual every month.

Report changes

Let us know as soon as possible if:

  • you have a child over the age of 16 who discontinues their studies
  • you have a child over the age of 16 who no longer lives with you
  • you are receiving large family supplement because you are a live-in partner but are going to separate or have separated
  • you have large family supplement for a child who is getting married
  • the custody of your child changes
  • you, the other parent or the child moves to, starts working in, or receives a pension from another EU or EEA country or Switzerland
  • you or the child are planning to live abroad for more than six months
  • a stay abroad, which was intended to be maximum six months, becomes longer.

Report changes to Försäkringskassan no later than 14 days after you learned about the changes. If you do not report changes and receive too much allowance, you may be required to pay the money back to Försäkringskassan.

Related links

Learn more about Försäkringskassan

Family benefits

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