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Who can receive child care benefit?

You have to satisfy certain conditions to be entitled to benefit as a single mother or father.

The main conditions are:

• You and the child must have been living in Norway for the last three years.
• You and the child must live in Norway.
• You must be unmarried, separated or divorced.
• You must be the sole carer of the child.
• You must not be in a relationship with the child’s other parent that means that you are not a single parent.

You can read more about the conditions defined in the National Insurance Act under the heading Regulations in the menu to the right.

If you meet requirements for entitlement, you can receive child care benefit to cover the costs of child minding because you are working, actively seeking work or studying. You can also receive child care benefit to set up your own business.

It is a condition that you then entrust someone else with looking after your child, for example a day-care institution (barnehage), day-care facilities for schoolchildren (SFO) or a child minder. It is also a condition that you pay for this child care.

For how long will you receive child care benefit?

As a general rule, you are entitled to receive child care benefit until the child has completed their fourth year of school. If your child needs significantly more care than other children in the same age group, you may also be entitled to continue receiving child care benefit after the fourth year of school. To claim extended child care benefit, you must document your child’s special needs with a medical certificate or similar. Child care benefit may also be extended if your work or studies entail that you need to be away from home for long periods or if you have irregular working hours (for example shift work). In all cases, you must provide documentation of your employment, child care arrangements and how much you pay.

In the event of temporary illness, you are entitled to continue receiving child care benefit for up to one year to prevent you from losing your child care arrangements. This is on the condition that your child is still looked after by someone else while you are sick and that you continue to pay for the child care.

Child care benefit is normally granted for one year at a time. Child care benefit is not normally paid in the one month holiday when day-care institutions and day-care facilities for schoolchildren are closed. You must therefore remember to apply for this benefit in plenty of time before the next school year.

How much will you receive?

Child care benefit covers 64 per cent of the documented expenses up to the upper limits defined by the Storting. This means that you must pay 36 per cent of the costs of child care yourself.

If your annual earned income is greater than six times the national insurance basic amount (6 x G; currently: NOK 437,286), you are not entitled to child care benefit. Child care benefit is not subject to taxation and is paid from the month you meet the conditions for entitlement. 

How do you apply for child care benefit?

You must apply for child care benefit using the form “Søknad om overgangsstønad, stønad til barnetilsyn, utdanningsstønad og flytteutgifter til enslig mor/far” (Application form for transitional benefit, child care benefit, education benefit and relocation grant for single parents), which is under the heading Forms and enclosures in the menu to the right. Here you will also find information about the documents you need to submit with your application.

Submit your application to your NAV office.

Decision

First, NAV will send you a letter informing you about expected processing time. When your claim has been processed, you will receive written notification of the decision.

If you move abroad?

If you are going to work abroad for a Norwegian employer and remain a member of the Norwegian National Insurance scheme, you may be entitled to child care benefit. The same applies if you are going to study or work abroad for less than six months. In these cases, you must submit an application to your NAV office before you travel.

You must always notify your NAV office if you are moving abroad or going to live overseas temporarily. There is more information about living abroad under the heading International in the menu to the right.

Most of the main information about your entitlements and duties is available here in English. There are also links to other more detailed information; however, some of this information is only available in Norwegian.