Child Care Benefit

The following persons are entitled to receive the child care benefit:

citizens, non-citizens of Latvia, foreigners, and stateless persons living in Latvia who have received a personal identification code.

The benefit is not granted to persons who have received a temporary residence permit.

The benefit is granted to:

a person taking care of the child if this person was not employed on the day of granting of the benefit (is not deemed to be an employee or a self-employed person in accordance with the law „On State Social Insurance”):

• one of the child’s parents;
• guardian or other person who in accordance with the decision of orphan’s court actually takes care of the child and raises him or her.

The benefit is granted up to two years of child’s age.

The benefit is granted in accordance with Section 7 of the Law on State Social Allowances and the Cabinet of Ministers Regulations No. 1609 “Regulations Regarding the Amount of the Allowance for Child Care and the Supplement to the Allowance for Child Care for Twins or More Children Born During One Delivery, the Review Procedures Thereof, and the Procedures for Granting and Payment of the Allowance and Supplement” as of 22 December 2009.

How and where to apply for the benefit?

When applying for the child care benefit an application for granting of the benefit must be submitted.

The application for granting of the benefit can be sent also by post or in electronic form in accordance with the regulatory enactments regarding drawing up of electronic documents. When applying for the benefit by post or e-mail application forms in the webpage of the State Social Insurance Agency www.vsaa.lv can be used (Application for granting of the parents’ benefit/child care benefit and supplement to the parents’ benefit/child care benefit for twins or more children born during one delivery or Application for granting of the parents’ benefit/child care benefit and supplement to the parents’ benefit/child care benefit for twins or more children born during one delivery (if any of the family members is (or was) employed in the EU/EEA), or a free text application can be submitted stating the following information:

1. 1. benefit and supplement applicant’s:

• name, surname;
• personal identification code;
• address of the declared place of residence;
• telephone number or e-mail address;
• account number of credit institution or postal account system (21 symbols);
• type of the benefit applied for (child care benefit, supplement to the child care benefit or parent’s benefit for twins of more children born during one delivery);
• information about work;

2. child’s:

• name, surname;
• personal identification code;

3. if place of residence of the benefit applicant or any of the child’s parents has been or is in another member state of the European Economic Area or the accordant person has been or is employed in another member state of the European Economic Area, additionally the following information about this person must be stated:

• name, surname;
• personal identification code;
• address of the declared place of residence;
• address of actual place of residence in another member state of the European Economic Area;
• country of employment and name and address of the employer;
• beginning and end date of employment;
• sickness, maternity and unemployed person’s benefits and pension received in the member state of the European Economic Area, stating the period of receipt thereof;
• benefits received for the child in another member state of the European Economic Area, stating the period of receipt thereof;
• identification or social insurance number received in another member state of the European Economic Area.

If the child was born abroad, together with the application a copy of the document on registration of the birth fact of the child issued by a competent institution of the foreign country must be submitted and the original thereof must be presented (when applying for the benefit by post a notarized copy of this document must be annexed to the application). A translation must be annexed to the document issued by the competent institution of the foreign country, and it must be legalized. If the document has been issued in a country of the European Union, the European Economic Area, or the Swiss Confederation legalization is not necessary.

The benefit applicant attests with a signature that the information provided in the application is true.

The documents can be submitted at any department of the SSIA.

If the benefit applicant is a guardian or a person who actually raises the child then information about establishing of guardianship or payment of benefit to the person who actually raises the child will be submitted to the SSIA by the orphan’s court that made the decision on establishment of guardianship or payment of the benefit to the person who actually raises the child.

When submitting the application at the department of SIAA it is not necessary to present a personal identification document. However, in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Law, when providing to the person information related to the specific person SSIA has the rights and the person has the duty to present a document that allows to identify this person.

An authorized person can also apply for the benefit if he or she has formalized the representation rights in accordance with Paragraph one, Section 38 of the Administrative Procedure Law. Representation of a natural person is formalized with a notarized letter of attorney, also natural person can authorize his or her representative in the institution (SSIA) by both the representative and the authorizing person arriving to the institution in person.

The application for granting of the child care benefit must be submitted not later than 12 months from the moment when the right is created. If the benefit is applied for later it is granted only for the previous 12 months before the application date.

What is the amount of the child care benefit?

Who receives?	How long?	Amount in 2012 (LVL)	Amount in 2013 (LVL)
Unemployed persons	Until the child is one year old	50	100
Everyone (both the employed and unemployed persons)	From when the child is one year old to one and a half year old	30	100
	From when the child is one and a half year old to two years old	30	30

 

If the child care benefit or the parental benefit is granted for twins or more children born during the same childbirth, a bonus will be paid for each additional child in addition to the child care benefit base amount or the parental benefit. The bonus amounts are as follows:

 

Who receives?	How long?	Amount in 2012 (LVL)	Amount in 2013 (LVL)
Recipients of the parental benefit or the child care benefit	Until the child is one year old	50	100
	From when the child is one year old to one and a half year old	30	100
	From when the child is one and a half year old to two years old	30	30

 

For individuals who have been granted the benefit before 31 December 2012, the payment of which continues after 1 January 2013, the benefit amount will be recalculated starting from 1 January 2013 and the difference will be paid until 1 April 2013.

 

For example, in December 2012, a mother receives the child care benefit in the amount of 30 lats for a child who is one year and 1 month old. During the first months of 2013, she will receive the same benefit in the amount of 30 lats, but the difference between the 30 lats and the new benefit amount — 100 lats will be paid until the end of March.

 

How fast is this benefit granted?

The decision on granting of the benefit is made within one month after the department of SSIA has received all documents necessary for granting of the benefit.

Where can the child care benefit be received?

The benefit is transferred to the account of a credit institution or postal account system stated by you.