A cash benefit scheme has been introduced to help parents to spend more time caring for their own children and to give them genuine freedom of choice as regards type of care for their children. This benefit is also designed to bring about greater equality in the transfers that the individual family receives from the State for childcare, irrespective of the childcare arrangements made by the parents.
The cash benefit is granted for children between 1 and 3 years of age who are either not enrolled or are only enrolled part-time at a day-care institution receiving public funding. The cash benefit is granted in the amounts fixed by the Storting (Norwegian national assembly). In 2006 the full rate has been set at NOK 3,303 (approx. EUR 412) per month. The cash benefit is only granted at the full rate for children who are not enrolled at a publicly-funded day-care institution.
If a child is officially enrolled part-time at a publicly-funded day-care institution, a reduced-rate cash benefit is granted according to an incremental scale. Children enrolled at a day-care institution for 33 hours or more per week are not eligible for the cash benefit. The cash benefit is granted to the person with whom the child is living permanently.
The benefit recipient and the child must be resident in Norway. A child is deemed to be resident in Norway when it has spent or will be spending more than 12 months in Norway. A temporary stay abroad of up to three months does not cut short a period of residence. The cash benefit is also paid for children living in another EEA country if the provider is working in Norway.
By the Norwegian Ministry of Children and Gender Equality