Care days from NAV (sick child days)

Caring days are also called "sick child days". Care days are used when your child e.g. has a cold and cannot/should not be in nursery school or school, or if the child is going to the doctor even if the child is not sick that particular day. You will then receive a salary (care allowance) from your employer or NAV, even if you have to be with your child.

To be entitled to care allowance you must

Take care of the child
Have been in work for at least 4 weeks before you can use care days

(If you have not been in work but have care allowance, sickness allowance, daily allowance, parental allowance, maternity allowance or training allowance, this is equivalent to employment and therefore also entitles you to use care days).

The employer is obliged to pay care days as long as there are days left in the current calendar year. Parents themselves are responsible for assessing the child's condition.

How many care days you are entitled to per calendar year depends on your situation

If you live with the other parent
If you have sole care
How many children you have
If the other parent cannot supervise the child, even if you live together
If the child has a functional variation, chronic or long-term illness and you have been approved for extra days from NAV

As an employee (or one of the NAV schemes mentioned above), you automatically have 10 care days per calendar year until the child is 12 years old and you do not need to apply for it.
If you are alone in the care, you also automatically get double the number of days (that is, 20 care days per calendar year).

Extra care days (extra sick child days)

If you have a child with functional variation, a chronic or long-term illness that increases the risk of absence, you can apply for extra care days from NAV.

In this situation, as an employee, you can apply to receive 10 extra care days for each calendar year, or 20 extra care days if you are the sole caregiver.

If you have several children with functional variation, chronic or long-term illness, you can get 10 extra days for each child.

If you are granted extra care days due to a child with functional variation, a chronic or long-term illness, you will have care days that apply until the end of the calendar year in which the child turns 18, regardless of whether you are usual employee, freelancer or self-employed.

You must have a medical certificate on the child's condition in the application. In it, it must be confirmed that the child's illness/functional variation means that you have a markedly higher risk of absence from work.

Incidentally, you can apply for extra care days in 3 situations:

you are alone in the care of children
you/you have a child with functional variation, a chronic or long-term illness
you live with the other parent who cannot supervise children for a period of at least 6 months

When can you use care days?

You can use care days when you have to be away from work because:

The child, or the person looking after the child, has fallen ill.
The child must see a doctor, even if the child is not ill on the day in question.
You must attend a follow-up meeting with your child. This can, for example, be with a doctor, physiotherapist, PPT, BUP, or responsibility group in connection with an individual plan.
The person who usually looks after the child must accompany another child to examination or admission.
The other carer cannot supervise the child because of the care for other children. This applies even if the other carer receives parental allowance.

Flexible outlet

If you need to take care days more flexibly, e.g. half a working day or by the hour, then it is up to the employer to approve it.

The employer nevertheless has a duty to discuss with the shop stewards whether the right to flexible use of care days should be granted.

Distribution of care days between the parents

Parents who are not together can allocate care days according to agreement, regardless of agreed visitation in the visitation agreement. There is no need to notify NAV in writing.

When one of the parents is alone in the care, the care days can be distributed between the parents by agreement.

When one of the parents is alone in the care, up to 10 of the care days can be transferred to a spouse, or to a cohabitant when the cohabitation relationship has lasted for at least 12 months.

In some cases, it may also be that only one of the parents has the opportunity to supervise the child, even if the parents are together. This then qualifies for one parent to be considered to be solely responsible for the care according to the legislation: "The employee is also considered to be alone in the care of a child if the other of the child's parents cannot supervise the child for a long time because he or she is disabled, admitted to a health institution, is in prison, is serving military service, etc."

Even then, the parents themselves can distribute the care days between them. It must not be applied for.

Examples of what could be the reason why one parent cannot have supervision are:

Physically or mentally ill, own functional variation
Admitted to a health institution/hospital
Jail
Performs military service

Link to application

The application is digital:

Application for extra care days

Vacation money

Holiday pay from carer's pay is generally paid by your employer. When your employer pays you care allowance, you get holiday pay for all the care days you have used.

If NAV has paid care allowance directly to you, you will also receive the holiday allowance from NAV. The holiday allowance then amounts to 10.2 % of the care allowance, and is paid out the year after it is earned.