Additional costs are costs that you incur due to your child's disability, i.e. costs in addition to those that are customary for children of the same age without disabilities. Additional costs can be incurred on a one-time basis or recurring costs, such as consumables.

The Swedish Social Insurance Agency will determine what counts as additional costs due to the child’s disability.

An example: You can normally not receive compensation to buy your child a bicycle since this is a cost that one usually has. However, if you need to adjust the bicycle for your child to be able to ride the bicycle despite their disability, you may be entitled to additional cost compensation. In this case, you will be reimbursed for the cost of adjusting the bicycle – you will not be reimbursed for the cost of the bicycle without adaptation.

Additional costs are divided into seven categories according to the legislation. It is not possible to list everything that may qualify as additional costs, however here are some examples.

1. Health, medical care and food. For example, costs for medicines and special diets.
2. Wear and tear and cleaning. For example, wear and tear on clothes, increased washing and cleaning.
3. Travel. For example, travel with own car if your child is unable to travel by public transportation.
4. Assistive devices. For example, the purchase or rental and insurance of assistive devices.
5. Assistance in daily life. For example, costs for services granted by the municipality.
6. Housing. For example, in the case of a change of housing, the cost of an additional room or a larger living space needed for care equipment, assistive devices or a treatment room may be an additional cost if the cost is not otherwise met.
7. Other purposes. This applies to additional costs due to a disability, which do not fit in the categories above.
   

You can only receive additional cost allowance for things that you pay for yourself

This means that you cannot receive allowance for things that the state, municipality or region pays for. This means, for example, that in case of patient transport with your child, you can only receive compensation up to the high-cost protection. Similarly, you cannot claim additional cost compensation for aids if there is an equivalent aid available to borrow for free from the municipality or region.

Therefore, you should contact the municipality or region before purchasing aids that the child needs due to their disability.

We assess whether the costs you have indicated in the application can be approved as additional costs. In order to receive additional cost allowance, the conditions described in the legislation must be met. This requires:

That the cost arises due to the disability

The cost must arise due to a disability, it cannot be a cost that you would have had even if the child did not have a disability. Based on the information in the medical documentation, we will assess whether there is a link between the disability and the cost.

The cost refers to what goes beyond what is normal for children of the same age who do not have a disability

In order to be regarded as an additional cost, the cost must go beyond the costs that one would normally have for children of the same age. We use information from, for example, the Swedish Consumer Agency to determine what can be considered normal costs even without a disability. After that we make an assessment of what costs go beyond that.

The cost is reasonable or fair

The cost must also be reasonable. Reasonable is an expression used in the legislation and is comparable to the cost being fair.

We assess the size of the costs based on your individual life situation. What is reasonable can vary on a case-by-case basis and we therefore investigate whether the additional costs are reasonable. We use information from various sources, such as regions, the Swedish Consumer Agency, the Swedish Energy Agency, FASS, occupational therapists, pharmacies and district nurses.

You pay for the cost yourself

The cost must be paid you. If the state, municipality or region pays it, it is not considered an additional cost.

If the state, municipality or region meets any part of your child's needs, it is called other community support in the legislation and is not approved as an additional cost. Therefore, we need to know what possible services or support the child has. For example, it may be that the municipality pays for a support that the child needs or that a need is met by us paying out another allowance for the child.

You calculate how much additional costs you have per year for your child. In order to do this, you need to compare this figure to how much you would have needed to pay if the child did not have a disability. You can use information from the Swedish Consumer Agency or from other sources to find out what costs one usually has even without a disability. If you do not know this, write it in your application.

If the state, municipality or region reimburses any part of your costs, you need to exclude it when you calculate how large your additional costs are.

If you have an additional cost for a more expensive product with a long lifespan, Försäkringskassan calculates what the annual cost will be. This means that if, for example, the product costs SEK 6,000, the cost is distributed over the number of years the product is expected to be used. This is normally 10 years. The additional cost will then be SEK 600 per year.