Can my child receive attendance allowance?

Your child can receive attendance allowance if the child

• is covered by the Act regarding Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments (LSS)
• has a disability that causes significant difficulties in their daily life
• is insured in Sweden. A child who lives in Sweden is insured here.

In order for your child to receive assistance allowance, the child should also need personalized support for more than 20 hours per week for help with any of the following:

• breathing
• personal hygiene
• eating meals
• getting dressed and undressed
• communication with others
• other assistance that requires in-depth knowledge of the child as a person.

It is when your child needs assistance with these needs for more than 20 hours per week that he or she can receive assistance allowance from Försäkringskassan. If your child receives assistance allowance for these needs, he or she may also receive allowance for other personal needs.

If your child needs assistance with needs for less than 20 hours a week, you can instead apply for personal assistance with your municipality. The municipality can also help with other support for children with disabilities.

How do I apply?

1. Ask for a doctor's statement

Contact your child’s doctor to get a statement describing their disability and how it affects them.

2. Fill in an application form

Fill in the form Application for attendance allowance.

3062 Application for attendance allowance (in Swedish) Pdf, 785 kB.

If the child has two guardians, both guardians must sign the application.

Since we contact you after receiving your application, it is OK if your application is brief or if something is missing.

3. Send in the form and the medical documentation

Send the form and the medical documentation to Försäkringskassan.

If you applied for personal assistance with your municipality, they will sometimes send in a report to Försäkringskassan. This is then considered your application and you do not have to do anything. Contact your municipality to learn what applies in your situation.

4. The administrator will contact you and schedule a meeting

We will confirm the application within a week. If we need to talk to you we will schedule a meeting. At the meeting, we will discuss your child's needs to determine how much assistance he or she requires.

By law, children have the right to receive information and express their opinions on issues that concern themselves. Your child is welcome to join the meeting that is held by phone, at your home or at Försäkringskassan. If the child is unable to decide on its participation, you as the guardian decide if and how much your child may participate. Please let us know if there is anything special we need to know before the meeting.

5. You receive a decision

It normally takes 5 months before you receive a decision on activity allowance. However, it may take longer if the necessary documents are missing.

6. Choose how your child’s assistance will be arranged

If you have not already done so, choose how the assistance will be arranged. You can purchase personal assistance services from a municipal or private assistance provider, employ your assistants yourself or combine these alternatives. You must also decide whether the money should be paid to you or to a provider. Inform us of your choice by completing and sending in the form:

3079 Report provider and payment recipient of assistance allowance (in Swedish) Pdf, 788 kB.

7. Send in the invoice and time report

8. Disbursement

The allowance can be paid out two ways, either in advance or retrospectively. Retrospective payment is most common. It is only possible to receive the allowance in advance if you employ all of the child’s assistants yourself.

Retroactive assistance allowance is paid out around the 5th or the 20th of each month. The allowance is paid once all of the documents have been received and processed.

Assistance compensation in advance is paid once a month. Around the 20th of each month, you will receive a preliminary disbursement for the number of hours of assistance allowance you have been granted.

Special disbursement dates

Special disbursement dates and processing times

Always report changes

Call your case administrator if your child

• moves to another residence
• needs more or less assistance
• receives some other form of support, e.g. from the municipality, region or school
• moves to an assisted living facility
• are being cared for at a hospital
• receives assistive devices
• travels abroad and this affects how the child's assistants work.

Please also inform us if a licensed healthcare professional determines that you need some form of medical intervention. Some changes may affect your right to attendance allowance. If you have received money you were not entitled to, you may be required to pay money back. Report the change to Försäkringskassan as soon as possible, but no later than 14 days after you learned about the change.

Assistive devices are provided by the municipality or region (county council). You can read more about assistive devices at

1177 vårdguiden (1177.se) External link, opens in new window.