Daycare activities are regulated by the Act and Decree on Early Childhood Education and Care (540/2018). If you wish to set up a private daycare centre, the facilities need to be pre-approved. An initial inspection of the intended premises will be conducted to assess their suitability for early childhood education and care activities. If the premises are found appropriate, the service provider must then contact the environmental health and food control authorities, the rescue authority and, if necessary, the building control services.
The daycare centre premises must be planned or built following the City of Tampere guidelines for designing daycare centres, which set out the general operational guidelines and the specific guidelines for equipping facilities when planning daycare centres that operate within the city of Tampere.
Planning instructions for daycare centres (tampereentilapalvelut.fi) (34 pages, in Finnish).
Daycare services can be provided on the basis of private daycare allowances or service vouchers. Whichever method is chosen, the quality requirements for early childhood education and care activities must be met (see Appendix to the Code of Practice).
When preparing to set up a new daycare centre, the service provider must cooperate closely with the guidance and supervisory services for early childhood education and care. The documents relating to the establishment of the daycare centre must be submitted no later than two months before starting off the operations. The final inspection of the premises must be carried out well before the activities will begin.
You can apply for a discretionary start-up grant when setting up a daycare centre that operates on the basis of private daycare allowances (excluding service vouchers). Start-up grants are one-off payments amounting to € 500 for each place in full-time care to be created. See above for instructions for application.
