Baby bonus

Virrat would like to reward you for the great choice to be born in Virrat. To encourage this, Virrat pays a total of €4,000 as a baby bonus. Each person born in Virrat will, therefore, receive €500 per year for the first eight years of their life, assuming they continue to live there. The baby bonus applies to those born from the beginning of 2020 and after. The bonus is taxable income for the parent. The municipal government reserves the right to ultimately determine the criteria for and eligibility for the benefit.

 How to get the €4,000 baby bonus?

 The baby is first born. After that, fill in the application form. You can get the form at the children’s health clinic or on the Virrat website here (pdf).

1. We will contact you if we need more information.
2. The first instalment of €500 will be paid shortly after the birth.
3. You must officially live in Virrat until 31 December on the following years. For the next seven years, €500 will be paid at the beginning of each year, for a total of €4,000 spread out over eight years. 

Free early childhood education and care 

Virrat would like to invest in families with children and attract new families to the area. The Town Council has decided that there will be no fees charged for early childhood education in Virrat from 1 January 2023 onwards. 

How to get free early childhood education and care? 

1. A child officially living in Virrat will receive a 0-fee decision regardless of the income and size of the family.
2. The 0-fee decision is based on a fee category, i.e. the need for care, as it has been until now. Changes to the need for care are always made in the E-daisy service by changing the hourly limit and the child's placement decision is updated. The new placement decision should be valid for at least three months. The E-daisy service also allows you to terminate your place of care if there is no longer any need for it.
3. The fee categories shall remain unchanged and are as follows:

Early childhood education and care            Early childhood education and care to supplement pre-primary education

 0–86h per month                                                  0–80 h per month

 87–115h per month                                            81–115 h per month

 116–149h per month                                          116h or more per month

 150h or more per month   

1. Daily care hours will be reported via Daisyfamily as before, as staff resourcing and children's meal orders are based on this information. Care hours are based on the selected fee category, i.e. the extent of the need for care.
2. Families are asked separately about their needs for holiday care.

For more detailed instructions, carers should contact the care unit. 

Housing benefit for new employees

Many people are now looking for a home in the countryside but need encouragement to move away from the big cities for work.  In order to facilitate this situation, new employees of companies in the Virrat economic area are offered rental accommodation at a 50% discount. The aim of this trial in Virrat is to facilitate access to labour and attract potential migrants to live and work in the area.

 Virrat offers housing at a 50% discount to company employees for a period of six months. There is a limited number of homes included in the trial. The rent relief is available for leases that start between 1 Jan and 31 Dec 2024. However, the lease may be longer than this. 

 The apartment must be booked through the company. The employer notifies the municipality of the employee’s need for accommodation and reserves a rental apartment from the quota. The lease is then concluded directly between the landlord and the tenant. The condition is that the company in the area must prove that at least one person moving into the household has a contract of employment for the rental period.

 The town reserves the right to offer suitable vacant apartment, to determine the more specific terms of the lease and to limit the number of units available. 

 One person can only receive the benefit once. If the employment contract at the workplace ends before six months have passed, the rent becomes the normal rate.

How to get a rental apartment with a 50% rent relief?

 The company recruits a new employee and notifies the town of their right to a rent relief.

1. The tenant contacts the POHI office (+358 3 4755779, toimisto@pohi.fi), which then suggests available apartments.
2. If a suitable apartment is found in the quota, a rental contract will be concluded in the normal way.
3. The lease is for a fixed term of up to six months at a reduced rent and must start before 31 December 2024. After that, the lease can continue for an indefinite period at the normal rent.
4. The town reserves the right to require a normal security deposit before the start of the tenancy in order to cover any possible damages caused by the tenant.

Housing benefit for students

Would you like to study independently in Virrat? Are you looking for distance learning in a rural town, in a pleasant campus environment close to a library, secondary schools, town services and sports facilities?

Virrat provides free accommodation for all upper secondary school and higher education students in local student apartments or other free rental apartments, if necessary. The tenant is charged only for their water and electricity consumption. A requirement for receiving this benefit is a student status, for example under Kela conditions. 

In addition, the person must be registered in Virrat on 31 December. If this is not the case, the rent will be charged (€300 per month). Exceptions to this rule are short traineeships of less than 6 months, which are verified by a certificate issued by the place of traineeship.

There is a limited number of apartments available. The town reserves the right to offer a suitable vacant apartment and to review the rental terms. The apartments will be rented for the academic year 2024–2025. Rental apartments are available for the periods 1 Jan to 31 May 2024 and 1 Sep 2024 to 31 May 2025.

How to get free student accommodation?

How to get free student accommodation?

1. Inquire about a free apartment from Siivous ja kotiapu Myllyaho, tel. +358 44 5029 294. Tell them that you are applying for free student accommodation.
2. Ask your school or university for a certificate of your place of study. It must be presented before the lease is signed.
3. If you come to Virrat for a traineeship and would like a lease of less than six months, ask your employer for a traineeship certificate.
4. Choose a suitable apartment from those offered and agree on the terms and conditions with Siivous ja kotiapu Myllyaho.
5. Live comfortably and make sure you are registered in your apartment on 31 December 2024.

Example: If you live in a student apartment in autumn between September and November and only pay for water and electricity and then move out, and your municipality of residence is not Virrat on 31 December, you will be charged rent (€300 per month) for the period you have lived there. 

University student benefit 

Virrat would like to encourage people of all ages to settle and stay in Virta. Therefore, all students in a higher education degree programme living in Virrat have the opportunity to apply for an annual grant. The grant is €400 per year for all students in a higher education degree programme and living in Virrat.  This will compensate for the economic losses suffered by out-of-town students in many cities. Students have the option of living in their hometown during their studies, even if they have a second home in the city where they are studying.

At the same time, distance learning from Virrat is encouraged, which, on the one hand, engages young people to stay in Virrat and, on the other hand, encourages the use of multimodal and distance learning to increase their skills, ideally meeting the skills needs of local companies.

To be eligible for the grant, the student must be enrolled in a higher education institution (university of applied sciences or university) degree programme. The right to study and the validity of the study place must be proven by a certificate received from the educational institution. The grant is also conditional on the applicant being resident in Virrat on 31 December of the year in question. The grant is paid in January or February of the following year, after a verification of the applicant's place of residence.  

The student must be enrolled in a degree programme offered by a university or a university of applied sciences operating in Finland and under public supervision. The studies may be full-time or part-time. Ultimately, the town council shall decide on the grants and their criteria. The grant is taxable income.

How to get a €400 grant as a university student?

1. For the academic year 2024–2025, you can apply between 1 Sep and 31 Oct. Late applications will not be processed. 
2. The grant will be paid in January or February 2025.
3. The applicant must be a current degree level student at an institution of higher education.
4. The applicant must be a resident in Virrat according to the Population Register Centre. The applicant may have a residence in their  place of study during the studies, as long as the official place of residence is in Virrat. The data will be checked on 31 December 2024, according to the situation.

Fill in here: Online application for higher education student grant

Municipal supplement to home care allowance

Virrat pays a municipal supplement to home care allowance for a child under 3 years of age

 as a trial for the period of 1 Aug 2024 to 31 May 2025, with a supplement of €300 per child/month for the first child and €100 per child/month for the other children. To qualify, no child under the age of 3 in the family must be in municipal early childhood education and care, but the carers are able to choose other arrangements.

 For more detailed instructions, please contact the Early Childhood Education and Care Office.