Leaving your children in good hands and going to work yourself: that costs money. But how much, that differs per type of childcare. Do you bring your child to grandparents, do you negotiate about diapers and fruit snacks, do you enter into a ‘service provision’ or do you opt for the parent participation crèche? NU.nl lists the options.
Leaving your children in good hands and going to work yourself: that costs money. But how much differs per type of childcare. Do you bring your child to grandpa and grandma, do you negotiate about diapers and fruit snacks, do you enter into a ‘service arrangement’ or do you opt for the parent participation crèche? NU.nl lists the options.
In 2018, 778,000 children attended daycare centers, out-of-school care or childminders. That number is increasing, calculated the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. The number of children whose parents make use of childcare allowance increased to 815,000, which is an increase of 37,000 children compared to last year.
More children go to childcare, and that childcare is becoming more and more expensive. The costs for childcare have recently been increased by the cabinet, because daycare centers have to adhere to new quality requirements since 1 January 2019.
Childcare, says Gjalt Jellesma of the Association of Parents in Childcare (Boink), is about trust, not money. The market is failing when it comes to the childcare industry, says Jellesma.
Jellesma: “Parents choose the care of their child on the basis of feeling and a convenient location. They do not conduct extensive market research, but must trust that the care of their child is good. You cannot go with a notepad in a corner. sit down taking minutes. ”
Because parents often do not look at a few cents extra, the costs are high for many parents, despite the surcharges. Moreover, there are long waiting lists and parents are not going to wait a year to save a dime, says Jellesma.
Grandparents cannot just be a childminder
Parents who stay away from day care centers do influence the price. Grandfathers and grandmothers, or sisters who look after each other’s children: you can formalize that as parents. That process is susceptible to fraud, says Jellesma, but is still permitted by the government.
Grandparents have to do something for this: follow the secondary vocational education 2-course childminder, apply for a Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG) and register with a childminder agency. They are then paid for the hours they look after the grandchildren through the childminder agency, and their children can apply for a supplement.
The childminder
Such a childminder does not have to be a grandfather, grandmother or acquaintance. Although the number of childminders is decreasing – from 46,000 to 31,000 in five years – this form of childcare is cheaper and especially useful for parents who have to provide flexible work themselves.
Parents often pay the childminder per hour, and the average hourly rate is more than 1.50 euros per hour cheaper than a day nursery, according to a Boink price poll in 2018. The age of the children does not matter for the price, and childminders are more flexible . The childminder, says Jellesma, should not be seen as a paper route. “It is a profession and the only form of flexible care that really works.”
The service provision scheme
Then there is the ‘service provision scheme’. As a private client you can have someone do jobs in and around your house for a maximum of four days a week. A gardener, a dog walker, but also a babysitter for the children.
With this scheme you are not an official employer and you do not pay any employer costs. You are obliged to pay the babysitter the minimum wage. That can be a lot lower than the average costs of a daycare center. An eighteen-year-old babysitter who babysits eight hours a week is entitled to a minimum wage of 5.25 euros per hour.
The parent participation crèche
Those who are willing to roll up their sleeves can contact the parent participation crèche (OPC). These are day care centers that are run by parents and so far have a tolerated status, so that parents can apply for a supplement. In these parent participation crèches, the parents work unpaid in day-care centers.
There are no professionals, which means that they do not meet the legal quality requirements. The future of these OPCs is not yet clear, although State Secretary Tamara van Ark of Social Affairs and Employment promised to equate this form of childcare in a new law.
In any case, they are cheap: parents who participate for part of the day themselves pay 2.49 euros per hour at OPC De Krakeling in Utrecht, including fruit and drinks. Parents receive the normal allowance on that low amount.
