Parents who cannot bring their children to child care receive their own contribution back

Parents will continue to pay their own income-related contribution for entitlement to the childcare allowance (kinderopvangtoeslag), as the government wants to ensure that childcare organisations can provide high quality emergency care. It is not an ideal situation for parents to pay the costs of personal contribution for childcare which they are not using but please rest assured that all parents will be compensated. In addition there will be no costs to parents employed in the vital sectors who use the emergency childcare facilities. 

Tamara van Ark: “We want to enable childcare locations to provide good emergency care for parents who are now working in vital sectors. I am proud of how the childcare sector is currently tackling this. If the bills are not paid, we run the risk that reception locations will be endangered and in the worst-case-scenario they will have to close. This would also be highly undesirable in the long term. We want to prevent this with this compensation.” [translated from Dutch]

Solution

There are a few options under construction. One of the possibilities is that the Tax and Customs Administration aim to transfer the parents' own contributions to the 3,500 childcare organisations. The childcare organisations can then transfer the overpaid part, i.e. the difference between the invoice amount and the childcare allowance received, directly back to the parents over the period Monday 16th March 2020 to Tuesday 28th April 2020. In the event that the situation continues longer, this option can be extended.

Other options for executing the refund are also being considered. The details of the arrengement are currently under construction. Childcare organizations and parents will be informed as soon as possible.

Alexandra van Huffelen: “It is good that parents are getting clarity. They can simply keep their childcare spot even if the children are temporarily not going to childcare. Together with the sector, the tax authorities ensure that parents are compensated for the overpaid personal contribution. I hope this gives the parents peace in this difficult time.”[translated from Dutch]

The Branch Association for Social Childcare, the Branch Organisation for Childcare, the Association of Parents in Childcare (BOinK), the Tax and Customs Administration and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment have joined forces to come to this solution. This arrangement compensates the costs to the parents and allows the childcare organisations to survive. Parents can continue to pay with peace of mind and will not be at a financial disadvantage. The child's allocated spot at their chosen childcare facility is retained for when the location returns to a normal schedule and the right to ‘childcare allowance’ will continue.

Employees in the vital sectors

The government considers it important that employees in the vital sectors can continue to work and that childcare is available to them. From Monday, childcare facilities were ready to receive all children from one or both parents who work in the vital sectors. If in a family one parent works in a vital sector and it is not possible to arrange childcare, an appeal can be made to the school and /or childcare (day care, after-school care, childminder). It is therefore not an obligation that both parents work in a vital sector to be entitled to emergency childcare. This then allows the parents who are now crucial in care, education and other places in society, the ability to work without worrying about childcare.