News item | 15-09-2023 | 2:30 PM
Over the past 1.5 years, the government has worked hard on a new financing system for childcare. The childcare allowance affair has made it painfully clear that the system must be simplified and that more financial security for parents is needed. Due to the fall of the cabinet, a new system can no longer be introduced, but a lot of knowledge has been gained that the next cabinet can use to move forward.
Minister Van Gennip of Social Affairs and Employment wrote this to the House of Representatives, also on behalf of the Ministers Paul for Primary and Secondary Education and Dijkgraaf of Education, Culture and Science and State Secretary De Vries (Benefits and Customs).
Abolish surcharge
Good childcare helps parents to combine work and care and contributes to the development of children. The government now contributes to this by providing parents with an income-related childcare allowance as an advance. A complex system has been set up for this purpose, which in a number of cases leads to refunds and financial problems for parents. That is why the government wanted to abolish the allowance and offer working parents a high government allowance (96% of the maximum hourly rate), regardless of income. This makes childcare considerably cheaper for many parents. The compensation would be paid directly to the childcare institutions.
New system
Since last year, representatives of parents, employees and childcare organizations, implementation organizations and policy have been working on a design for a new system. This is an innovative so-called greenfield approach, in which all those involved work together from their own point of view to arrive at a design. The current childcare allowance will be increased in phases in 2025 and 2026, the new system would be introduced in 2027 so that the sector is not surprised by a sudden increase in demand for childcare. Several analyzes have been carried out into the expected impact of this design. These analyzes yielded various points of interest on which the next cabinet will have to make choices.
Choices
The letter to Parliament describes various perspectives for action. For example, a new cabinet will have to decide whether the compensation will be for working parents or whether it will be available to everyone. Intermediate variants are also conceivable, in which, for example, all toddlers are given access for a number of days. In addition, the question arises whether the amount of compensation should depend on income and how exactly the financing is arranged. The sum of these choices and implementation questions leads to various alternatives for the current system design.
Future
The future of the childcare system is up to a new cabinet. Where possible, this government will continue with the preparations, such as a study into tariff regulation. This government will also continue to work on improvements within the current benefits system and services, and on tackling staff shortages in childcare, including by reducing work pressure and encouraging employees to work more hours.