More flexible and cheaper childcare can encourage more parents to work | Interior

The VIONA research program of the Growing Up and Work and Social Economy departments examines the relationship between childcare and employment. The researchers used data on more than 70,000 children and conducted an online survey among more than 4,000 families.

In 2019, 75 percent of Flemish children who qualify were cared for to a greater or lesser extent in formal childcare. Their parents do this in 95.5 percent of the cases to enable the combination with work.

A quarter of the children therefore did not use childcare in that year. A significant proportion of their parents – almost 58 percent – have time to care for the child themselves or use informal childcare, for example with grandparents. In that category, at least one of the parents does not work or has temporarily interrupted their career. 44 percent of families also call it a “conscious choice” not to use formal childcare. Limited confidence in the quality of the reception plays a role in this.

But in addition, childcare is too expensive for a fifth of non-users. 16 percent of the families involved indicated that they had not found an available place, 13 percent stated that the place was not suitable. In the latter case, it often concerns parents with atypical working hours or an unstable work situation. They should be able to reserve a place in the short term.

However, about half of the families that do not currently use childcare would like to do so under certain conditions. 41 percent of the mothers and 21 percent of the fathers indicate that they will work more or go back to work in that case. The cost price and flexibility in particular play a role in this. For example, almost 12 percent need childcare outside normal working hours and 13 percent want to be able to request and cancel a place in the short term. According to the researchers, the early registration and the strict planning that pregnant parents must pass on months before the birth is also a barrier.

Flemish Minister of Welfare Hilde Crevits (CD&V) calls it “absolutely necessary to invest in sufficient, accessible and high-quality childcare”. She emphasizes that the government is already committed to this. Minister of Work Jo Brouns, a party member of Crevits, states that Flanders will have to continue to invest in childcare to achieve an employment rate of 80 percent.

The childcare sector protested on Sunday morning at the Martelarenplein in Brussels, where the Flemish government resides. The sector has been asking for at least 200 million euros in extra resources for months, among other things to reduce the ratio between supervisors and children from one in nine to one in seven in the short term.