Daycare costs in the Netherlands could soar next year

Parents in the Netherlands will have to cough up dozens to hundreds of euros extra for childcare next year, according to calculations by sector organizations. Low-income households will be particularly affected, AD reports.

Childcare sector organizations BK and BMK's latest forecasts show that childcare organizations will face a cost increase between 2.3 and 2.9 percent next year, mainly due to higher wages. At the same time, the maximum rate parents can claim back through childcare allowance will only increase by about 0.5 percent.

Childcare organizations will try to limit the cost increase for parents as much as possible, but they can only do so much. BK and BMK expect that childcare rates will increase more than the maximum government reimbursement. This could mean between a few dozen and a few hundred euros extra per year for parents, depending on their situation.

"Social childcare organizations are concerned because childcare will become more expensive in 2022, especially for parents with lower and middle incomes. This is at odds with the wish for more accessibility from almost all political parties," Loes Ypma, chairman of social childcare sector association BMK, said to AD. According to her, the Cabinet needs to increase its maximum hourly rate by 3.5 percent instead of 0.5 percent. That will cost 114 million euros, she calculated.

"We all want good quality childcare, but the government has no intention of paying for it. As a result, the maximum allowance rate is increasingly out of step with the real rates," said Emmeline Biljsma, director of the childcare branch organization BK.

The Ministry of Social Affairs told AD that the maximum hourly rates for the childcare allowance are adjusted each year based on average wage and price developments. The government currently does not plan to increase this maximum further.