Checklist for starting a childcare centre
If you want to start a childcare organisation (nursery, daycare, or after school care facility) in the Netherlands, you must first register it in the National Childcare Register, LRK. You must also follow various government rules and regulations. For example, your staff must have the right diplomas. And your premises must be safe for children.
Check whether you fulfil the conditions for staying in the Netherlands
Entrepreneurs who intend to stay in the Netherlands must fulfil a number of conditions. If you are from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), you may require a residence permit. Our interactive tool Moving to the Netherlands as an entrepreneur can help you find out quickly if this is true for you, and tell you what other obligations you have to fulfil.
If you plan to start doing business in the Netherlands, you will also need to have or apply for a business bank account (international bank account number, IBAN). The Dutch Banking Association has created a Quick Scan to help you find out if you are eligible. Read how it works.
Prepare your registration with the LRK
Without a registration in the Landelijk Register Kinderopvang (National Childcare Register, LRK) you cannot open a childcare centre. So, start by arranging the things you need to get your LRK registration.
What you must do
Have you found a suitable location? Make sure it is in line with your municipality’s environment plan. And check which permits you will need. Is your location not suitable for childcare, according to the environment plan? You can apply for an Environment and planning permit (omgevingsvergunning) to build, alter or renovate a building. Contact your municipality to discuss options.
Your childcare centre must meet fire safety requirements. For example, you must have self-closing fire doors. Whether you need a fire alarm system or smoke detectors depends on the size of the building and the floor on which your childcare centre is located.
Permit
In some municipalities, you will needa fire safety permit. Check with your municipality to see if this applies to your situation.
Notifying the municipality
If you do not need a permit, you will usually need to notify your municipality that you are starting a childcare centre. The fire service or municipality will then visit to check that you meet the fire safety requirements.
This is known as a notification of use. You file this via the online Envrironment and Planning Portal (Omgevingsloket, in Dutch).
Read more about fire safety requirements.
You must register your business in KVK's Business Register. KVK will pass on your details to the Netherlands Tax Administration.
Read when you need to register with KVK and how to prepare.
Before you start, you must register in the register for persons active in the childcare sector (Personenregister kinderopvang, PRK). This is to check whether you have committed any criminal offences that would prevent you from working with children or being in their presence.
To register, you will need a DigiD or eHerkenning. Which login tool you use depends on your circumstances.
You must apply for a certificate of conduct (VOG) for yourself and your staff. This proves that you or your employees have not committed any criminal offences that could be a reson for you not to work in childcare.
Do you have a legal form with legal personality? If so, you must apply for a certificate of conduct for legal entities (Verklaring omtrent het gedrag rechtspersonen, VOG RP). With the VOG RP, the organisation and the director meet the screening required for childcare. If you have a VOG RP, you no longer need to apply for a personal VOG.
What you must have
When you apply for registration with the LRK, you must provide a pedagogical policy plan. In this plan you set out your ideas about how ro deal with children. If your ideas or the situation in your childcare facility change, you must update your plan.
You must have a health and safety policy. In this you describe how you will protect children against risks in your childcare centre. You draw up the plan together with your staff and the parents committee. The Municipal Health Service (GGD) will make an unannounced visit every year to inspect your facility.
Read what to include in a health and safety policy,
If you prepare food and drink, you must follow food safety regulations. This is to make sure children do not fall ill because of food you prepare for them. You can choose to incorporate an HACCP plan in your health and safety plan.
Or you can draw up a plan yourself, or use an approved plan from your sector organisation. For example, the hygiene code of the sector organisation for childcare (in Dutch).
Apply for registration in the National Childcare Register (LRK)
Have you arranged everything and are you ready to register?
- download the right form and fill it in
- send the form to the municipality where you want to start your childcare centre
- send the following documents with the form:
- copy of the pedagogical policy plan
- copy of the health and safety policy
- Certificate of Conduct (VOG) for anyone working at your childcare centre.
The municipality needs at least 10 weeks to process your application.
Inspection by the GGD
Following your application, the municipality will instruct the Municipal Health Service, GGD to inspect your chilcare location. The GGD checks whether your location meets all the requirements. If this is the case, the municipality will register your centre in the LRK. You may then begin operating.
Separate registration for each location
You must apply for a separate LRK registration for each childcare location.
Do you offer daycare and out-of-school care (buitenschoolse opvang, BSO) at the same address? Then you must apply for 2 LRK registrations.
Follow the rules for childcare
In addition to the things you must arrange for LRK registration, you must also follow the rules for running a childcare centre. For example, there are rules for your location, staff, record-keeping, and the composition of groups.
Location and safety
Parents expect their children to be safe at the childcare centre. In addition to fire safety (see above: 'What you need for registration with the LRK'), you must also comply with a number of other legal requirements:
Your child care facility must have enough spaces. The spaces must be suitable for safe play and to rest. The spaces should also be appropriate for the age and number of children you care for.
You must adhere to the 4-eye principle. This means that an adult must always be able to watch or listen to a pedagogical staff member.
You must transport children safely and responsibly. You are responsible for this. Read more about the rules for transporting children safely.
During opening hours there must always be at least one adult present that has a first aid certificate for children. Do you have daycare and out-of-school-care (BSO) at the same location? Then at least 2 certified staff members must be available.
Staff and organisation
Staff working in childcare must meet certain professional requirements. You must also make sure there are enough qualified staff. To do this, you must also consider the rules governing the composition of groups:
Employees in childcare must meet certain professional requirements. Check which diplomas and training courses (in Dutch) are certified for pedagogical staff at Kinderopvang-werkt.nl.
Do you want to know whether an applicant or employee has the right papers? You can use the Diplomacheck Childcare (in Dutch) to check this.
You do not have to have a diploma if you do not work with children yourself
As well as the correct qualifications, your staff must have certain skills.
All pedagogical staff in daycare must meet language level 3F or B2 (for speaking, listening, and conversation) for the Dutch language. This requirement does not apply to BSO staff.
Do you use different languages at your daycare centre? A maximum of 50% of the language used each day may be English, German, or French. Check the rules for multilingual childcare (in Dutch).
All pedagogical staff who work with babies up to 1 year old must have specialised training (in Dutch),
Anyone working at a place where children are cared for must register in the register for persons active in the childcare sector (Personenregister kinderopvang, PRK. You and your employees are regularly checked for criminal offences.
Employees need a certificate of conduct (VOG) to register in the PRK. The VOG may not be older than 2 months at the time of application.
The number of children your centre is permitted to care for depends on the children’s ages and the number of childcare staff. This is known as the staff-to-child ratio (beroepskracht-kindratio BKR).
You can use the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment's calculator tool (in Dutch) to calculate the minimum number of staff you need for your centre. For day care, you calculate the BKR per group, and for out-of-school care, per childcare centre.
Every childcare organisation needs to employ at least 1 pedagogic professional, The pedagogic professional coaches the childcare professionals in their daily practice. They also develop and oversee the pedagogical policy.
Read what requirements a pedagogical professional must meet.
Children and parents
You must ensure that the children have a familiar face and their own mentor. You must also keep parents informed and involve them in the childcare:
You must adhere to the familiar-face criterion in day care. This means that at least 1 permanent face per child is always present during opening hours. The familiar-face criterion does not apply to BSO.
Appoint a mentor for every child. The mentor is a member of your pedagogical staff, who monitors the child’s development and who is the contact person for the parents.
If you suspect acute or structural danger of child abuse, you must report it via Veilig Thuis (in Dutch).
The Model Protocol for Child Abuse and Domestic Violence describes 5 steps you have to take when you or your employees suspect child abuse.
Has something serious happened to a child? The government wants childcare centres to report this to the GGD as soon as possible. For example, if a child needs to be hospitalised or dies in an accident. The rules and effective date are not yet finalised.
For each location you must have a parents' committee. This committee advises you on the quality of the childcare.
On certain issues, you must seek advice from the parents’ committee before making a decision. For example, on:
- the educational policy
- opening hours
- possible price changes
You must have the rules for your parents committee set down in writing within 6 months of applying to register in the National Childcare Register. This document must be in Dutch. You can use a model agreement (in Dutch) provided by the Parents in Childcare Interests’ Association (BoinK) and the Childcare sector organisation (in Dutch).
Read more about the parents' committee.
You must inform the parents of the children for whom you care if anything important changes at your childcare centre. For example, changes in the pedagogical policy plan, the complaints proceedure. the parents' committee, and the GGD inspection report.
You must join the Childcare Disputes Committee and register all of your childcare centre locations. Parents can ask the disputes committee for help if they have a complaint and you are not able to resolve it together.
You must also inform the parents and parents' committee that you have joined the committee.
Records and data
Just like any other business, you are required to keep records. In the childcare sector, you must also include extra information in your accounts:
As well as basic records such as salaries and paid bills, you must also keep other data. For example:
- overview of all the people who work for you that must have a VOG
- details of employees who must register in the register for persons active in the childcare sector
- annual and monthly overviews per parent of hours taken and average hourly rate
Read more about keeping records in the childcare sector.
You must keep various details for the childcare allowance and submit them to the Tax Administration every month. These include the name, citizen service number (BSN), and address details of each child. And the name, citizen service number (BSN), and date of birth of the parents.
Childcare is exempt from VAT. This means you do not charge VAT. Also, you cannot reclaim the VAT you pay to your suppliers. Keep this in mind when buying things for your childcare centre. For example, furniture such as cots.
Read more about the VAT exemption for childcare (in Dutch).
Medical day care centre
Setting up and running a medical day care centre (MKD, in Dutch) differs from a childcare centre in this article. An MKD is for children who are severely behind in their development. These children need care from, for example, psychologists, remedial educationalists, and physiotherapists.