GGD inspection of childcare

If you want to open a childcare facility (childcare centre, childminding agency or playgroup) in the Netherlands, you must submit an application for registration in the National Childcare and Playgroup Register (Landelijk Register Kinderopvang en Peuterspeelzalen, LRKP) to your municipal authority before the opening. Once you have submitted this application, an inspector of the Municipal Health Service (Gemeentelijke Gezondheidsdienst, GGD) will review the quality of your childcare facility. Based on the outcome, the municipality will decide whether your facility will be included in the register.

Annual inspections

Thereafter, a GGD inspector will annually verify whether your childcare facility fulfils the national quality requirements. The GGD inspector will pay an unannounced visit and will check your facility for, among other things:

• pedagogical practice
• professional childminder-child ratio
• group size
• professional qualifications
• certificates of good conduct

Childcare centres, childminding centres and playgroups that are performing not up to standard will be inspected by the GGD more intensively and extensively. But also, since the start of 2017, there will be more strict GGD supervision regarding new initiatives, such as the establishment of a new centre, changes to the location or owner of a centre.

GGD inspection report

After the inspection, the GGD inspector will prepare a report. The GGD inspection reports are public. You must publish the report on your website. If you do not have a website, you must make the report available for inspection at a location that is accessible to parents and staff. The reports can also be consulted via the (Dutch-language) National Childcare and Playgroup Register website.

Information about all childminding centres in the Netherlands can also be seen at the (Dutch-language) website Childcare Map (Kinderopvangkaart.nl), which is connected to the National Childcare and Playgroup Register.