Child care allowance (6)

The law governing Dutch child care bases the financing of formal child care on contributions from parents, employers and the government. The law assumes that the employers of the two partners together pay a third of the costs. Since 1 January 2007 employers are legally obliged to contribute in the costs of child care. This contribution is income dependent. Furthermore parents may receive an income dependent allowance from the government. The contributions by the employers and the government are paid out by the tax authorities by means of child care allowances. The condition is that the applicant and the partner receiving the allowance either both work, study, or participate in a citizenship or reintegration course. Parents who participate in a citizenship or reintegration course receive the part that an employer would have paid from the municipality or the UWV.

The data about the child care allowance paid are supplied by the tax authorities. They are up to date until April 2012. The figures on almost all allowances for reporting years 2007 and 2008 are definite. For 2009 and 2010 this was the case for 83 and 55 percent of the allowances respectively. The 2011 data are exclusively based on preliminary allowances granted.

The allowances paid refer to the use of child care in the reporting year and has included the obligatory contribution by employers since reporting year 2007. The amount of the allowance parents receive depends on the cost of child care and on the income in that year. The tax authorities can adjust the allowance in subsequent years once the annual income is established. The figures are adjusted for this.