Dutch-speaking childcare in Flanders and Brussels is being reformed. Flemish well-being minister Caroline Gennez (Flemish socialist/Vooruit) wants to focus on the 3 Ps: personnel, prices and places. The Flemish government will invest millions extra a year in the sector to give more children an affordable place and attract extra staff.
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Flemish government releases millions to create more childcare places
Colin Clapson
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To meet the needs of parents, children and staff, the previous Flemish well-being minister established a group to think about what childcare should look like in the future. That ‘future group’ consisted of experts and decision-makers.
In spring 2024, they presented their report. That is the basis for the new plan of current Flemish well-being minister Gennez. This year and also in 2026 and 2027, 100 million extra will be invested, in 2028 that amount will be raised to 150 million and from 2029 onwards the figure will be about 200 million extra a year.
More places
There are currently 93,260 childcare places for babies and toddlers in Flanders and Brussels. That is not enough to meet demand. And that is important, because if parents can’t count on childcare, they cannot work or get an education. The ‘Future Group’ calculated that some 29,000 extra places will be needed by 2034 to get 80 per cent of the population into work.
The new plan provides 100 million euros to create additional places. That money will go to local authorities and will be distributed according to need. Until now, local government had to be able to prove within the year that new places were added using this money. This was a condition that was unachievable for many cities and municipalities, resulting in no crèches being built at all. The new plan gives municipal cabinets about five years to prove the funding is used properly.
10 out of the 100 million will go to ‘innovative projects’ such as company crèches and projects, in which a childcare initiative and a kindergarten work together.
More staff
The sector has also been struggling with staff shortages for years. At the end of December, there were 733 vacancies for child minders. That number has been very high for years. Since 2021, child minder has been on the occupational shortage list.
One of the major problems is the number of children per minder. The figure is far too high, according to both child minders and experts. The previous government decided that the number of children per minder, the so-called ‘child ratio’, should be brought down to a maximum of five babies per minder by 2027. For toddlers, from one year old onwards, there must be one minder for every eight children. In groups, where babies and toddlers are together, we need to get to a ratio of 1 minder for 7 children says minister Gennez. At present, we are currently on ‘course’ to meet that target.
More income-related parent contributions
In the new plan, the government chooses to focus on income-based places. These are places for which parents pay according to their income. Currently, just over 82.4% of places are income related. Minister Gennez now wants to increase that number. How many additional places will be involved is not yet clear.