As the owner of a day nursery, out-of-school care or childminder agency, you set your own hourly price. Each year the government sets a maximum hourly price. Parents receive childcare benefit on their costs up to that maximum. Whatever you charge above it, they pay entirely themselves.
Most organisations are already above it. In Q2 2026 the average hourly price for day care was € 11.62, against a maximum of € 11.23. For 2027 the provisional maximum is € 11.60. How much room you have depends on your costs and on what your parents can bear.
In short
- Maximum hourly price 2026: day care € 11.23, out-of-school care € 9.98, childminding € 8.49. Provisional for 2027: € 11.60, € 10.31 and € 8.77.
- In 2025, 63% of parents receiving the benefit paid more than the maximum hourly price for at least one child. On average this was € 480 a year above the maximum.
- Work out your hourly price from your costs. Staff are the largest item, and as exempt childcare you cannot reclaim the VAT on your costs.
In this article
- What is the maximum hourly price, and do you have to stick to it?
- How much do childcare organisations charge per hour on average?
- What does a parent pay themselves if you are above the maximum hourly price?
- How do you work out your own hourly price?
- What happens to demand when the reimbursement for parents rises?
- Will you still be able to charge above the maximum in the new system from 2029?
What is the maximum hourly price, and do you have to stick to it?
No. The maximum hourly price is not a price cap for you. It is the highest hourly rate on which parents can receive childcare benefit. You may charge more, but the parent pays the difference alone (CBS, 7 August 2026).
The government sets the maximum per type of care. For 2026 it is € 11.23 for day care, € 9.98 for out-of-school care and € 8.49 for childminding. For 2027 the cabinet has announced provisional figures of € 11.60, € 10.31 and € 8.77 (Rijksoverheid, 21 September 2026).
The maximum applies per hour the parent buys. If you work with packages or day parts, convert them to an hourly price. Then you can see how your price compares to the maximum, and so can parents.
How much do childcare organisations charge per hour on average?
On average a little more than the maximum. In Q2 2026 the average hourly price was 3.5% above the maximum for day care and 6.0% for out-of-school care. For childminding the difference was 3.3% for children under 4 and 2.0% for children aged 4 to 12 (SZW, quarterly report Q2 2026).
These averages come from the data organisations supply to the Benefits Agency every month. The ministry itself notes that the Benefits Agency does not check this data for an accurate picture of the market (SZW, quarterly report Q2 2026). So treat them as a direction, not as an exact market average.
Hourly prices have risen quickly in recent years. For day care the average went from € 9.71 in 2023 to € 11.62 in 2026. Over the same period the maximum rose from € 9.12 to € 11.23 (SZW, table 6).
What does a parent pay themselves if you are above the maximum hourly price?
The whole difference, without benefit. In 2025 childcare cost a parent with benefit an average of € 10,510 a year. Of this, the parent paid € 3,340 themselves: € 2,860 as their own contribution up to the maximum and € 480 for the hours above the maximum (CBS, 7 August 2026).
Being above the maximum is common. In 2025, 63% of parents with benefit paid more than the maximum hourly price for at least one child. The share was highest in Utrecht and Noord-Holland and lowest in Fryslân and Groningen (CBS, 7 August 2026). The CBS figures relate to where the parent lives, not where the childcare is.
Worked example: 50 cents above the maximum
Suppose you charge € 12.10 per hour for day care in 2027. The provisional maximum is € 11.60. The difference is € 0.50 per hour. A child who comes two days of 11 hours uses about 95 hours a month. The parent then pays about € 47.50 a month themselves on top of the normal own contribution. The hourly price and the hours are an example.
What that amount means differs per family. For a family with a high income it is a small part of the bill. For a family with a low income it can be the reason to take fewer days. A general article on price increases and customer behaviour is how do you know whether a price increase is wise.
How do you work out your own hourly price?
Start with your costs per year and divide them by the hours you expect to sell. The government maximum is a point of comparison, not a cost price. If your cost price is already above the maximum, you know that parents will pay more themselves with you.
- Add up your staff costs: wages, holiday pay, year-end bonus, pension and social charges under the Childcare collective agreement.
- Work out how many childcare workers you need per group. This is set by the staff-to-child ratio (BKR): the number of children per worker, depending on age.
- Add rent or your own building, furnishings, food, insurance, administration and your own pay.
- Divide the total by the hours you sell, with a realistic occupancy rather than a full group.
The BKR is usually the biggest lever. For day care you calculate the BKR per group, for out-of-school care per centre. The government provides a calculation tool for it (Rijksoverheid, fixed faces and groups). A group that is one child short of needing an extra worker costs relatively much per hour.
Until 1 July 2028, day nurseries and out-of-school care may use trainees for half of their staffing, with a supervision plan. Before that it was a third (Rijksoverheid, 4 June 2026). That gives room in the roster, but supervision also takes hours.
Also account for VAT correctly. Care in a registered childcare centre or through a registered childminder agency is exempt from VAT. You may only deduct VAT to the extent that you use purchases for taxable supplies (VAT Act 1968, article 11(1)(w) and article 15). The VAT on renovation, toys and software is therefore an ordinary cost for you.
What happens to demand when the reimbursement for parents rises?
Then demand rises, but not without limit. Between 2005 and 2009 the average parental contribution halved. Researchers found that mothers' employment rate rose by 2.3 percentage points as a result and that mothers worked on average 1.1 hours a week more (Bettendorf, Jongen and Müller, 2015).
The researchers themselves note that this is an upper bound. In the same period a tax credit for working parents also rose, and that is part of the same effect. The study is about parents' work, not about the price you can charge.
The cabinet expects the same with the new increases. The reimbursement goes up step by step to 95.6% of the maximum hourly price in 2029. The cabinet is doing this gradually because the sector has staff shortages and demand will grow. In 2027, working parents with a joint assessment income of up to about € 72,000 receive the highest reimbursement percentage (Rijksoverheid, 21 September 2026).
Will you still be able to charge above the maximum in the new system from 2029?
That has not been settled yet. On 21 September 2026 the bill for the new funding system was with the Council of State. From 2029, under the proposal, there will be a subsidy that the government pays directly to childcare organisations and childminder agencies. Parents then pay a limited own contribution (Rijksoverheid, 21 September 2026).
In the 2023 design, organisations could continue to charge parents for costs above the maximum hourly price. The cabinet also saw the risk then that prices rise above the maximum when the reimbursement is high, and wanted to explore price regulation further (Parliamentary paper 31 322, no. 490).
In addition, under the proposal childcare becomes a service of general economic interest (SGEI). This is a European form in which the government sets conditions for companies that receive public money. Which conditions will apply to your price and profit has not yet been worked out. Childminders will be exempted from these rules (Rijksoverheid, 21 September 2026).
For your pricing this means: keep track per type of care of how far you are above the maximum, and why. If you can explain that difference with your costs, such as the BKR, rent or extra quality, you will be in a stronger position when rules arrive.
Sources
- CBS, Vergoeding kinderopvang verder gestegen in 2025 (Childcare benefit continued to rise in 2025), National Youth Monitor, 7 August 2026. cbs.nl
- Rijksoverheid, Kabinet zet belangrijke stap naar nieuwe financieringsstelsel kinderopvang (Cabinet takes important step towards new childcare funding system), news item, 21 September 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
- Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, Tweede kwartaalrapportage kinderopvang 2026 (Second childcare quarterly report 2026), tables 6 and 7. open.overheid.nl
- Rijksoverheid, Vaste gezichten en groepen kinderopvang (Fixed faces and groups in childcare), accessed 1 November 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
- Rijksoverheid, Regeling om beroepskracht in opleiding ruimer in te zetten in kinderopvang wordt met twee jaar verlengd (Scheme for wider use of trainees in childcare extended by two years), news item, 4 June 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
- VAT Act 1968 (Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968), article 11(1)(w) and article 15, version of 1 January 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
- Bettendorf, L. J. H., Jongen, E. L. W. & Müller, P. (2015). Childcare subsidies and labour supply: evidence from a large Dutch reform. Labour Economics, 36, 112-123. doi.org
- House of Representatives, Parliamentary paper 31 322, no. 490, letter on the new childcare funding system, 26 April 2023. officielebekendmakingen.nl