# How to find and arrange childcare in NL Canonical: https://howtoin.nl/find-childcare Last reviewed: 2026-10-04 Themes: Family, Daily life Time: The register and inspection checks take minutes each. Availability is the slow part, so start the search and the waiting lists well before the date you need cover. Source: How to in NL (https://howtoin.nl) ## Summary Work out which type of Dutch childcare fits your child, search the Landelijk Register Kinderopvang for registered places, read the GGD inspection report, and reach a confirmed place with the details the funding route needs. ## Overview Dutch childcare is a market you choose within, inside a system the state regulates. Providers set their own places, days, hours and prices, while the government decides which care is registered and inspected. Finding childcare is therefore two jobs at once: choosing a provider that suits your child and your week, and making sure the care you choose is the registered kind, because registration is what makes childcare allowance (kinderopvangtoeslag) possible at all. This guide covers finding the care and arranging the place. The separate guide to applying for childcare allowance covers the money. ## Before you start Know your child's age and the days and hours you actually need covered, because those two things decide which type of care applies and how hard a place will be to find. If you think your household may claim childcare allowance, treat registration in the Landelijk Register Kinderopvang as a condition rather than a preference. This guide does not cover who is eligible for kinderopvangtoeslag, how it is calculated, when you have to apply, how to manage it in Mijn toeslagen or what you must report later: the guide to applying for childcare allowance owns all of that. ## Steps ### 1. Choose the childcare type that matches the child and the schedule Dutch childcare divides by the child's age and by who provides it. Day care (dagopvang) is for children below primary-school age. Out-of-school care (buitenschoolse opvang, BSO) is for school-age children before and after school and during school holidays. A registered childminder (gastouder) is another form of childcare, arranged through a childminder agency (gastouderbureau). Midday care at school (tussenschoolse opvang, TSO) is a separate arrangement inside the school day and does not qualify for childcare allowance at all. Separately from these, some municipalities run toddler provision or voorschoolse educatie, which is a local route for particular situations rather than the standard way a family arranges childcare. **Do this:** Decide which type fits your child's age and the days and hours you need, and note separately whether midday care at school is part of what you are arranging. **Documents needed:** - Your child's date of birth - The days and hours you need covered **Timing:** 20 minutes > **Common mistake:** Midday care at school is easy to mistake for out-of-school care, because both sit around the school day. Tussenschoolse opvang does not qualify for childcare allowance, so counting those hours towards a childcare allowance application produces a shortfall you discover only later. **Source:** [Rijksoverheid: Types of childcare in the Netherlands](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/vraag-en-antwoord/kinderopvang/soorten-kinderopvang) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/find-childcare#step-1 ### 2. Search registered childcare in the Landelijk Register Kinderopvang The Landelijk Register Kinderopvang (LRK) is the national register of childcare that has been approved and is inspected. It is the official route both for searching for registered childcare near you and for checking whether a provider you found some other way is actually registered, and every registered location carries its own LRK number tied to its address. If childcare allowance may matter to your household, registration is not a quality bonus to weigh against price: it is the condition that decides whether the care can qualify for kinderopvangtoeslag, which puts this check at the start of the search rather than the end. **Do this:** Search the Landelijk Register Kinderopvang for registered childcare in the types and areas you need, and check any provider you found elsewhere against the register. **Documents needed:** - The postcode or municipality you are searching in **Timing:** 20 minutes > **Common mistake:** An organisation can appear in the register for some of its locations and not others, and a childminder holds a registration of their own. Searching on organisation name alone can therefore show you a registration that does not cover the place your child would attend. **Source:** [Government.nl: Accessing the National Childcare Register (Landelijk Register Kinderopvang)](https://www.government.nl/themes/family-health-and-care/childcare/accessing-the-national-childcare-register-landelijk-register-kinderopvang-lrk) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/find-childcare#step-2 ### 3. Read the official quality record, then judge the practical fit Registered childcare is inspected against national quality requirements by the GGD, the municipal public health service, and the inspection report for a location is available to you through the register before you ever visit. Read the report for each location you are considering. What the register cannot decide for you is whether the place fits your week, so ask each provider about opening hours, which days are actually available, how far the location is from home, school or work, the approach to language, whether meals are provided, and holiday closures. For out-of-school care, which schools the provider serves and how the pickup is arranged decides whether the place is usable at all. This site publishes no childcare quality score and no provider ranking: the inspection report and your own visit are what the decision rests on. **Do this:** Open the GGD inspection report for each location through the register, then ask each provider about hours, available days, language, meals, holiday closures and, for out-of-school care, the schools served and the pickup arrangement. **Documents needed:** - The LRK number or address of each location you are considering **Timing:** An hour or two across several locations > **Common mistake:** An inspection report describes a location as the inspection found it. Read the findings and what the provider did about them, rather than treating the existence of a report as a verdict in itself. **Source:** [Rijksoverheid: Quality requirements for childcare and how they are inspected](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/themas/familie-zorg-en-gezondheid/kinderopvang/kwaliteitseisen-kinderopvang-en-peuterspeelzalen) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/find-childcare#step-3 ### 4. Ask about availability and join waiting lists early Availability can become a deciding constraint even when a provider otherwise fits your needs. The official advice is to arrange childcare early and to allow for waiting lists instead of assuming a place will be free when you need it. Ask each provider directly for the earliest date it could actually start and which days would be available on that date, because a general remark about being busy is not something you can plan around. Joining the waiting list at more than one suitable location is a reasonable thing to do. What you cannot do is treat a list as settled: it is a queue, and a place exists only once the provider confirms one. **Do this:** Ask each suitable provider for the real earliest start date and the days available on it, and join the waiting list at the ones that fit. **Documents needed:** - Your preferred start date - The days and hours you need covered **Timing:** Start as early as you can, and ask each provider what the wait is likely to be at that location > **Common mistake:** A place on a waiting list is not confirmed childcare. Do not plan around a fixed start date until the provider confirms the place and the start date. **Source:** [Rijksoverheid: Arranging childcare early and allowing for waiting lists](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/videos/2026/04/21/uitlegvideo-over-zwanger-zijn) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/find-childcare#step-4 ### 5. Compare the offer and the contract before you accept Before accepting, read what is actually on offer: the days and hours, the start date, the hourly price, what that price includes, what is charged on top, and the notice and cancellation terms. Those are the terms you will live with, and they are where two offers at the same hourly price can turn out to cost differently, so ask each provider what the quoted price includes and what it does not. The contract matters for a second reason: it is the document the childcare allowance application is filled in from, so an offer stating only a monthly total, with no hourly rate and no number of hours, will hold that application up. Compare the offers in front of you on these terms; there is no provider ranking to defer to. **Do this:** Put each offer side by side on days, hours, start date, hourly price, what is included, what is extra and the notice and cancellation terms, and check that the contract states an hourly rate and a number of hours. **Documents needed:** - The written offer or draft contract from each provider **Cost:** Fees are set by the provider and differ by organisation and location **Timing:** An hour > **Common mistake:** A contract naming only a monthly price, with no hourly rate and no hours, is not enough for the childcare allowance application, which is calculated per hour against a maximum hourly rate. **Source:** [Dienst Toeslagen: Registered childcare, and which childcare qualifies for allowance](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/bldcontentnl/belastingdienst/prive/toeslagen/kinderopvangtoeslag/kan-ik-kinderopvangtoeslag-krijgen/geregistreerde-kinderopvang/) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/find-childcare#step-5 ### 6. Confirm the LRK number for the actual location and keep the contract details Once a place is confirmed, collect what the funding route will ask for while the provider still has the file open. You need the signed contract, the name and address of the childcare, the LRK number of the location your child will actually attend, the agreed number of childcare hours per month and the agreed hourly rate. The LRK number belongs to the childcare location and its address rather than to the organisation name, and a childminder has a registration separate from the agency's. Check it in the register against the exact address on the contract. **Do this:** Ask the provider for the LRK number of the location named on the contract, check that number in the register against that address, and keep it with the signed contract, the monthly hours and the hourly rate. **Documents needed:** - Signed contract with the childcare organisation or childminder agency - The name and address of the childcare location - The LRK number of that location - The agreed number of childcare hours per month - The agreed hourly rate **Timing:** 30 minutes > **Common mistake:** Using the organisation's number, or the number of another branch, means the application does not describe the care you actually use. Check the number against the address on the contract rather than against the letterhead. **Source:** [Dienst Toeslagen: What the childcare allowance application asks you for](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/nl/kinderopvangtoeslag/content/hoe-moet-ik-kinderopvangtoeslag-aanvragen) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/find-childcare#step-6 ### 7. Move to the correct funding route Arranging the place and paying for it are two routes, and this is where they separate. If your household may qualify for kinderopvangtoeslag, go to the guide to applying for childcare allowance, which covers the conditions, the application itself and what you have to report afterwards. Do not work those rules out from this page. If childcare allowance does not apply to you, your municipality is where to ask, because what exists instead is local: voorschoolse educatie for a child who would benefit from early education, subsidised toddler provision where the municipality funds it, and a sociaal-medische indicatie where a social or medical reason means childcare is needed. None of those is a national entitlement you can assume, and what is on offer differs by municipality. **Do this:** If kinderopvangtoeslag may apply, open the guide to applying for childcare allowance and continue there. If it does not, ask your municipality which local childcare routes your household qualifies for. **Documents needed:** - The contract details you collected in the previous step **Timing:** Go to the funding route as soon as the contract is signed > **Common mistake:** The childcare allowance guide owns the application timing and the eligibility rules. Open it as soon as you have a signed contract, rather than working those rules out from this page. **Source:** [Rijksoverheid: Childcare costs and the municipal routes alongside the allowance](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/themas/belastingen-uitkeringen-en-toeslagen/kinderopvangtoeslag/kosten-kinderopvang-in-nederland) Anchor: https://howtoin.nl/find-childcare#step-7 ## Costs - Childcare fees are set by the provider rather than by the state, so the hourly price and what it covers differ between organisations and between locations of the same organisation. Take the figures from the provider's own offer. - The hourly price is the figure childcare allowance is calculated against, and Dienst Toeslagen publishes a maximum hourly rate per type of care on its own pages. Read the current amount there rather than from a copy. - Check what the quoted hourly price includes, what is charged separately, and the notice and cancellation terms, because the hourly price on its own does not tell you the full cost. - Tussenschoolse opvang does not qualify for childcare allowance, so do not include those hours when planning a childcare allowance application. ## Timing Checking the register and reading an inspection report take minutes each. Availability is what takes time: asking providers for a real earliest start date and joining waiting lists runs ahead of the date you need cover, which is why the official advice is to arrange childcare early rather than close to it. You only hold the details the allowance application needs once a provider has confirmed a place in writing. ## Common mistakes - Choosing a provider before checking the Landelijk Register Kinderopvang. Registration is what makes care eligible for childcare allowance, so for a household that expects to claim it an unregistered place is not a cheaper option but a disqualifying one. - Taking the organisation's LRK number when the number that counts belongs to the location. A provider can run several locations, and a childminder is registered separately from the agency, so only the registration for the place your child actually attends describes the care you use. - Treating a place on a waiting list as a place. A waiting list is a queue, and nothing is settled until the provider confirms a start date and the days in writing. - Comparing hourly prices and nothing else. Opening hours, which days are free, holiday closures and, for out-of-school care, which schools are served and how the pickup works decide whether a place is usable at all. - Assuming midday care at school is the same thing as out-of-school care. Tussenschoolse opvang sits inside the school day and does not qualify for childcare allowance, so do not count those hours towards a childcare allowance application. ## Next steps - If your household may qualify for kinderopvangtoeslag, open the guide to applying for childcare allowance and start it from the contract you have just signed. - Keep the signed contract, the childcare name and address, the LRK number of that location, the agreed monthly hours and the agreed hourly rate together, because those are the inputs the allowance application asks for. - If childcare allowance does not apply to your household, ask your municipality what it runs locally, because routes such as voorschoolse educatie, subsidised toddler provision and a sociaal-medische indicatie are arranged per municipality rather than nationally. - For a school-age child, settle the school place and the out-of-school care together, since the care you can actually use depends on which schools the provider serves. ## Related guides - [apply-for-childcare-allowance](https://howtoin.nl/apply-for-childcare-allowance) - [enrol-your-child-in-school](https://howtoin.nl/enrol-your-child-in-school) - [claim-child-benefit](https://howtoin.nl/claim-child-benefit) ## Official sources - [Rijksoverheid: Types of childcare in the Netherlands](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/vraag-en-antwoord/kinderopvang/soorten-kinderopvang) - [Government.nl: Accessing the National Childcare Register (Landelijk Register Kinderopvang)](https://www.government.nl/themes/family-health-and-care/childcare/accessing-the-national-childcare-register-landelijk-register-kinderopvang-lrk) - [Rijksoverheid: Quality requirements for childcare and how they are inspected](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/themas/familie-zorg-en-gezondheid/kinderopvang/kwaliteitseisen-kinderopvang-en-peuterspeelzalen) - [Rijksoverheid: Arranging childcare early and allowing for waiting lists](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/videos/2026/04/21/uitlegvideo-over-zwanger-zijn) - [Dienst Toeslagen: Registered childcare, and which childcare qualifies for allowance](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/bldcontentnl/belastingdienst/prive/toeslagen/kinderopvangtoeslag/kan-ik-kinderopvangtoeslag-krijgen/geregistreerde-kinderopvang/) - [Dienst Toeslagen: What the childcare allowance application asks you for](https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/nl/kinderopvangtoeslag/content/hoe-moet-ik-kinderopvangtoeslag-aanvragen) - [Rijksoverheid: Childcare costs and the municipal routes alongside the allowance](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/themas/belastingen-uitkeringen-en-toeslagen/kinderopvangtoeslag/kosten-kinderopvang-in-nederland) - [Rijksoverheid: Voorschoolse educatie, arranged through the municipality](https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/themas/onderwijs/voorschoolse-en-vroegschoolse-educatie/voorschoolse-educatie) ## About this document This is a machine-readable rendering of https://howtoin.nl/find-childcare. Published by How to in NL, part of Flux Forward (https://fluxforward.world). Last reviewed against its official sources on 2026-10-04. Canonical JSON: https://howtoin.nl/content/guides/find-childcare.json General guidance only. Rules can change and may depend on your situation; verify important steps with the official source before acting.