1 Financing ECEC Services Bea Buysse Christele Van Nieuwenhuyzen Kind en Gezin Flanders (Belgium)

2 Content of the presentation Background information on ECEC in Flanders Improvement of accessibility: priority rules and income related contributions Financing system child care

3 Background information on ECEC in Flanders Split system –Childcare for children under the age of 3: day care centres and family day carers. Responsibility Minister of Welfare –Pre-primary starts at the age of 2.5. Responsibility Minister of Education Further presentation only concerns child care

4 Background information on child care services in Flanders INFORMAL CAREFORMAL CARE Grandparents, relatives, neighbours, au pairs,… Accredited and subsidized child care services Independent child care services with a licence Independent child care only registered Centre based CrèchesIndependent crèches Family setting Services for family day care Independent family day carers

5 Background information on the use of child care in Flanders (2009) 63,2% of the children from 2 months till 3 years are frequent users of child care Informal child care: 24,0% Formal child care: 73,4% Out of school care: 2,8%

6 Frequent users of childcare among children from 2 months till age 3 by origin, social situation and family situation (2009) Children from non Belgian origin32,6% Children from Belgian origin70,8% Children living in deprived families21,0% Children in non deprived families65,7% Children in a one-parent family54,6% Children in a two-parent family63,8% All Children63,2%

7 Improvement of accessibility Two important measures has been taken –Adaptation of the priority rules –Extension of the system of income related parental contributions

8 Improvement of accessibility: priority rules Since February 2009: priority rules has been introduced in the accredited and subsidized child care services and will be monitored Priority for –Children from families with a low income –Children from families for whom child care is important in view of their economic and social inclusion. For instance single parents following a training or searching for work –Children for whom it is desirable for social and/or pedagogical reasons to receive care and supervision outside their own families during the day Priority rules apply for at least 20% of the capacity

9 Improvement of accessibility: income related contributions Extension of the system of income related contributions to the independent sector –System exist already a very long time in the subsidized crèches and family day care services. Government compensate for the lost of income. Contributions fluctuate between 1.42 Euro (1.75 USD) and 25 Euro (30.9 USD) for a full day. Social rate, even a zero contribution, is possible after social inquiry –Independent crèches and family day carers can choose for working with income related parental contributions. Government guarantees a income of 25 Euro (30.9 USD) per day for the crèches and 17 Euro (21 USD) per day for family day care –At the moment (after quit a bit more than one year) about 1 in 4 independent crèches has chosen for this system

10 Financing child care Situation today Plans

11 Financing child care: situation today Accredited crèches and family day care services: fully subsidized Total amount per place: Crèches: about 11,700 Euro (14,500 USD) per place per year Family day care services: about 4,100 Euro (5,050 USD) per place per year Independent crèches and family day care –A very limited subsidy for crèches (+ requirement regarding to the quality of the crèche): about 550 Euro per per place per year (680 USD) –No funding for independent family day carers Plus a compensation for lost income in case of income related contributions

12 Financing child care: plans A fundamental revise of the financing system in the child care Fits in the development of a new decree for child care in Flanders Development of a new law as a reference for all future regulations concerning child care Defining a new structure for all child care services in Flanders System of licenses : no license = no child care - No distinction anymore between accredited and independent child care services Same minimal quality requirements for all licensed child care. Equal funding of the child care services.

13 A fundamental revise of the financing system in the child care Equal and justified basic subsidy accessible in the same way for every facility Basic subsidy completed by performance-related subsidies Every facility should work preferably with contributions for the parents according to their income TIMING: implementation January 2012