HThese are busy times in childcare in the Netherlands. The number of children in daycare continues to grow and with it the demand for new professionals. New legal quality requirements that will come into effect in 2019 will create at least another 2,500 new jobs, according to research by ABN AMRO, BOinK and Waarborgfonds Kinderopvang. This could lead to a war for talent because there is already a staff shortage among educators.

The Childcare Innovation and Quality Act (IKK) came into effect on January 1, 2018. Part of this law is a tightening of the supervision ratio for babies in childcare with effect from 2019. In other words: the maximum number of babies that an employee may supervise at the same time will be reduced. Childcare providers can respond to this new measure in two ways: either deploy more staff (so higher costs), or care for fewer children (so lower turnover). The latter also means that childcare organizations have to say no, while the demand for childcare only increases. ABN AMRO, in collaboration with the interest group for parents BOinK and the Childcare Guarantee Fund, investigated how many additional jobs would be needed to comply with the measure, given the current number of children and babies in childcare. That is at least 2,500, for which recruitment has yet to start. There are simply not that many new qualified people available. This supply problem threatens to make the social discussion about the affordability of childcare irrelevant.