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Too little compensation for childcare? “The math is complicated”

Hundreds of thousands of parents received the money back for childcare, which they continued to pay during the corona crisis. But there is a lot of misunderstanding about how that amount was calculated. Some parents are unpleasantly surprised: they got back less than they paid.

“We receive calls from parents who do not understand the math,” says Marjet Winsemius of the Foundation For Working Parents. “We have not yet seen cases where the math is really wrong, but there is a lot of misunderstanding and the sum is very complicated.”

Gjalt Jellesma van Boink, the parents’ interest group in childcare, is also receiving phone calls, especially now that many parents have received the money in their account. “Sometimes we could explain the difference to the parents, and it was correct. But there are also cases that we do not understand.” Boink has sent one concrete case to them at the request of the ministry.

Huge scheme

Some parents who spoke to the NIS have received less money back than they paid. Others say they have received more. The scale on which that happened is unknown. The Social Insurance Bank, which implements the scheme, receives few phone calls with questions, says a ministry spokesman.

“It is a huge scheme, and it is great how quickly everything is done,” says Jellesma. “But if things go wrong in 1 or 2 percent of the cases, it quickly turns into thousands of parents and you have to correct that.”

When childcare closed in March, State Secretary Van Ark asked parents to continue paying. Parents would get that money back. How much that is has been calculated on the basis of information known to the tax authorities.

This concerns the number of children in a household, the number of hours passed on, the amount of income and the maximum hourly rate. The data known on April 6 is valid. As a result, the amount may be higher or lower if your situation has changed afterwards or changes have not been communicated before then.

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