Municipal health service (GGD) inspection of childcare facilities

Do you run a childcare facility in the Netherlands? For instance a childcare centre, childminding agency, or playgroup? The Municipal Health Service (Gemeentelijke Gezondheidsdienst, GGD) will check if it meets national standards set by, among others, the Dutch Childcare Provisions Act (Wet kinderopvang, Wko).

Inspection upon and after registration

Do you want to open a childcare facility in the Netherlands? You must first submit an application for registration in the National Childcare Register (Landelijk Register Kinderopvang, LRK) to your municipal authority. After you submit the application, an inspector from the Municipal Health Service (GGD, in Dutch) will inspect the quality of your childcare facility. Based on this inspection, the municipality decides if your facility will be included in the Register. Only then can you open your childcare facility. Within 3 months of starting your activities, a 2nd inspection will take place.

Annual inspections

Every year, a municipal health service inspector will check if your childcare facility meets national standards. The inspector will pay an unannounced visit and check your facility on, among other things, its:

• pedagogical practice
• professional childcarer-child ratio (Beroepskracht-kind ratio, BRK)
• group size
• professional qualifications of your staff
• You staff’s certificates of conduct (Verklaringen omtrent het Gedrag, VOG) with screening profile 84 (caring for minors) or 86 (working in the childcare sector)
• health and safety
• the set-up of the childminding location

The municipal health service inspector checks your childcare facility by:

• observation
• interviews with management
• interviews with staff
• contacting the parents' committee
• review of your documentation

Please note: the Municipal health service may ask you to prepare or send relevant documents in advance

Risk profiles for childcare

The inspector uses risk profiles (in Dutch) when inspecting your childcare facility. Each risk profile has a colour (red, orange, yellow, or green). The colour determines how intensively your facility will be inspected. The risk profile of each childcare facility will be reviewed after inspection. This allows for a more measured approach of inspection.

Municipal health service inspection report

After the inspection, the municipal health service inspector prepares a report. These reports are available to the public via the (Dutch-language) National Childcare and Playgroup Register website. You must also publish the report on your childcare facilities’ website. If you do not have a website, you must make the report available at a location that is accessible to both parents and staff.