Private childcare and private institutions

As a parent in Sønderborg Municipality, you can choose to receive a financial subsidy to pay for an approved private childcare arrangement, as an alternative to the types of childcare offered by the municipality for children between 0 and 2,8 years of age.

The grant can be applied for if:

• You and the child live in Sønderborg Municipality
• The child is 26 weeks old (The grant can be applied for until the child is 3 years old.)
• The child has the right to a municipal childcare service
• The parents draw up a contract with the approved private childcare arrangement/the private carer, which is attached to the application
• The processing time for grants can be up to 4 weeks.

How much can I get in subsidies when I choose a private care scheme?

You can get the following in subsidies when you choose a private care scheme:

Full-time position (33-48 hours)	DKK 6.457 / month
Part-time position (up to 32 hours)	DKK 4.262/month

The municipality provides a subsidy of no more than 75% of the cost of looking after children.

What is the difference between a private childcare arrangement and the municipal daycare services?

In the table below, we have listed some of the differences between a private childcare arrangement and a municipal daycare/nursery:

	Private care arrangement	Municipal day care
registration	The parents themselves must contact the private care scheme.	Parents can book a place in day care via the Digital Place Guide.
Withdrawal	The private passer determines the number of months for termination notice.	There will be deregistration on the 1st or the 16th for one month plus 1 month.
Payment	There is 12 months of parental payment with 12 months of subsidy.	There is 11 months of parental payment (the month of July is payment-free).
Economic free space subsidy	No financial subsidy for free space can be granted	A financial free space allowance can be provided if you are eligible.
Social pedagogic free space subsidy	You cannot apply for a social pedagogic free place subsidy.	A social pedagogic free place subsidy can be granted if you are assessed as eligible.
Holiday	It is individual how many holiday weeks the private carer takes.	Holiday care is established in the municipal day care, either in the form of guest accommodation in guest houses for day care children and/or guest accommodation in matching arrangements for longer holiday periods.
Alternative fit	The private care scheme is not obliged to provide other care in the event of illness, holiday, courses or the like. The private childcare arrangements have the option of getting a temporary worker approved.	Care must be offered every weekday, also in case of illness and on closed days.
Parental influence	There are no rules that the parents must be guaranteed influence in relation to the private care scheme's work with the children.	The parents are guaranteed influence on the daycare's work with the children, typically through parents' councils and parents' boards.
Food/meal arrangement	Food is offered in the private care scheme.	Food is offered in the municipal daycare. In nurseries, the parent group in the individual institution votes on meal arrangements every two years.
Staff training	There are no requirements for the private passer's education. A possibly vocational training is self-selected.	Daycare staff in municipal daycare generally have a Pedagogical Assistant training.
Curricula and learning environments	There is no requirement to prepare a pedagogical curriculum. However, the children's learning must be promoted through safe learning environments.	There is a demand for the preparation of a pedagogical curriculum with pedagogical goals for the learning environment and the children's learning.

What rules apply if I choose a private childcare arrangement?

In general, you must pay attention to the following if you choose a private childcare arrangement:

• There is provided sibling discount according to current regulations, if you have more than one child in municipal day care or municipal care.
• No economic or social educational free space is granted.
• No subsidy is provided if you are on maternity leave for the child. However, a subsidy can be granted one month before maternity leave ends, so that there is an opportunity to bring the child in with the private care scheme.
• The private care scheme must be approved before Sønderborg Municipality can grant subsidies for private care.
• The grant is paid in advance on the last working day of each month.
• The grant must be applied for approx. 1½ months before start-up to guarantee that the grant is paid out on time. The grant is applied for via the Digital Location Guide.
• Payment is charged monthly for 12 months a year.
• If the child transfers from municipal to private care, the child must be registered out of the municipal offer no later than one month before the 1st or the 15th. You must also be aware of the private care scheme's own rules according to the contract, and that subsidies are only provided a place.
• The subsidy stops when the child starts in another childcare service and the childcare agreement ends or the contract is terminated.
• Changes regarding start date, stop date, price and number of hours, etc. must be reported in writing to Pladsvansningen (see contact information at the bottom of the page).
• When you unsubscribe from the private care, you must also go to Den Digital Pladsanvisning and "unsubscribe/unsubscribe" from the grant.

How do I get a private care arrangement approved?

Private passers in the private passer scheme and possibly substitutes must be approved by Sønderborg Municipality. A substitute is for temporary care, e.g. during dentist/doctor visits, or if the babysitter has to attend a meeting regarding one of the children in the foster care system.

If an approval has not been in use for 1 year, it is canceled and a new application must be made.

Regardless of how the private care is organised, the municipality must, as a condition for the parents to receive subsidies for the private care, approve the agreement/contract between the parents and the private care arrangement. The municipality has drawn up a standard contract which is recommended to be used in cooperation with the private care scheme. The standard contract ensures that the site guide receives all the information we need to be able to pay out subsidies correctly and on time.

When approving, the municipality must both approve the personal prerequisites of the private childcare arrangement and ensure that the physical framework in which the childcare is to take place is sound according to the same criteria as in the corresponding municipal offers. For example, Danish must initially be spoken between the private carer and the children in the private childcare arrangement, the learning environment must promote the children's learning and also meet the requirements for learning and learning environments in day care.

Criminal and child records must be obtained for the applicant, spouse/partner and children over 15 living at home. The requisitioning of the certificates is provided by the Location Guide.

In connection with the approval, the private care scheme is informed about e.g. safety and responsibility. There is a stricter notification obligation in relation to the children looked after.

The approval is given in writing and contains further prerequisites, such as number of children and which rooms are approved.

The private childcare arrangement can be approved to look after a maximum of 5 children. If the care is provided by several people, permission can be granted to look after up to 10 children.

There must be a maximum of 5 children per babysitter incl. own children, grandchildren or other children under the age of 5.

If you want your private care arrangement to appear on Sønderborg Municipality's website, you can send information with name, address, phone number and email to pladsanvisningen@sonderborg.dk 
If you have a website that you want linked to, you must also send that link.
 

Is there supervision of private childcare arrangements?

There are 6 inspections per year in the private childcare arrangement (private childcare arrangements with 2 child minders and up to 10 children have 7 inspections), which can be both notified and unannounced. The supervision must ensure that the conditions under which the private care scheme is approved are complied with. An inspection report is drawn up, which Sønderborg Municipality recommends that the private childcare arrangement hang up visibly where the parents walk every day.

Approx. every 2 years one is carried out KIDS assessment in all private care arrangements and daycare centers in Sønderborg Municipality, where the private care system's physical framework, relationships as well as play and activity are assessed.

What do I do if I want to set up a private day care center?

Private institutions must comply with current legislation, Sønderborg Municipality's rules for the establishment and operation of a day care institution as well as the goals, policies and pedagogical principles that apply in the municipality's day care services.

However, private institutions have some degrees of freedom in terms of finances, profits and parental pay. Furthermore, the private institution itself admits children.

Private institutions that wish to establish and run day care must document in the application how they will comply with the requirements and expectations set out in Sønderborg Municipality's criteria, which are formulated in "Approval criteria for private day care institutions" (see the 'Read more' box).