Objectives and accessibility

The Day Care Act states that it is possible to set up home-based ECEC settings. Home-based ECEC settings are an alternative to the municipal day care offers. They are not part of the ISCED classification.

The top-level authority responsible for home-based ECEC provision is the Ministry of Children and Education. The establishment of a home-based ECEC setting has to be approved by the local municipality. In 2019, 12 % of children in day care were in a home-based ECEC provision (Statistics Denmark 2021).

Home-based settings are not subsidised by the municipality. The costs of a home-based ECEC setting are financed by the children’s parents. However, parents can receive public grants to help them afford fees in home-based settings. A grant cannot be less than 75 percent of the price of the cheapest budgeted net operating cost per place in a public day care ECEC setting for the same age group in the municipality.

The Day Care Act states that home-based ECEC settings follow the same pedagogical guidelines as the day care centres, which means that the childminders have to ensure that the children learn through a safe learning environment. Furthermore, the children have to learn how to participate in decision-making and learn how to share responsibility. The primary spoken language in the setting must be Danish.

Requirements for childminders and child ratios

No minimum qualification level nor specific training are required for childminders in a home-based provision. 

According to top-level regulations on home-based provision, one childminder is allowed to take up to five children. If two or more persons are carrying out childminding together, the municipality may allow the childminders to receive up to ten children.