Rules for daycare facilities

Parents who have legal residence in Denmark must have the possibility to receive childcare.

The municipality determines, among other things:

• what it costs to have your child in childcare
• when the child may enrol for the waiting list
• the extent to which waiting lists for children from other municipalities may be closed for a limited period.

You have the possibility to apply for a place in a daycare facility in another municipality unless the municipality in question has closed the waiting list for children from outside the municipality.

• Subsidies and out-of-pocket fees (in Danish)
• The Daycare Act (in Danish)
• Closing waiting lists – daycare (in Danish)

Children of parents with legal residence in Denmark have guaranteed childcare. This means that the municipality must allocate a place in an age-appropriate daycare for all children over 26 weeks old until they start school. If you do not request a place until immediately before or after 26 weeks, the municipality has a deadline of another 4 weeks to offer you a place. To the extent possible, the municipality takes into account any wishes for a specific daycare.

Check your municipality’s current rules on registration dates and seniority. As parents, you must ensure that the child is enrolled for a place within the guidelines and deadlines for enrolment that the municipality has determined.

• The Ministry of Children and Education on the childcare guarantee (in Danish)
• The Daycare Act (in Danish)

Check with the municipality what the specific deadlines are for you. If you exceed the municipality’s deadline for enrolment by, for example, 2 weeks, the municipality may wait 2 more weeks before offering a place to the child.

Due to the guaranteed childcare, the municipal council in the individual municipality has the obligation to provide a place in a daycare facility for all children from the age of 26 weeks that is appropriate for their age until the child starts school.

When parents seek a place in situations other than in extension of childbirth, the municipality must offer a place no later than 3 months after the time of application; that is, the day when the municipality’s administration receives the parents’ application. 

Guaranteed childcare does not mean that you have the right to a place in a specific daycare facility. You have the right to request a place in a specific daycare facility, for example, a specific nursery. 

If the municipality cannot fulfil the childcare guarantee, you have the right to either:

• have expenses covered at another daycare facility place in another municipality
• have expenses covered for a place in a private daycare provision
• receive a financial subsidy for minding your own child (subsidy for minding your own child).

You can read more about the rules for guaranteed childcare on the Ministry of Children and Education’s website:

• The Ministry of Children and Education on the childcare guarantee (in Danish)

You have the right to a place in a daycare facility for your child for all working days, but not on

• weekends
• public holidays
• Constitution Day on 5 June
• Christmas Eve on 24 December.

Besides these days, the daycare facility may only be closed on working days if there is a very low turnout of children, for example, during summer holidays or the day after Ascension Day (Kristi Himmelfart). The low turnout of children must reflect the parents’ actual need for childcare.

If the child’s daycare facility is closed, the municipality have to arrange alternative childcare.

Prior to any closing days, the municipalities must notify the parents well in advance that there will be closing days and that an alternative daycare facility will be available. The municipalities must also notify the parents well in advance, about where the alternative daycare facility is located.

When your child is enrolled in a daycare facility, you must pay part of the expenses for the place yourself.

The municipality must provide a subsidy of at least 75 per cent of the expenses for the place. The parent contribution may thus comprise no more than 25 per cent of the expenses.

The municipality has the obligation to publish rates for a place in daycare facilities.

In addition to the subsidy of at least 75 per cent, you may also be entitled to an income-based subsidy, sibling subsidy, treatment subsidy and social-educational subsidy that cover part of or the entire parental payment.

• Income-based subsidy, sibling subsidy, and other subsidies
• Subsidies and out-of-pocket fees (in Danish)

In some situations, it may be practical if the child is enrolled in a daycare facility in a municipality other than the one in which you live.

It could be the case, for example, if you live close to a municipality border and have a shorter distance to a daycare facility in the neighbouring municipality. Another situation might be that it makes your daily life easier if the child goes to a daycare facility in the municipality where a parent works or studies.

This requires that the other municipality has not closed its waiting list for children who are residents in other municipalities.

• A place in a daycare facility across municipal borders (in Danish)
• Admission to a daycare facility (in Danish)
• Closing waiting lists – daycare (in Danish)

Daycare facilities must comply with a number of requirements.

Among other things, a certificate to show that the personnel have not been involved in child abuse must be obtained prior to employment. There is more about this in the article on ‘certificates to show that you have not been involved in child abuse at borger.dk (in Danish).

You can also read more about the requirements in the Act on Daycare Facilities and on the Ministry of Children and Education’s website.

Pedagogical curriculum

All daycare facilities must prepare a pedagogical curriculum. The pedagogical curriculum must set objectives for children’s learning within 6 themes that covers the child's comprehensive personal development, social development, communication and language, the body, senses and movement, nature, outdoor life, science, culture, aesthetics and sense of togetherness.

The pedagogical curriculum must state how the children’s environment will become an integrated part of the pedagogical work.

• The Daycare Act (in Danish)

Language evaluation is a tool that the pedagogical staff can use in the pedagogical work with children’s language development.

All children who are approximately 3 years old and attend a daycare facility must receive a language evaluation if there are linguistic, behavioural or other conditions that give rise to presuming that the child may need language stimulation.

All children who are approximately 3 years old who do not attend a daycare facility must receive a language evaluation. On the basis of the language evaluation, it will be assessed whether the child needs language stimulation.

The municipality's responsibility

The municipality may decide that the language evaluation is to be brought forward to children who are about 2 years old. If the municipality has brought the language evaluation forward, the municipality is not obligated to carry out a language evaluation of the child again when the child is around 3 years old.

The municipality is responsible for ensuring that children receive the language stimulation they need. Language stimulation must, among other things, be based on the challenges and resources that are identified in the language evaluation.

Language stimulation

Danish-speaking children who do not attend a daycare facility and who need language stimulation must receive language stimulation, for example, within the physical framework of a daycare facility. Bilingual children who do not attend a daycare facility and who need language stimulation must attend a language stimulation offer in the form of a daycare facility 30 hours a week with no parental payment. Bilingual children are defined as children who have a mother tongue other than Danish and who did not learn Danish until they were in contact with the surrounding environment.

Parents of children who are to receive a language evaluation and, possibly, receive language stimulation are obligated to have their children participate in the language evaluation and, possibly, language stimulation or in a language stimulation that corresponds to what is generally required of the language stimulation that the municipality offers, which, for example, the parents can carry out themselves.

The municipality must make a decision on stopping child benefits, according to the Act on Child and Youth Benefits if the parents do not comply with their obligation and the lack of compliance is not due to excusable circumstances.

• Language stimulation (in Danish)

Parents have the possibility of establishing a parental board in all municipal, independent and private daycare facilities.

The parental board may determine principles for the work and financing of the daycare facility.

In connection with the approval of private daycare facilities, the municipal council must ensure that the parents are given influence corresponding to parental influence in independent daycare facilities, such as a parental board.

Parents have the possibility of making an agreement with the municipality to establish private family daycare.

Private family daycare runs based on an agreement between the municipality and the private family daycare.

There is no obligation on the municipality to enter into agreements with private family daycare. It is therefore up to the municipality to decide whether it wants to enter into an agreement with a private family daycare.

If the municipality chooses to enter into agreement with a private family daycare, the same requirements must be made to both the public and the private family daycare in the municipality.

If the municipality enters into agreement with a private family daycare, the municipality must provide a subsidy per child at the private family daycare. The subsidy is determined on the basis of the family daycare‘s budgeted gross operation expenses. The parent’s own contribution may be no more than 25 per cent of the private family daycare‘s budgeted gross operation expenses that has been agreed with the municipality.

Daycare facilities may be established and run as independent daycare facilities by a private supplier as agreed with the municipality.

For example, an undertaking, an organisation or a group of parents may establish an independent daycare facility if the municipality agrees to enter into an operation agreement with the independent daycare facility.

The independent daycare facilities are subject to municipal supervision and receive subsidies from the municipality to cover the facility’s expenses.

Independent daycare facilities are characterised by being non-profit facilities, which therefore cannot withdraw any surplus.

There is no requirement that the municipality must enter into agreements with independent facilities.

Everyone can establish a private daycare facility if they can render probable that they can comply with the requirements of the Daycare Act regarding content and live up to the approval criteria that the municipality has determined.

The municipality’s requirements for private daycare facilities must be professional and concrete, and they must not be more restrictive or easier than the requirements for the municipality’s own daycare facilities.

In connection with the approval of a private daycare facility, the municipality may make requirements regarding an operation guarantee.

With private daycare provision, parents and a private childminder enter into an agreement on caring for one or more children. 

A private daycare provision is generally run without public funding and is fully or partially financed by the parents' payment. However, it is possible to apply for subsidy for private daycare provision.

The parents may receive a financial subsidy from the municipality on the condition that the municipality approves the private daycare provision agreement that has been made, including the childminder and the physical environment where the child is to be cared for. The municipal council determines the subsidy for private daycare provision. The subsidy is determined in the same way for all children in the same age group.

Municipal approval of the private daycare provision

If the municipality approves a private daycare provision, the municipality must carry out supervision. Private daycare provisions are not covered by the requirements of daycare facilities, for example, pedagogical curriculum etc. The private daycare provision must be arranged so that it promotes children’s learning through secure learning environments. In terms of content, the work with learning environments must meet the requirements for learning and learning environments in daycare facilities, just as the work with learning environments in each private daycare provision must be based on the composition of the group of children and the children’s different backgrounds.

A private daycare provision may be run as a facility or in private homes. If the private daycare provision is established in the form of family daycare in the childminder’s own home, permission may be given to receive no more than 5 children under the age of 14. However, if more than one person carries out the childcare, permission may be granted to receive up to 10 children. However, the individual childminder may be approved to mind no more than 5 children. If you establish a private daycare provision, you cannot look after your own children.

If you are dissatisfied with the way your child is cared for, you must speak with the pedagogical staff. If it is about more general conditions in the daycare facility, you may contact the parental board or speak with the leader of the daycare facility.

If, for example, you want to complain about the work carried out by the pedagogical staff in your child’s daycare facility or you want to complain about the service level in the municipality, you must complain to the municipality.

If you are dissatisfied with a specific decision, for example with regard to an income-based subsidy that the municipality has made in accordance with the Daycare Act, you can complain about the municipality’s decision. You must complain to the municipality within 4 weeks. The municipality must the re-assess its decision within 4 weeks of the complaint being received. If the municipality upholds the decision, your complaint is forwarded to the Board of Appeal, which will rule on the decision.

If you believe that the municipality does not comply with applicable legislation, you can contact the supervision in the Board of Appeal.

Based on your information, the supervision assesses, among other things, whether there is a basis for starting a supervision case.

The supervision in the Board of Appeal is a legal supervisory entity. This means that the supervision only assesses whether legislation has been complied with. The supervision does not take a position on whether the municipality’s actions are reasonable or appropriate, or whether the case processing is in compliance with good administrative practice.

• The Board of Appeal about supervision of municipalities (in Danish)
• FAQ on appeals – Board of Appeal (in Danish)

• The Daycare Act (in Danish)

At lifeindenmark.dk

• Family daycare, nurseries and kindergartens
• Income-based subsidy, sibling subsidy, and other subsidies
• After-school schemes and childcare centres

Other websites

• Admission to a daycare facility (in Danish)
• Rules on calculating income-based subsidy (in Danish)
• Rules about subsidy for minding your own children (in Danish)
• Figures and statistics in the social area (in Danish)