This industry was dominated by development and growth. However, from 2011 on the legal child allowance provided by the government has been consistently cut back, causing parents to spend substantially less money on professional childcare. On top of that the economic crisis set in by which many parents lost their jobs. In these hard times more and more parents choose to keep their children at home. Since 2012 this economical setback has had its repercussions on the sector, especially the summer of 2012. The demand for professional childcare has dropped ever since by more than ten per cent nationwide, and still continues to drop further. To make matters worse most childcare organisations in the years before 2011 made substantial investments in their accommodation and quality policy.
Obviously this financial blow has not been without consequences for the employees, since their wages represent one of the highest costs within a company. Practically on a daily basis DKVA negotiates with the unions, on assigning reduced numbers of personnel, and advises childcare organisations on how to cut costs.
Furthermore the real art is always to tamper as little as possible keeping two essential matters in mind: the vulnerable bond of trust between the child and the childcare professional, and the pedagogic quality provided.
De Koning Vergouwen advises organisations on the possibilities of carrying out a reorganization by reducing working hours instead of full dismissals. In this way the childcare organisation can keep its familiar faces, but for less hours. De Koning Vergouwen also successfully pleaded with the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen UWV) to tailor its policy rules when applied to the childcare branch. Due to this involvement it is possible to apply any compulsory redundancy exclusively to those locations where the demand for childcare actually dropped. As a result, tailor-made services have been made possible. These tailored possibilities are a welcome alternative as childcare organisations were in the past forced to reorganize throughout the organisation, and measures had to be taken on locations where they were not necessary and even problematic. This caused unrest and uncertainty, circumstances that are ever so disastrous, especially in this sector.
