Corona

At CompaNanny, we follow the directives of the RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) and the Government of the Netherlands. This means that a distance of 1.5 metres must always be maintained between adults. The following specific measures with regards to social distancing are in force at the locations:

• Children do not need to maintain a distance of 1.5 metres between themselves;
• Employees do not need to maintain a distance of 1.5 metres between themselves and children up to the age of 12 years.
• A distance of 1.5 metres must always be maintained between employees and between parents/guardians and employees.

We follow the RIVM decision tree. This decision tree is a guideline with which you can assess whether or not your child can go to CompaNanny / school. There is one decision tree for children from 0 to 12 years old.

In case of chronic cold complaints, we follow the directives of the RIVM and the GGD (Municipal Health Services). The RIVM says the following about this situation: If the child has hay fever or a chronic cold every year, you will recognise the symptoms. The child may then go to school or day care. If you are not sure whether the symptoms are different from those that you are familiar with, keep the child at home until the (new) symptoms have passed.

The GGD sets an important condition that parents/guardians and Nannies must reach a mutual agreement together and therefore they are jointly responsible. This means that if a child suffers from hay fever, familiar symptoms or chronic colds, and parents/guardians and Nannies are not worried about any further complaints, then the child in question is welcome to attend the day care centre. As soon as there are any new symptoms, the child must remain at home or must be collected from childcare. This remains in force. If the symptoms then persist for longer, the child may be eligible for a test. Your child is welcome back at the childcare centre if the test comes back negative. It means that we can, hopefully, prevent long-term absenteeism.

With regards to travelling abroad, we follow the advice of the Government of the Netherlands. If you are planning to go on holiday abroad soon or have recently been on holiday, please view the related directives here.

• Children must stay at home for a period of 10 days after their last close contact with the infected person. This applies if the infected person is unable to follow strict self-isolation rules within the home.
• If the infected person is able to follow strict self-isolation (i.e. avoiding close/risk contact with other household members), then all other household members (including children) may go outside and to childcare / school / work again after 10 days of quarantine. Provided they have not developed any complaints themselves.

In short: children must be quarantined for another 10 days after the infected person is symptom-free for 24 hours. Provided there is no strict self-isolation. 

Also here is a decision tree prepared by Boink. The decision tree has been developed based on the advice of the RIVM.  

Children up to group 2 (up to 6 years) of the primary school do not need to be tested for colds or fever. Testing is allowed, but this is not an urgent advice. If your child does have serious complaints that fit the coronavirus, please contact your doctor. The doctor can then determine whether your child needs to be tested. Does your child have complaints and is he or she part of a source and contact examination of the GGD? Then the GGD will give advice about testing.  

As safety comes first and foremost, we have adapted our working method in a number of areas:

• With regards to parents/guardians who are bringing their child(ren) to CompaNanny for the first time, we will hold the Intake Interview via telephone. During this call, we will also discuss the Acclimatisation Period.
• The handovers will mainly be done digitally, both in the morning and in the afternoon. We hereby request you to write the handover and any details for it in the logbook. Furthermore, we would appreciate your cooperation in reading the diary before collecting your child(ren) in the afternoon. This ensures that the physical contact moments can be kept short, but that we do share all necessary and valuable information with each other.
• If there are any specifics that need to be discussed or if there is a need for a longer verbal handover, this is of course still possible and will take place by telephone.
• We request that you keep the drop-off and collection times short. Drop-offs and collection are to be done by a maximum of one adult. If possible, without other children.
• Wearing a face mask for parents has been mandatory since December 1st.

Yes, to ensure that the drop-off time runs smoothly and safely, we are working with time blocks within which children can be brought. Each location has created their own schedule for their specific location and at group level. You can find the overview via the Parent Portal. In it, you will see:

• The time block in which you can drop-off your child(ren)
• Group-specific method for dropping-off and collecting children
• Location-specific information regarding walking routes, safety and hygiene, etc.

We realise that having to drop-off your child(ren) within the specified time blocks can pose challenges and we fully understand that it may not be possible for you to drop your child(ren) off within the specified time block. Nevertheless, we urge you to take the indicated time blocks into account as much as possible in order to minimise the ‘rush hours’ and to be able to guarantee the 1.5-metre social distancing regulation between parents/guardians and between employees and parents/guardians.

To ensure that you can safely visit our location(s), we ask you to take the following measures into account:

• There is a maximum of 1 person per tour and we ask you not to bring children
• We keep a distance of 1.5 meters
• We don't shake hands
• We ask you to disinfect your hands upon arrival
• We do not enter areas where children are present
• Stay home when you have a cold, fever and / or shortness of breath
• Wearing a face mask is mandatory
• A guided tour with mask lasts a maximum of 20 minutes

Yes, that's possible! Contact Customer Care and they will send you a digital 360° tour of the location of your choice. That way you can already take a look inside!

The structure of the childcare invoice is always as follows; you will be reimbursed for part of the costs for childcare through the childcare allowance and part of it is for your own account, "the personal contribution". You pay the entire amount of the invoice to the childcare organization, after which the government reimburses part of it to you via the childcare allowance. During the closures by COVID-19, the government compensates the personal contribution of parents up to the maximum hourly rate applied by the tax authorities. No exchange days can be accrued during compensation periods.

Yes, do not forget to take action if your (individual or both) income(s) has/have changed. If it/they have, the Dutch tax authorities (Belastingdienst) will ask you to report this as soon as possible via 'mijn toeslagen'. If your income drops, you will receive a higher amount of childcare allowance. The tax authorities can then process this change with the next payment of childcare allowance.

CompaNanny has refunded the difference between the above maximum hourly rate and the hourly rate of CompaNanny to parents for the period March 16 to May 11. This means that you have been fully refunded the costs for this period; partly via the government in the form of a subsidy and partly via CompaNanny.

CompaNanny has decided during this closure to only compensate parents who do not use the emergency shelter, this will be reviewed on a monthly basis. They will receive the full personal contribution of CompaNanny in return. In addition, all parents whether or not they make use of emergency shelter will receive their own contribution back before Wednesday December 16. Parents who do use of emergency care from Thursday 17 December will not receive a refund of the personal contribution for all their contract days in December. If they also use the emergency shelter in January, they will not receive a refund of the co-payment for that month either. Parents, who use extra care in addition to their contracted days, will not be charged for this. So also the own contribution will not be charged. On a number of BSO's, in consultation with the schools, the opening hours have been extended. This has been chosen to relieve parents as much as possible and to enable schools to focus on offering digital education. 

In principle you do not have to do anything for this. The money that you have received or will receive from the government is deposited by the Social Insurance Bank (SVB) into the same account on which you receive the childcare allowance. Parents who use childcare through a municipal scheme are compensated for their own contribution via the municipality.

You also don’t have to do anything for the refund from CompaNanny. This amount has now been settled for the period March 16 to May 11 and will be settled at the beginning of 2021 for the period December 16 to January 18.

CompaNanny does not distinguish between parents who do or do not receive a child care allowance from the government, the above information also applies to these parents. The government has also indicated that it will fully reimburse all parents who do not receive a child care allowance  for both COVID-19 closures.

During the COVID-19 closing from December 16 to January 18, the BSO opening hours per After-School Care are determined in consultation with the schools. All information about the specific opening hours per After-School Care are shared via the Parent Portal. For questions, we would like to refer you to your location manager. As soon as the schools reopen, the standard BSO schedule will resume.

In order to ensure that the moment of bringing is safe, we will implement time frames within certain children can be brought. All locations have worked this out for their own location, at group level. This overview has been shared in the Parent Portal. It contains the following:

• Time frame in which you can bring your child(ren);
• Group specific working method around bringing and picking up;
• Establishment of specific information on walking routes, safety and hygiene, etc.

We realize that bringing in the indicated time frames can be challenging. If it is not possible to bring your child(ren) within the indicated time frame, we understand this. Nevertheless, we urge you to take the indicated time frames into account as much as possible in order to minimize the 'rush moments' and to keep the 1.5 meter distance between you and other parents or the Nannies.

In order to keep a good overview and to be able to make our staff planning, we request you to register the absence of your child(ren) for the children aged 0 to 4 years in the Parent Portal.

Meanwhile it is possible to request exchange days, of course based on availability and for safety reasons, exchange days are only permitted in your child’s own group. We ask for your understanding. More information about the Parent Portal and how to unsubscribe can be found in the Parent Portal Manual.