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In October 2005, State Secretary mister Van Hoof of Social Affairs proposed that single mothers with young children receiving benefits should find employment in an out-of-school-time care programme. He believes this should be done in return for receiving benefits, on top of which he will dish out a bonus. Shortly before this announcement, his colleagues, the Minister of Social Affairs and the Minister of Education, had said that schools will be obligated to offer out-of-school-time care programmes from 7.30 am to 6.30 pm should parents request such. While the Lower House does support the latter proposal, an overwhelming majority rejected the proposed obligation for single mothers receiving benefits to work in these care programmes.
In October 2005, State Secretary mister Van Hoof of Social Affairs proposed that single mothers with young children receiving benefits should find employment in an out-of-school-time care programme. He believes this should be done in return for receiving benefits. He is prepared to dish out a bonus over and above the benefit level. In so doing, the state secretary is supporting the proposal put forward by the conservative party (Vereniging voor Vrijheid en Democratie, VVD) in which schools would be obligated to offer out-of-school-time care programmes for children from 7.30 am to 6.30 pm. To this end, 2007 would see the release of an annual budget of EUR 35 million followed by EUR 27 million in each of the years thereafter. The proposal for the out-of-school-time care programme is supported by a majority of the Lower House. When this new facility is launched in the Netherlands new staff will be needed. Van Hoof perceives single mothers receiving benefits as a suitable group of 'childminders'. As parents he believes they will be suitably qualified to carry out the job, they can take their own children with them, they will be gaining work experience and helping other working parents as well. The state secretary is also considering current benefit rules, where the parents of young children are exempt from the obligation of having to actively find employment if this serves the interests of the child. He suspects that numerous municipal authorities, responsible for implementing the benefit rules, go about this task too leniently. The rules governing single mothers receiving benefits have been tightened on several occasions, lastly in 2004. Effective 1 January that year, single mothers with children younger than five were awarded limited exemption from having to seek employment. Single parents receiving benefits have formed a relatively stable group over the years totalling some 70,000 to 90,000 mothers, who together account for 28% of all people claiming benefits.
The largest ruling coalition party, the Christian party (Christen Democratisch Appel, CDA) is critical of the plan. A spokesperson for the CDA demands that women should also be trained for the job, while municipalities are not obligated to do so in the plan. Recent reports show that the quality of childcare is under pressure. Van Hoof’s proposal would seem to reinforce this negative trend. The party is especially opposed to the statutory obligation. The biggest opposition party, the social democratic labour party (Partij van de Arbeid, PvdA) is also calling for quality requirements to be established and would first like to see a proper training programme put in place and the prospect of a fully fledged job. This is where the proposal met opposition in the Lower House. The organisations involved, from municipalities to educational institutes, highlight the quality of care and remuneration. If Van Hoof had offered regular employment at an appropriate wage and a sound training path, the broad-based social opposition to the proposal would have been less extensive
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