So far 60 people have lost their official authorisation to work with children since continuous background checks were introduced in March, according to social affairs ministry figures.

Most of the crimes relate to partners of official child-minders. In 28 cases, the crime was of a violent nature but 13 involved sex-related crimes.

The continual screening is leading to a safer environment for children which is ‘necessary to protect the vulnerable group of children in childcare,’ social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher said.

The screening process is to be extended to cover volunteers, temporary workers and people on work placement schemes.

Some 150,000 people work in childcare, of whom 37,000 are official child-minders.