Expat parents who use after-school childcare clubs (bso) and who continued to pay their bills during the coronavirus closures in December last year are being urged to apply for government compensation.

Childcare services were closed from December 21 to January 9 because of the coronavirus pandemic and many parents continued to pay even though their children could not be looked after.

Now parents who do not receive help in paying for childcare from their local authority or via childcare benefits will be able to apply to the social insurance bank for compensation, the social affairs ministry has told Dutch News. Applications open on October 1.

‘We have received signals that this target group also consists of expats and we want to  bring this to their attention specifically,’ a spokeswoman said.

Claims can be made via the Mijn SVB section on the SVB website but the forms are only available in Dutch. ‘If you want to apply for compensation … but cannot read Dutch, we would advise you to seek help from a Dutch speaker,’ the ministry said.

The SVB says it will make a decision about the compensation within eight weeks of receiving an application.