KawiParents guide · childcare voucher
Chèque-service accueil: what daycare will really cost you.
The chèque-service accueil, or CSA, is the State's help with childcare costs for children aged 0 to 12 who live in Luxembourg. The lower your household income, the bigger the help. The calculator below shows what is left for you to pay for a week of daycare, then we explain the rules without jargon. If you are on parental leave, first read the rule on daycare during the leave.
Work out the daycare price
A typical week in a daycare centre or mini-crèche, using the official scale in force. Taxable income appears on your tax assessment or can be worked out from your payslips (gross minus social contributions). The exact amount is on your monthly invoice.
How the price is calculated
Four things count: your household taxable income (compared with the minimum social wage), the child's rank among siblings (the second costs less than the first), the number of hours per week and the meals. The State pays at most €7 an hour in daycare, up to 60 hours a week. In a more expensive private daycare, you pay the difference. The official scale and the ministry's calculation guide (in French) give every detail.
Daycare often comes at the end of the leave around a birth. If your baby is not born yet, start with the paperwork and leave to plan before the birth.
The 20 free hours
From age 1 until school, your child is entitled to 20 free hours a week in daycare, whatever your income, 46 weeks a year: this is the multilingual education programme, where they discover Luxembourgish and French. If they already attend précoce part-time, they keep 10. These hours come on top of the free hours in the scale.
At school, the maison relais becomes free
Once your child is in compulsory school (from cycle 1, not précoce), care at the maison relais and lunch are free during school periods, Monday to Friday from 7am to 7pm, whatever your income. During holidays the scale applies again. For younger children, the cost of care during school holidays is capped at €100 a week, meals extra.
How to get it
Apply to join the CSA at your commune, with proof of income: you receive a card and a contract setting your category. You can then use it in any daycare centre, mini-crèche or childminder registered for the CSA. Questions? The ministry's helpdesk answers, and the ministry's official page gives the contacts.
At daycare, they already hear Luxembourgish.
Kawi carries those first words on at home, through play, from 3 to 6.