ONE Nursery Fees 2026: What a Place in Belgium Really Costs You

You just found a nursery place for your child, and the nursery asks for a payslip before telling you how much it will cost. You might wonder why they do not simply give you a price. Because in Belgium, in nurseries subsidised by the ONE, there is no fixed fee: the parent contribution (PFP) is calculated on your income. Here is how it actually works in 2026, with real numbers and the traps many parents only discover too late.

The big shift of 2025: no more 139 bands

Until 31 December 2024, the ONE nursery fee was based on a 139-band scale, opaque and hard to predict. Since 1 January 2025, for any new entry into a childcare setting, the ONE applies a much simpler progressive scale: 4 income bands, each with its own rate. It works like personal income tax: your income is not taxed at the top band’s rate, each slice of your income is calculated within its own band.

If your child was already in nursery before 2025, you stay under the old 139-band system, which is gradually disappearing. This article only covers new entries.

The 2026 scale, in numbers

The calculation starts from your household’s net monthly income. Here are the rates of the standard scale (children entering from 2025):

Share of net monthly income	Rate applied
Up to €1,042	3.5%
From €1,042 to €4,163	12.8%
From €4,163 to €6,765	13.5%
Above €6,765	24.0%

The result is then divided by 20 days, giving a daily rate, capped at €46.84 per day. In practice, a day in nursery will cost you anywhere from a few euros up to that cap, depending on your income and family situation.

An example to make sense of it

Take a couple with €2,500 net monthly income. The calculation happens in two steps:

• The first €1,042 is charged at 3.5%: €36.47
• The rest, €1,458 (up to €2,500), is charged at 12.8%: €186.62
• Monthly total: €223.09, about €11.15 per day

At €1,500 net income, that drops to around €4.75 per day. At €3,000, around €14.35 per day. The price rises quickly with income, and that is the point: the more you earn, the more you contribute, which keeps nurseries affordable for everyone.

The reductions that really lower the bill

What many parents miss is that the scale changes with your family situation, not just your income. Some reductions are automatic, some are not.

Large families (3 children or more)

From 3 children in the household, you move to a reduced scale that is far more favourable:

Share of net monthly income	Reduced rate
Up to €1,042	2.1%
From €1,042 to €4,163	9.0%
From €4,163 to €6,765	10.8%
Above €6,765	21.6%

Let us reuse the €3,000 net income example. On the standard scale, you get €14.35 per day. On the reduced scale (large family), it comes down to about €9.91 per day. Over a 20-day month, that is a difference of over €85.

The specific case of a child with a disability

Here is a detail almost no one guesses: a disabled child for whom you receive increased child benefit counts as 2 children in the count. So a household with 2 children, one of whom is in this situation, reaches the threshold of 3 and qualifies for the large-family reduction. Without this double count, it would not be eligible. If your child has increased benefit, check this point, it can change your rate.

BIM status makes care free

Since 2023, if your household has BIM status (increased health insurance intervention), care in an ONE-subsidised setting is entirely free, with no social enquiry. That is one case where the answer is simple: €0, whatever the calculation.

Trap n°1: what you should NOT count as income

This is the leading cause of mistakes among parents, and it is what pushes the rate up wrongly. The ONE circular explicitly excludes certain resources from the reference income, which you should not add when filling in your file:

• child benefit, birth allowances and legal adoption premiums
• annual premiums: holiday pay, 13th month, year-end bonus
• alimony received for the children
• disability allowances
• back pay of salary or replacement income
• reimbursements of expenses by the employer
• the personal share of meal vouchers
• income of the children, and of ascendants who do not support the children

Many parents spontaneously declare their 13th month or their child benefit “to be safe”, and end up in a higher band for no reason. These amounts should not appear in the calculation. Your reference income is your usual net income, without the annual premiums.

Trap n°2: alimony between former partners

Alimony is neither fully counted nor fully excluded. The rule depends on the direction of the payment:

• Alimony received (a former partner pays you): it counts as income, but only up to 80% (20% is excluded).
• Alimony paid (you pay a former partner): it reduces your income, up to 80%.

That is not the kind of detail you would guess on your own, and it can change your band.

The income floor: who it applies to, who it does not

The ONE applies an income floor of €1,417.41 per month for a full-time worker. This means that even if you declare a lower income, the nursery will use at least €1,417.41 for the calculation. It is an anti-underdeclaration rule: a full-time salary cannot be lower than the guaranteed minimum income.

Important: this floor does not apply if you do not work full time, whether part-time, unemployed, studying, or on incapacity. In those cases, your actual income counts. If you are self-employed or a manager, the income used is smoothed over a full year, via an official coefficient, not your income for the current month.

Shared custody: two files, two bills

If your child is in shared custody between your two homes, the circular requires 2 separate PFP files and 2 separate bills, one per household. Each parent is billed according to their own income, and the child counts as one unit in each of the two households. If that is your situation, expect this setup, it often surprises people.

Estimate your own rate

These examples give you a rough idea, but your case is unique (exact income, family situation, possible reductions). The simplest is to use our ONE nursery fee calculator: enter your income and situation, and it applies the scale and reductions automatically.

And for a full picture of the budget, estimate your child benefit too: what goes out (the nursery) and what comes in (the benefit) are best reasoned together.

Keep in mind that official confirmation can only come from your childcare setting or the ONE, based on your complete file. But with the right figures in hand, you will already know what to expect.

Sources

• ONE: Cost of a childcare setting
• ONE: Parent Financial Contribution (PFP) circular