On 16 July 2026, the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia passed a comprehensive reform of the Child Education Act (KiBiz). It is due to come into force at the start of the new nursery year 2027/28, with the aim of making childcare in North Rhine-Westphalia more reliable.

The state is providing a total of more than 420 million euros for this purpose. Of this, the providers receive an additional 200 million euros annually as a state grant to finance the costs of the transition. Around 68 million euros is being channelled into training and professional development for specialist staff in the childcare centres. The state is providing a further 37.2 million euros for nursery assistants, whose role is to relieve staff of administrative and day-to-day tasks. In addition, around 50 million euros has been earmarked for language support in the nurseries.

A key element of the reform is the definition of core and off-peak hours. During core hours, children are looked after by qualified specialist staff. Every nursery must offer at least 35 hours of core hours per week, with five hours per day being mandatory. The provider may distribute the remaining ten hours flexibly throughout the week. During off-peak hours, other childcare staff, such as state-certified childminders, may also be employed. However, at least one qualified social education worker must always be present on site. This is intended to enable childcare centres to deploy their staff more flexibly in the face of the shortage of skilled workers and to operate more reliably. The KiBiz reform also offers parents greater flexibility: in future, they will be able to book childcare for their children in five-hour blocks. In this way, the state is responding to the varying needs of families.

Despite the reform, there is widespread criticism that the funding allocated to childcare centres is still insufficient to cover actual staff and operating costs; there are also concerns that the quality of childcare will be jeopardised by the introduction of core and off-peak hours.