School and childcare in Denmark: free folkeskole, and child benefit you build up

Yes, your children can go to school in Denmark, and the municipal folkeskole costs nothing; you only pay at a private school. School starts in the year your child turns six, with a compulsory kindergarten year. For younger children there is a childcare guarantee from 26 weeks, with parents bearing at most a quarter of the cost. The finding at borger.dk is about the money: you build up the Danish child benefit over six years of living or working in Denmark. As an EU citizen you may count your Dutch years, but then you must apply yourself, and that is the step newcomers miss.

How does the Danish school work?

The folkeskole is the municipal primary and lower secondary school. As a rule your child starts in the year it turns six, in the børnehaveklasse, the kindergarten year, which is compulsory. Every school belongs to a school district, and your home address determines which district you belong to and so which school offers you a place. You may also choose a school in another district or another municipality, if there is room.

Denmark has compulsory education, not compulsory schooling: parents choose freely between the folkeskole and one of the many private schools. About 15 per cent of Danish schoolchildren attend a private school; the fees vary widely per school, and you register there yourself, preferably well in advance. The teaching there must be of the same standard as at the folkeskole.

If you arrive in the middle of the year, outside the municipality's enrolment period, you cannot use the digital enrolment and you contact the municipality directly.

What does childcare cost, and how quickly is there a place?

Subject	What applies
Childcare guarantee	every child from 26 weeks until school starts, with parents legally resident
Deadline if you do not apply around the birth	at the latest 3 months after your application
Parental contribution	at most 25 per cent of the cost; the municipality pays at least 75 per cent
Fully free place (2026)	household income up to DKK 218,101 a year
Partial reduction (2026)	household income from DKK 218,101 to 677,499
Siblings	half the parental contribution for the cheapest place, automatically
After-school care (SFO)	for children of about 6 to 10 years

The guarantee gives a right to a place, not to a particular nursery; you may state a preference. A newcomer usually falls under the three-month rule, because it applies to those who do not apply in connection with a birth. So apply as soon as you have an address, not only when work starts. You apply digitally to the municipality for the income reduction; for the SFO the threshold for a (partly) free place is also DKK 677,500 in 2026.

How much child benefit do I get?

The Danish child benefit is called børne- og ungeydelse. The full amount in 2026:

Age	Full amount
0 to 2 years	DKK 5,370 per quarter
3 to 6 years	DKK 4,248 per quarter
7 to 14 years	DKK 3,342 per quarter
15 to 17 years	DKK 1,114 per month

If the parents live together, each gets half into their own NemKonto. Above an income of DKK 961,100 in 2026 the amount is reduced.

Without an application you get 8.3 per cent after half a year. The full amount belongs to six years of living or working in Denmark within the last ten years, and it rises in steps of half a year. But borger.dk adds: as an EU citizen you may count the periods in which you built up a right to child benefit in another EU country. That does not happen by itself. Whoever moves to Denmark from another EU country must apply for the børne- og ungeydelse themselves, with documentation; Udbetaling Danmark first checks the foreign periods with the authority of that country. So apply as soon as your CPR number and MitID are there.

Udbetaling Danmark takes seven weeks on average for an application, and may need up to 21 weeks if information from abroad is needed.

In which order?

Everything hangs on your address and your CPR number: the school district, the childcare guarantee and the child benefit. How you get that number is in CPR, MitID and Digital Post; how it fits into your move, in the step-by-step plan for Denmark.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.4: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Denmark or go straight to step 5.4 in the open plan.