There are two separate steps, and you need both:
– Register with the crèche. You apply directly to each crèche or mini-crèche you like; the [national directory](https://ssl.education.lu/sea/StaarkKanner) lists their contact details. Each manager sets its own admission criteria, and children are admitted depending on free places. Some services only take children who live or go to school in their commune.
– Join the chèque-service accueil (CSA) at your commune of residence, or at the CAE if you live abroad and work in Luxembourg. This does not reserve a place. Give the crèche your child’s national identification number so it can bill through the CSA.
When: crèches take children from 0 to 4, and each one handles its own registrations, so contact the ones you like as soon as you know your return-to-work date and ask about their availability and start dates.
Part-time: you agree the days and exact time slots with the crèche, and the childcare contract (contrat d’éducation et d’accueil) sets them out with the rate. Before you sign, check:
– how you can change the slots later, for example from half-time to full-time;
– the notice period, because notice billed after your child stops attending is not subsidised by the CSA;
– any deposit or registration fee, which the CSA does not cover.
For children aged 1 to 4 who are not yet at school, 20 hours a week are free at CSA crèches for 46 weeks a year, whatever your income.
Once bill 8686 is voted: the CSA reform is planned for 1 January 2027 but is still in parliamentary committee and may change. As amended in July 2026:
– You pay for the time blocks you book, plus any extra time your child actually stays.
– You can change the booking each month, with at most one month’s notice.
– The notice to end the contract is three months at most, and closure days cannot be billed.