By Melissa Grant
Childcare will be free for all Australian working parents during the coronavirus pandemic.
The major funding change will help ensure childcare centres remain open and deliver financial relief for an estimated one million families.
The childcare sector had been in dire straits, with many parents pulling out children amid the coronavirus outbreak.
But Prime Minister Scott Morrison stepped in on Thursday, announcing that families wouldn’t pay for childcare for at least three months.
“If you have a job in this economy, then that’s an essential job in my view in terms of the running of the economy,” he said.
“What we’ll be doing is we’ll be ensuring for those parents who are still in that position where they’re needing that childcare, it will be free.
“And will put in place support arrangements to the childcare facilities, some 13,000 of them, to ensure they’ll be able to remain open and be there for those parents to ensure they can do what they need to do each day.”
The government will pay 50 per cent of the childcare sector’s fee revenue up to the existing hourly rate cap, based on operations before parents started withdrawing their children in large numbers. This is on the proviso that services remain open and do not charge families for care.
The funding will apply from 6 April based on the number of children in care during the fortnight leading into 2 March, whether or not they are attending services.
Payments will start flowing at the end of next week and will replace the Child Care (CCS) and Additional Child Care Subsidy payments.
The system will be reviewed after a month. It will run for at least three months, with an extension to be considered after that.
The sector is expected to receive $1.6 billion in taxpayer subsidies over the three-month period.
Mr Morrison said the plan complements more than $1 billion the government expects the sector to receive through our new JobKeeper payment.
Gap fees will also be waived for parents who keep their children at home. Families can also use the 20 extra absence days the government has funded for coronavirus related reasons without giving up their place at a childcare centre.
Education Minister Dan Tehan is encouraging families who terminated their enrolment since 17 February to restart enrolment.
“Restarting your enrolment will not require you to send your child to childcare and it certainly won’t require you to pay a gap fee,” he explained.
“Restarting your enrolment will, however, hold your place for that point in time when things start to normalise, and you are ready to take your child back to their centre.
“We will also make payments of higher amounts available in exceptional circumstances, such as where greater funding is required to meet the needs of emergency workers or vulnerable children.”
