More than a third of Australian parents will be forced to reduce their child’s attendance at childcare or remove them entirely when the free childcare model ends on June 28, a leading parents advocacy group says.
The group, The Parenthoood, is concerned about the federal government’s plan to “snap-back” to the old model and subsidy arrangement.
More than 1300 parents completed The Parenthood’s survey, with nearly half (44%) saying they have had their income reduced during the pandemic.
“For the majority of parents who have had their income drop due to COVID, they report they’d be forced to reduce days or remove their child or children from care altogether – just when they’re trying to find their feet again in this new uncertain job market,” Georgie Dent, The Parenthood’s National Campaign Director said.
“These findings illustrate how significantly different the financial situation is for so many families right now compared to a few months ago.”
The vast majority of families (73%) reported the government’s move to make childcare fee-free for parents had had a positive impact on their family’s finances.
“The impact on workforce participation will predominantly fall to women, with 66 per cent reporting they would be the partner who would reduce their hours of work or stop work altogether,” Ms Dent said.
“With reports of parents being locked out of early learning and care just when they need it the most, it confirms the government must act urgently to fix the current system, not talk of a snap back to the old system.
“Almost 80 per cent of parents said that even before COVID19 they had considered whether it was worth working full-time at all because of the cost of childcare.”
Ms Dent said the old childcare subsidy system was specifically designed to support families in employment and treats parents who are out of work particularly harshly.
“In this new high unemployment environment the old model would almost certainly fall over.”
The Parenthood is urging the government to extend the relief package with a number of key amendments to ensure family day services can operate, increase the subsidy paid to centres and ensure workers ineligible for JobKeeper are offered assistance.
