Family day carers confused about Governments plans to both cut and boost child care funding PM By David Mark Mon 8 Dec 2014, 9:42pm Family day care providers are unclear about Prime Minister Tony Abbotts plans to both cut and funnel funding into Australias child care sector. Mr Abbott announced on Monday that he was going to re-jig his paid parental leave scheme to funnel more money into child care. We are going to redirect the savings into child care, because it needs to be a holistic families package and people do want better child care - more available, more affordable child care, he said. But the decision has left many people in the family day care sector confused, because in the May budget, the Government announced it was going to save $157 million by changing the eligibility for funding to providers of family day care. Audio: Family day care threatened by budget changes (PM) All Family Day Care director Amany Mikhail, who runs a for-profit family day care scheme in Western Sydney overseeing 73 family day care operators, said she may have to close the service or put up levies because of the changes. She said she had budgeted for the money and would not receive any more Government funding. You have to be the sole provider in that area, situated in a low socio-economic area. Its just going to make it really difficult for any scheme to be eligible for that funding, she said. There are six schemes in the Mt Druitt area and because we are in a low socio-economic area, we definitely will be affected. Were not the sole providers in that area. Because of where were situated and the low socio-economic area, if we put our levies up to cover the funding costs, parents wont be able to afford it. She said if services were to close, parents would have to give up work because there would not be enough places for their children. The other alternative is to get people to do it privately, and thats going back now to where we were 34 years ago where youve got people doing backyard babysitting really, she said. Providers reassess viability after budget cuts The Governments changes will come into place in July next year. From then on, only regional and remote areas will be funded. The changes will affect also affect council-run, charity-run and not-for-profit sector programs. Assistant Minister for Education Sussan Ley was not available for an interview, but her spokesman said the changes did not amount to a budget cut but rather was bringing the funding back into line. Opposition education and early childhood spokeswoman Kate Ellis said Mr Abbotts plans for child care were unclear and parents were worried. Weve heard him say that theyre looking to provide more support for child care, but theyve now cut over a billion dollars from the childcare sector since they came to Government, she said. The best example of that is family day care, which was specifically mentioned in the papers when the Prime Minister was briefing about this change of heart hes had, but theyve cut $157 million. Weve heard from family day care providers that theyre concerned that this will mean the parents will pull their children out of their care, Ms Ellis said. Weve also heard from some that are reassessing their viability and potentially looking to close down. abc.net.au/news/2014-12-08/family-day-cares-future-unclear-after-governments-announcement/5952928
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 12:40:00 +0000
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