The Federal Government’s new childcare subsidy comes into effect on Monday but childcare centres are responding by raising prices.
Parents have reported seeing fees jacked up by up to ten percent in anticipation of the rebates.
An outraged mother of two, Adele Barbaro, said her childcare fees this year have skyrocketed.
Childcare fees, which are already expensive are being jacked up by up to ten percent. Adele Barbaro (pictured) said that her fees have ‘gone up by $7 per day per child’
G8 Education, a top tier provider of childcare in the country has issued a 5.5 per cent blanket fee increase across its 516 centres (stock image)
‘[Fees have] gone up $7 per day per child and it’s just making it out of reach for so many Aussie families to be able to send their kids to day care and return to the workforce, she told A Current Affair.
Ms Barbaro shares honest insights into her life as the working mother of two year old Harvey, and nine month old Chloe on her personal blog The Real Mumma.
‘Childcare on average costs $122 per day, per child. If you had 2 children in care for 5 days a week, that’s $63,440 a year,’ she warned on her blog.
‘The government gives you back $20,000 in rebates but it still costs $43,440 out of pocket and it’s going up. Yep! Mine is going up to $135 a day, per child. INSANE.’
The increase in fees comes in response to new childcare rebates set to come into effect at the start of July.
‘If I was to go to work five days a week and increase their days in care to 5 days, I would lose money going to work. I simply cannot afford to work full time and put my kids in care,’ Ms Barbaro said on social media.
‘But there are so many women around Australia that are in a position where they simply cannot afford to work at all, forcing them out of the work place for years.’
G8 Education, a top tier provider of childcare in the country has issued a 5.5 per cent blanket fee increase across its 516 centres.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham told the Australian : ‘Families will rightly be cynical of childcare providers trying to rip them off’
The childcare centre operator has a market capitalization of more than $1billion.
‘Families will rightly be cynical of childcare providers trying to rip them off,’ Education Minister Simon Birmingham told The Australian:
‘As difficult as it can be to switch services, I’d encourage any families being ripped off to consider what alternatives may be available to them,’ he said.
‘Our expectation is that the hourly rate cap we’re introducing will give Australians a benchmark price that over time further helps to constrain fee increases.’
Angie Phillips, a Brisbane mother has also spoken out and expressed concern over the fee increase.
‘I feel like it needs to be governed, these massive corporations make millions of dollars every year, and we don’t know where the costs are going,’ she said.
The Australian Government will replace the Child Care Benefit (CCB) and Child Care Rebate (CCR) with an overhauled, single means-tested subsidy called the Child Care Subsidy (CCS).
Payment will be made directly to childcare providers and families will pay any difference between the fee charged and subsidy paid on their behalf.
‘While the new system will provide many working families with greater financial support to assist them in paying for child care services, unfortunately it will leave some families with lower subsidies, and some families will no longer be eligible for any subsidy at all,’ an Australian Childcare Alliance fact sheet states.