Canberra Child Care fees to drop?

I think the problem is that the market is at about what it can bear. Some people might continue to use childcare even if it hurts because they don’t want to throw in the job, especially in this climate, and obviously especially women. We have been lucky in that our finances have been able to bear it, but it is still a considerable expense. We have reached the end of childcare and even though it was all well worth it in the main, I certainly breathed a sigh of relief. At least with school we can choose if we want to pay fees based on the overall performance and benefit of the school. With childcare most don’t have that luxury.

What annoys me so much about government policy is that it’s all looked at in isolation. There may be a wonderful parental leave policy on the table, but what will that do for availability of child care places and cost of fees for said childcare which will inevitably follow the luxurious paid year off work? Why has no one managed to solve this?

bigfeet said :

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

steveu said :

Priced at what the market is willing to bear. simple.

Yep. If people couldn’t afford it, centres wouldn’t be full.

You could always use the system my wife and I used to limit child care fees. Choose not to have children.

You don’t hear us whining every time QANTAS puts it’s business class fares up, Rockpools menu prices increase or a bottle of Henschke Hill of Grace goes up in purchase price. These are just necessities and we grin and bear it stoically!

Good point, but childcare fees are only a minor item on our family budget, and paying them doesn’t bother in the least.

The children, on the other hand, are a blessing beyond price. 🙂

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

steveu said :

Priced at what the market is willing to bear. simple.

Yep. If people couldn’t afford it, centres wouldn’t be full.

You could always use the system my wife and I used to limit child care fees. Choose not to have children.

You don’t hear us whining every time QANTAS puts it’s business class fares up, Rockpools menu prices increase or a bottle of Henschke Hill of Grace goes up in purchase price. These are just necessities and we grin and bear it stoically!

sepi said :

Rebates for a couple of years of childcare so parents can work are a lot cheaper than decades of pensions because people dropped out of the workforce because they had kids.

Its a choice. The rebates may help with regards to someones pension, but it only creates a demand which means they cost more, because people are reluctant to work in childcare because the wages are so low, so opening new centres or providing more staff is also difficult. Childcare workers are paid quite low wages, so really it should be more expensive than it is.
There are so many ways they can improve productivity and help mothers at home. The NBN would have been a good start for people to work “efficiently” from home for example. Providing more concessions for people on lower wages to save for retirement, rather than take them away.

steveu said :

Priced at what the market is willing to bear. simple.

Yep. If people couldn’t afford it, centres wouldn’t be full. The one we use is chockers and has a waiting list.

Priced at what the market is willing to bear. simple.

Rebates for a couple of years of childcare so parents can work are a lot cheaper than decades of pensions because people dropped out of the worforce because they had kids.

The reason childcare is so expensive is the rebates for childcare just increase those using it and thus means demand is high and prices are high. Also given childcare staff are generally considered to be underpaid, so it is just going to get more expensive.

I hadn’t heard this one, but our childcare centre has vacancies for the first time in 7 years, so perhaps a reduction in demand will lead to less fee rises. I hope so.

I did see a report about the Fed govt reducing their support for 15 hours a week of preschool, so I wondered if preschools will go back to 12 hours a week next year? (After they’ve all shuffled all their days and hours around to meet the new 15 hour requirement in the last two years.)