Childcare costs increase across South Australia – Search your area here

New data has revealed where the cheapest – and most expensive – childcare centres are in South Australia. Search your area here.

South Australian families are paying up to $834 more per year in childcare fees, as new figures reveal where the cheapest – and most expensive – centres are.

Latest government data shows the average cost for childcare has risen in almost all corners of the state, with Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island families being slugged with the biggest hikes.

The annual cost per child in those areas rose by $834 to $13,049 before subsidies in the year to March 2021.

Parents on the Eyre Peninsula and the southwest corner of the state were hit with an annual rise of $728 per child.

For at least the second year in a row, suburbs in the Prospect-Walkerville area had the state’s most expensive childcare, with an average of $11.75 an hour, or $15,566 a year for 48 standard weeks of childcare before subsidies are applied.

The government’s Child Care Subsidy, with a maximum rate of 85 per cent, is currently capped at $10,655 per year, per child. The cap will be scrapped in December.

Childcare centres in the state’s Mid North were the cheapest, at just $8.52 an hour before subsidies, or $11,287 a year.

Suburbs in Onkaparinga had the cheapest rates in metropolitan Adelaide, with an average hourly fee of $9.99 in the March quarter, equalling $13,234 a year.

Kingston MP and Labor’s early childhood education spokeswoman, Amanda Rishworth, said the average increase across the state was higher than the 1.1 per cent inflation rate.

“South Australian families were hit with fee increases of up to six times inflation, meaning families are paying more and more out of pocket,” she said.

Labor’s early childhood education spokeswoman, Amanda Rishworth, said SA families were “being crippled” by the cost of child care.

“Families are being crippled by the cost of child care, and the Morrison-Joyce Government has no plan to keep a lid on soaring fees.

“Labor has a plan to make child care cheaper for 97 per cent of families, and also to get the ACCC to design a price regulation mechanism to keep costs down for good.”

Education minister Alan Tudge said the average out-of-pocket cost in SA was just $3.54 per hour.

“More than a quarter of SA families pay less than $2 per hour,” he said.

In March next year, the federal government plans to introduce additional subsidies, which Mr Tudge says would provide $2200 of annual relief to about 17,000 South Australian families.

Under the plan, families with two or more children aged under five in care will have their subsidy rate increased by 30 per cent for their second child and younger children, with a maximum rate of 95 per cent.

More than half of eligible families are expected to receive the 95 per cent maximum subsidy.

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