Majority of SA families to be big winners in child care reforms

SOUTH Australian families with children in child care could soon be more than $2000 better off under child care reforms to start Monday, Senator Simon Birmingham says.

ALMOST eight in ten South Australian families will benefit from new childcare reforms to take shape this week, new figures show.

Federal Education Department analysis shows that 61,480 families across the state, or around 79.3 per cent, are set to benefit from a $2.6 billion overhaul of the childcare and early learning system.

Many South Australian families, with one child in care, will be between $1328 and $2725 better of each year.

Families in Adelaide’s north as well as the state’s South-East, Barossa, Yorke and Mid North will see boosts in their annual subsidies of more than 20 per cent.

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the new analysis showed families could be thousands of dollars better off from the Turnbull Government’s reforms that are set to take effect from today.

“This is about delivering more support for more families,” Minister Birmingham said. “There’s still time left for those families who have left the switchover to the last minute. Don’t wait, get it done now.”

At least 85 per cent of eligible South Australian families have made the switch to the new system.

What the childcare reforms mean for your area

The Government said there may be up to 11,000 people yet to update their details.

“Although we want everyone eligible to switchover before Monday to ensure no disruption to their payments, we have also put in place a safety net that will allow back payments to made within the first three months of operation,” Senator Birmingham said.

Some of the key elements of the Turnbull Government’s reforms include:

AN activity test to ensure that taxpayers’ support for child care is targeted to those who depend on it in order to work, or work additional hours.

INCREASING the base subsidy from around 72 per cent to 85 per cent for the more than 370,000 families earning $66,958 or less a year.

INTRODUCING hourly rate caps to help put downward pressure on fee increases by setting a limit on what hourly fee the Government will subsidise

Senator Birmingham said the reforms were the most significant improvement to child care support in more than 40 years. He said: “It means $2.5 billion extra investment as well as reforms targeting subsidies to people working the most and to families earning the least, abolishing the $7500 annual rebate cap for most families and introducing an hourly fee cap to put downward pressure on fee increases.”