SA’s cheapest, most expensive child care suburbs revealed
Taking care of SA’s children costs some parents thousands of dollars a year. Now new data has revealed Adelaide’s cheapest and most expensive suburbs for child care. SEARCH THE DATA FOR YOUR SUBURB
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Adelaide’s cheapest and most expensive suburbs for child care have been revealed in new data which shows parents are paying more than $14,100 a year in fees.
The first child care cost figures released for 2019 also show 10 of the top 100 most expensive regions for child care in the country are in South Australia.
Suburbs around Unley had the state’s priciest centres, with families paying average hourly fees of $11.17 or costs of more than $14,100 a year for a standard week of child care.
But suburbs around Playford, and Gawler and Two Wells, in Adelaide’s north had the biggest price hikes in the 12 months to March.
Fees in both regions spiked more than 13 per cent on average over the year, according to federal Education Department data.
An analysis by The Advertiser shows families were paying about $12,570 a year for centres around Gawler and Two Wells and $11,860 a year for centres around Playford.
That’s based on the areas’ average hourly fee costs, South Australia’s average of 26.4 hours of child care per week and 48 weeks a year.
Nine Adelaide regions and one in the Barossa were listed among the country’s 100 most expensive areas for child care.
That includes suburbs around Prospect and Walkerville, Norwood, Payneham and St Peters, Mitcham, Burnside, Adelaide City, Campbelltown, West Torrens, Charles Sturt, and around Kapunda, Nuriootpa and Angaston in the Barossa.
Suburbs around Salisbury in Adelaide’s north and around Port Adelaide in the west had the city’s cheapest child care.
Families were paying about $9.11 per hour or $11,544 a year around Salisbury on average and $9.24 per hour or $11,708 a year around Port Adelaide.
The data also reveals more than two dozen centres across Adelaide are charging more per hour than the government’s subsidy cap.
“It is concerning to see such fee variation in South Australia, particularly for families living in those high fee areas who may be prevented from accessing vital early education and care,” Labor’s child care spokeswoman Amanda Rishworth said.
“In some parts of South Australia families are paying up to $1757 more per year than the average Australian family.
“We know the social, economic and educational benefits of a quality early education, and it is important all children and families can access this no matter where they live.”
Ms Rishworth said the Coalition’s new child care system had not put downward pressure on prices, and that costs had risen 30 per cent since 2013.
An Education Department spokesman said out-of-pocket costs for families were down by 7.9 per cent under the new child care subsidy, introduced last July.
“The latest data shows that 88 per cent of centre-based day care services have an average hourly charge that is at or lower than the Government’s hourly rate cap,” he said.
“For nearly 570,000 or 74.3 per cent of the 767,000 children in centre based day care, their parents’ out of pocket costs are less than $5 per hour per child.”