South Australia childcare fees: Compare what you pay to other suburbs
Parents facing soaring childcare fees are being urged to question where their money is going. See the state’s priciest and cheapest centres.
SA News
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Eight of the top 10 most expensive suburbs for child care are all within 15km of Adelaide’s CBD, with one centre charging an eye watering $160.50 a day.
Mooringe World of Learning in Plympton – which boasts a harmony garden – has the highest fees for kids under 12 months in South Australia, while overall the most expensive suburb is Everard Park, where the average long day care fee is $160.50.
In comparison, St Agnes, a half-hour drive north of the CBD, is the cheapest suburb in the state with an average long day care fee of $71.
Benjamin Balk, founder and CEO of comparison app KindiCare, produced the data and said he expects some figures to increase even further in the next few weeks, as not all childcare centres have updated their fee increases yet.
“The data shows fees are going up across all states and territories, but that parents in Sydney and Melbourne are being slugged the hardest,” Mr Balk said.
“Even in Queensland, we are seeing boutique centres charging $200 a day.”
He said he could see why some parents are cynical about some of the high mid-year fee rises coinciding with subsidy increases, but the majority of providers he’s spoken to are just trying to cover costs.
Chief executive of campaign group Parenthood Georgie Dent said fee increases of between seven and nine per cent are reasonable.
“Fee increases in this vicinity mean that almost all families will still be better off when the changes kick in,” Ms Dent wrote in a letter to supporters.
“But providers squeezing parents by putting fees up by more than 10 per cent is beyond the pale.”
Georgina Brodie, 39, said her three-year-old daughter Lola’s fees are $165 a day and 10-month old Edward’s are $172.
Her and husband Matthew’s $1000 a week out-of-pocket childcare costs should reduce to around $800 when the changes come in.
However, Ms Brodie said because their fees are higher than the subsidy cap, they will have to stomach any further increases.
“We are being really frugal because we expect fee increases in January,” Ms Brodie, who works in PR, said.
“I’ve compressed my work days into four to save a day of childcare and we’ve cancelled subscriptions, including Netflix and our gym memberships.”
Minister for Education Jason Clare said it was common for childcare centres to increase their fees at this time of year, but under the reforms, most family’s out-of-pocket costs will still go down.
He said the changes will benefit 1.2 million families and for those on a combined income of $80,000 or less, the Child Care Subsidy rate will lift to 90 per cent.
Calculations by Goodstart found that at the moment the out-of-pocket costs for their parents on a combined income of $125,000 after they’ve received the subsidy are about $43 a day. The changes will see that drop to about $27 a day for those parents.
Australia’s competition regulator has also been tasked with investigating factors that drive up fees.
A spokeswoman from G8 which owns Mooringe World of Learning in Plympton, said
“fees are calculated based on a centre’s individual operating environment”.
“This includes operating costs such as labour and rent and maintenance costs which can vary greatly depending on the nature of the facilities at each service,” the spokeswoman said.
“At Mooringe World of Learning our facilities include extensive outdoor environments for the children to explore as part of a play-based curriculum.”
G8’s average fee increase in January was six per cent. In July fees are increasing again by an average of 3.88 per cent.
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julie.cross@news.com.au
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