Childcares offering free babysitting for ‘support’ after coronavirus hit
Sydney childcare centres have launched fundraising appeals with some targets as high as $78,000, saying they cannot pay their staff or guarantee childcare spots.
Early Education
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Exclusive: Parents are feeling intimidated by desperate childcares who are offering free babysitting and casual spots in exchange for donations to pay their staff, as services say the federal government’s free childcare system is driving them to the brink of collapse.
News Corp Australia has found a number of childcares across the country who have launched fundraising appeals with targets as high as $78,000, saying they cannot pay their staff or guarantee childcare spots.
But childcares say the free childcare package is decimating them, with many saying they will close in weeks.
One centre, Kidzville in Marrickville, has a GoFundMe page with a $10,000 target which says “we need your help to keep our staff employed!”.
It also said: “We will open up casual spots for all families who provide support for us – more information to come. We will once this pandemic is over – offer 3 babysitting evenings free of charge.”
Another centre, Gingerbread Kindergarten in Sydney’s east has a GoFundMe page with a target of $78,000 that was set up by the centre on behalf of parents who wanted to donate to “ensure the centre remains open and educators keep their jobs”.
“With the announcement of the Free Child Care Package, Gingerbread has been hit very hard financially,” the page reads.
An Explore and Development daycare centre in Sydney’s CBD also had a fundraising page, set up by parents to help the business financially, but it has since met its target and been closed down.
Another parent from a different centre who declined to be named, said they have also been asked to pay an additional $60 a week for food and nappies or supply the exact same meal the service is providing that day.
A spokesman for the Department of Education said a condition of services receiving payments is families are not charged for care.
“This includes in-kind payment arrangements. Under the Relief Package, centres must not adjust their service offer. This means a service cannot introduce a new charge for supplies such as nappies and food,” he said.
But centres say they have no choice with the free childcare package meaning they are expected to provide spots – while only bringing in half the income.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated that the free childcare scheme is not sustainable long term and that the program was being assessed.
With childcare worker jobs on the federal government’s skilled visa list, many childcare workers are not eligible for JobKeeper due to their visas and the Government’s Exceptional Circumstances payment requires centres to accept a family for a spot before they have been approved.
One childcare insider told The Daily Telegraph the majority of applications were being denied, leaving services short.
Samantha Page, CEO of Early Childhood Australia (ECA), said 30 per cent of services were about to close when the government’s rescue package landed.
“It was a response to that and it did keep services open but going forward it is inadequate as it is too low – especially now with families encouraged to go back to school. We are seeing demand increase and it will increase quickly.”
That has been the case for Michelle Hensby who runs community based not-for-profit centre Nought to Five at Macquarie Park who said they are near 100 per cent occupancy.
She said they had chosen not to ask parents for money but had been forced to accept cash or gift cards from parent wanting to contribute.
Without any more money coming in she said she may not be able to operate past June 30.
“How much longer can I afford to pay staff? It doesn’t cover our wages, let alone the operational costs.”
Father of three David Wolf from Maroubra said that parents who were still able to pay childcare fees should be allowed to do so.
“We pulled the kids out earlier than others because our middle child has respiratory issues and so they were out for about 10 weeks. We made the conscious decision no matter what happened, and no matter how tight things got, we would continue to pay the daycare. When the Government said free childcare I simply assumed it was a good thing for everyone and that it meant our daycare would be OK, it was a relief actually.
“But when we were ready to go back we called and found out it wasn’t that easy and the centre might not have the spots because there wasn’t enough money coming in. It is not simply a matter of the Government paying what we were paying – we actually offered to pay the difference but were told she couldn’t accept it.
“It is understandable that it was a policy developed on the run in the midst of a global pandemic.”
His centre First Class Learning has had to reduce days for parents to stay afloat and owner Natalie Katz said the mixed messages from the government about ‘free childcare’ haven’t helped.
“We had three casuals to assist with ratios but because they don’t qualify for JobKeeper I couldn’t continue them which already means five less children a day.
“I am thankful they did this but now we need to relook at it.”