Government cracks down on daycare rort involving 11,000 parents

TAXPAYERS have been spared $46 million in the last six weeks alone after the government cracked down on a child-swapping rort involving 11,000 parents.

EXCLUSIVE

TAXPAYERS were losing more than $8 million a week to a ‘pink batts’-style child-minding scam involving 11,000 parents, which the Greens tried but failed to keep alive.

New data, obtained exclusively by News Corp Australia, reveals taxpayers have been spared $46 million in the last six weeks alone, in payments that otherwise would have gone to dodgy suburban childcare operators who were pocketing lucrative subsidies by swapping kids among themselves.

For the first time data shows the extent of the so-called ‘child-swapping’ rort among parents and Family Day Care educators before the federal government made the practice illegal on October 12.

Rort caught ... The government has cracked down on a child-minding scam. Picture: Thinkstock

‘Child-swapping’ is where a family day care educator, or their partner, places their children in the care of another childcare worker — and therefore receiving a subsidy for their own children — while being paid for looking after other peoples’ children.

The data shows that around 11,000 parents were pocketing $8.2 million each week in childcare subsidies for swapping more than 31,000 kids.

Since the new laws came into place, that loss has now plummeted by $7.7 million a week to $530,000.

And Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the government was working to ensure that figure dropped even further.

Cracking down ... Education Minister Simon Birmingham says taxpayer money should support families. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

“These family day care services were designed to support parents who wanted to care for their own children, in their own home while earning a small income — it was not envisaged that this opportunity would ultimately rip almost $8 million a week off of Australian parents and taxpayers,” he told News Corp.

“We want to ensure every taxpayer dollar spent on child care supports families to balance their work obligations or children to access early learning, rather than being rorted by those more interested in lining their own pockets,” he said.

But Senator Birmingham assured families living with special circumstances like disability or remoteness they would be exempt from the crackdown.

The crackdown on child-swapping, which the Greens tried to disallow in the Senate, has impacted childcare operators in each Australian state, but the practice was most widespread in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

It comes after the government estimated it saved another $283 million from Family Day Care services who were found to have engaged in non-compliant activities.

Originally published as Government cracks down on daycare rort involving 11,000 parents