Mums and dads fork out $600 more annually for child care compared to a year ago

Mums and dads could be forking out $600 more annually for child care compared to a year ago, as parents on the Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula face above-average price hikes.

MUMS and dads could be forking out at least $600 more annually for child care compared to a year ago, as parents on the Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula face above-average price hikes.

Parents living on the coast could be paying as much as $1600 more for two kids in child care annually following a 6 per cent fee hike in the year to March, a Geelong Advertiser analysis reveals.

Kids in child care on the Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula in the March quarter topped 4680, up 320 from a year ago.

While parents in Greater Geelong, excluding the Bellarine Peninsula, will bear the brunt of a 4.3 per cent rise equating to, on average, $15 extra per week per child.

It comes as 260 more children accessed child care in the year to March in Greater Geelong.

The Geelong Advertiser analysis relied on federal education department data and assumed families were accessing childcare for 40 weeks per year.

HAVE YOU FACED INCREASED CHILD CARE COSTS? TELL US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW

If it wins the next election, which expected in 2022, Federal Labor has pledged to introduce a child care policy that:

SCRAPS the $10,560 child care subsidy cap;

LIFTS the maximum child care subsidy rate to 90 per cent; and,

INCREASES child care subsidies on a sliding scale for families earning less than $530,000.

Corangamite Labor MP Libby Coker claimed women were losing “between 80 and 100 per cent” of their take home earings for a fourth or fifth days work because of additional childcare costs.

“It’s unsurprising that for many women, the idea of working for free is unattractive,” Mr Coker said. “Labor’s plan will fix a system that simply just doesn’t work for many families in our region.”

Corio Labor MP Richard Marles said: “We want to see more people back in to work, back in to jobs and child care forms part of that.”

Education Minister Dan Tehan said March quarter childcare data showed average fee rises were lower than the 10-year average of 5.3 per cent.

“To support parents with the cost of care, our government has put a freeze on Victorian child care providers increasing their fees until January 31 next year because of Victoria’s extended lockdown.

“Taxpayers currently provide $9 billion to subsidise the cost of child care. That subsidy means out-of-pocket costs are less than $5 an hour per child for 71 per cent of parents.

“Families pay taxes and under Labor’s plan a family in Geelong earning $80,000 a year will be subsidising the child care fees of a family in Sydney earning $360,000 a year.”

The government said Labor’s child care plan would boost child care subsidies to high income earners.

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CHILDCARE BY THE NUMBERS

(kids in care; families using child care; average hourly rate)

Greater Geelong

December quarter: (11,750; 8360; $10.52)

March quarter (11,610; 8290: $10.51)

Surf Coast / Bellarine Peninsula

December quarter: (4610; 3260; $10.38)

March quarter: (4680; 3320;$10.54)

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Originally published as Mums and dads fork out $600 more annually for child care compared to a year ago