Struggle to find out-of-school help forcing cuts to work hours
EXCLUSIVE: A third of Sydney parents in need of before or after-school care simply cannot find it. POLL: What’s the solution?
NSW
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- Out-of-school care: Unregulated operators cash in on parents
- After school care changes boost place in Sydney’s north
A THIRD of Sydney parents in need of before or after-school care simply cannot find it.
A new report shows the situation is so desperate many struggling mums and dads have been forced to cut back their work hours.
North Sydney is one of the worst hit areas with demand far outweighing supply for OSHC (Out of School Hours Care) and waiting periods lasting a year on average.
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“Almost 30 per cent of parents and carers … indicated that they had applied for a OSHC place and been unsuccessful,” the Deloitte audit for the state government found.
But there are problems right across the city.
At Woollahra the services were “at capacity” and expecting continued excess demand.
In Parramatta, “some families are missing out on care” and in Botany Bay “existing OSHC services indicated they were quickly reaching capacity”.
One of the reasons for the shortages is a lack of available physical space in schools as well as a “lack of school willingness” to release space to the providers, the report found.
Some schools with as many as 750 students only had space for 150 to be cared for after classes.
And with primary school student numbers expected to grow hugely in the next few years, it will put further pressure on places.
At one school enrolments have grown from 350 places to 900 in the past 12 years, with 40 children on the waiting list.
Another issue raised by childcare staff was they were increasingly being required to dedicate large portions of their time dealing with students with “complex, undiagnosed behavioural issues”.
The review was kept secret under “Cabinet in confidence” clauses but was made public after Upper House Labor MP Courtney Houssos passed a “call for papers” motion.
“Every working parent I speak with tells me how tough it is to find an OSHC place,” Ms Houssos said.
“Instead of just talking and listening to parents at the school gate, the Minister wasted nearly $100,000 on a meaningless consultant’s report which she then tried to hide.”
But Early Childhood Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the report was prepared to help the government make the best use of a new $20 million fund it has announced to create an additional 45,000 out-of-school care places.
“We have been able to identify areas in NSW where current and projected unmet demand is higher. With this knowledge, we are working with local communities and families on solutions for their area,” she said
Opposition early childhood spokeswoman Kate Washington said the report came as no surprise to operators and school principals, who had been raising the problem with the state government for years.