At the end of June, parents are facing the prospect of paying childcare fees again. As we all know, in April, the government put an emergency plan in place to save centres as parents starting pulling their kids in droves because of the pandemic. Hallelujah, working parents finally felt seen and valued. Education minister Dan Tehan recently said the plan had “done its job” with 99% of services remaining open, and most providers saying the emergency response has helped with financial viability. But with many parents now out of work, on reduced incomes or facing the threat of job loss, surely we run the risk of it collapsing again if childcare doesn’t remain free? Personally, after 7 years of childcare costs – four of those for two kids – these past two months have been a massive financial relief BUT, I also don’t want my son’s incredible preschool to go under. It’s a really divisive issue, so I reached out to some working mums to see how they feel about paying childcare fees again.