Childcare chaos as centres forced to sack staff, paycuts considered
In a huge backflip on childcare rules, the government has announced only one parent in a family needs a permit to access childcare, kinder or use babysitters. It comes as chaos hit Melbourne’s industry, with some centres forced to sack casual staff and look at pay cuts in the wake of the introduction of worker permits.
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In a massive backflip on childcare rules, the government has decided only one parent in a family needs a permit in order to access childcare, kinder and use babysitters.
This means a second parent working or studying full-time from home — who does not qualify for a permit — is counted as being unable to look after the children.
The announcement, only communicated to childcare workers after 5pm on Friday night, has left the industry reeling in exasperation and disbelief.
A statement from the Premier’s office said:
“Permitted workers are able to access childcare and kinder if there is no one else in their household who is able to supervise their child.
“This may be for a range of reasons including: the other parent could be a full-time student, have a disability, or be working from home such that they cannot supervise the child, or there may be no other adults in the household.”
Julie Price from Community Child Care said centres “would be half full” from Monday instead of having only one or two in ten attending.
Many parents have expressed fury at being expected to care for children while continuing to work.
The rules as announced earlier in the week were so strict that some childcare centres were left with no children at all.
CHAOS AS CENTRES FORCED TO SACK STUFF
One Melbourne childcare centre has been left with lots of staff and no kids as the fallout continues from lockdown rules.
Centres are sacking casual staff and one is even looking at a pay cut for its workers — who are already among the most poorly paid in the country.
Sally Crawford-Brown and her educators from Canterbury Child Care and Kindergarten have been left with no children at all to care for.
“The centre is looking very clean, that’s for sure,” Ms Crawford-Brown said. “I told them there was no hurry as they’ve got six weeks to do it.”
“This time last year we were full, and now we have no one, although we must have some next week.”
One boy was booked in to the centre, which can hold 31 children, but didn’t want to be there with no other children. The centre has been operating for 43 years, and Ms Crawford-Brown said she was trying to keep on all staff.
Guardian Childcare & Education, which has 51 centres in Victoria, said their physical attendance was under 20 per cent due to lockdown.
CEO Warren Bright said he was offering casuals the opportunity to participate in the learning programs but they won’t be paid.
“If required they will be rostered on … when Guardian isn’t able to fill shifts with permanent team members be it part time or full time,” he said.
Operators want to keep staff on but for many it will depend on the level of federal subsidy they secure. The staff from one eastern suburbs centre have even offered to take a pay cut to “keep the team together”. Its operator said he “hoped it wouldn’t come to that”.
Meanwhile, working parents missing out on permits are fuming as they start working from home with kids underfoot, with some saying they could lose their jobs. One parent told the Herald Sun he and his wife “may have to stop working or go part time due to this, which will severely impact and potentially threaten our roles”.
Another parent from Mentone, who works in the financial sector and only wants to be known as Bronwyn, said it was “the most incredibly stressful time”.
She and her husband had been using their sister-in-law to help with the care of their children aged eight and three, but have to cancel the care under the new permit rules. They also don’t qualify for childcare because only one is a permitted worker.
“It’s very challenging,” she said.
CENTRES WAIVE CHILDCARE PERMITS AS PARENTS SCRAMBLE
Melbourne’s childcare services were plunged into chaos on Thursday as parents scrambled for permits to allow them to access care.
Parents of 170,000 children in childcare started their first day of juggling working at home and caring for their kids at the same time.
But in the first 24 hours of the stage four lockdown rules coming into effect, some centres were waiving the need for permits because parents could not get them filled out in time.
Julie Price from Community Child Care said the permit system was late to launch and everyone was “working without parameters”.
“We are trying to work out who the vulnerable families are – there’s a fair bit of confusion,” she said.
Ms Price said parents were still turning up to some centres without completed permits as they scrambled to get them signed by employers and work out what categories they fitted into.
“It’s a stressful situation and some centres are having a few pupil-free days as they work through it,” she said.
Hayley Flanagan from Surrey Hills Day Care Centre said her centre only had two children attend whose parents were healthcare workers and 15 staff rostered on to care for them.
The centre usually has 74 children, although it has been running at 80 per cent capacity this year. “We are trying to work out which staff will be going home,” Ms Flanagan said.
“There are some parents who say they should be entitled to a permit but don’t know, it’s been very messy,” she said. “But the majority know they are not entitled and so haven’t turned up.
She said the subsidies should “get the centre through”.
Centres will be given federal subsidies to help them survive the drop in income from losing more than 90 per cent of their children, but they must give staff a guaranteed number of shifts.
Opposition early childhood spokeswoman Amanda Rishworth said she was “already hearing reports of educators being stood down or losing hours during lockdown – something that could have been avoided if the sector had access to Jobkeeper”.
ACTU boss Sally McManus said childcare workers were being treated like “second-class citizens” because they were denied Jobkeeper available to other workers.
Diana Jeffrey, a mother of two from Box Hill South, does not meet the permitted worker category which means her son Angus, 2, is now at home full-time rather than in childcare for three days,
This means Ms Jeffrey, a brand director of a maternity label, is trying to work as well as caring for him and supervising home schooling for her daughter Olivia, 6, who is in prep.
Her husband Justin works out of the house full-time.
“It’s going to be a big juggle – a two-year-old needs lots of stimulation and attention,” she said. “It’s also Olivia’s first year at school and I want her to feel involved in that too, which is hard when she’s at home.”
Ms Jeffrey said her childcare centre had been very supportive and communicated well with parents.
“In terms of my job, it’s lucky my boss is amazing and has kids a similar age. I’m doing any work when I can and spending the weekend upstairs working when Justin is home,” she said.
The average child in centre care attends 25 hours a week while their parents are working.
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