Eastern suburbs childcare slashed to $75 a day, helping families afford services post-coronavirus

As families struggle to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, one longtime childcare operator has nearly halved her prices in a bid to help those most impacted.

An eastern suburbs childcare centre has cut the cost of their services by nearly half in a bid to recover and survive the economic hit from the pandemic, while helping families afford to keep their children enrolled.

Chrissanthy Tsigolis – who has been in the childcare industry since 1995, dropped her service prices to as low as $75 a day in Rose Bay and $88 in Rosebery, to provide a permanent financial relief for families after the free childcare and Jobkeeper ended.

She added that the government’s cut saw her two early childhood and preschool centres in the Eastern Suburbs “left with high vacancies and no financial support”.

“I wanted to make childcare more attainable and affordable for those who had lost their jobs, their businesses, and could only resort to family to provide early childhood education,” she said.

“Reducing my costs by changing the hours and not providing lunch, I could pass those savings onto my families. Our Rose Bay service has seen an increase in occupancy of 46 per cent since we introduced the slashed fee.

“Childcare should not be a luxury item. It’s essential.”

Chrissanthy Tsigolis with Mariella Sahda ,4, at her childcare centre, Bloombirds, in Rosebery, today. She has decided to cut down prices from $120 to as low as $75 to ensure parents were able to afford keeping their children there. Picture:Justin Lloyd.

Parents around the eastern suburbs can pay anywhere from $110 to $150 a day before government subsidies, while fees in Sydney’s north shore are as high as $177.

However, attendance and enrolments across preschools and childcare facilities declined sharply in the first half of last year, with 71 per cent reporting decreased enrolments for at least one month between March and June.

As families moved to working from home during the initial months of the pandemic, 95 per cent of services saw attendance decrease during the same period.

The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services released in February found a concerning increase in costs of early education across Australia with the national average up from $508 in 2019 to $525 per week in 2020.

CEO of Early Childhood Australia Sam Page Picture: supplied

Early Childhood Australia (ECA) CEO Samantha Page said while centres are reporting that they have vacancies and capacity to take more children, “the issue is affordability”.

“Not all centres have the capacity to (reduce costs), but it is good that services are responding to the needs of families when they can,” she said.

“ECA has called for the Child Care Subsidy to be increased to 95 per cent or 100 per cent for low income families.

“We also think the activity test should be removed so that children can access early education even when their parents are not working.”

Enrolments for all preschool-eligible children for 2021 fell 2 per cent last year, a reversal of the steady growth that has been recorded since 2016.

“Now that JobKeeper has ended and Jobseeker has been reduced, we anticipate there will be more families who will struggle to pay for early education and care, “ Ms Page said.

Chrissanthy Tsigolis with Mariella Sahda ,4, at her childcare centre, Bloombirds, in Rosebery. She has decided to cut down prices from $120 to as low as $75 to ensure parents were able to afford keeping their children there. Picture:Justin Lloyd.

“It will also make it harder for parents to work – especially when they are in casual employment or trying to get back into a sector that has been affected by the pandemic where jobs might be scarce.

“If the federal government invested more in early education and care right now it would benefit young children, parents – especially women – and secure the jobs of early childhood educators and teachers.”

Originally published as Eastern suburbs childcare slashed to $75 a day, helping families afford services post-coronavirus