Parents left behind as childcare for shift workers ‘almost impossible’, national snapshot shows

WORKING parents need childcare that is open on weekends and overnight and lets them buy care by the hour, a new national snapshot shows.

Rachael Morris is an art teacher, artist and runs art workshops. Her son Finn 4 often has to go with her as she can’t get childcare. Picture: David Caird

WORKING parents need childcare that is open on weekends and overnight and lets them buy care by the hour, a new national snapshot shows.

A pizza service and coffee van wouldn’t go astray either, the Australian Institute of Family Studies report states.

The survey of more than 400 parents working non-standard hours shows high-quality, flexible childcare that operates when parents are ­actually working is still not a reality.

This is despite the Gillard government spending $5.5 million on a Childcare Flexibility Trial modelling non-standard care hours in childcare centres and family day care.

Even the current government’s commitment to deregulate childcare operating hours hasn’t led to more flexible care.

In Victoria, two centres in Melbourne and Geelong that once offered weekend and late-night care have both returned to normal hours. Even the most flexible centres are generally open only from 6.30am to 6.30pm.

This means it is almost impossible for shift workers in emergency services, manufacturing, health, retail and ­service industries to find childcare to accommodate late and early shifts, weekend work and changing rosters.

It also means parents are paying up to $200 a day for care they’re not using in full, and are getting slugged $1 a minute if they’re late because of unexpected longer hours.

The Australian Institute of Family Studies research is partly based on analysis of the Childcare Flexibility Trial.

Director Anne Hollonds said the results showed childcare had not kept up with the needs of the modern worker.

“In some families, parents adapted their work situation to fit the care they had available. This included changing their work hours to part-time, moving jobs to one that does not ­involve variable shifts or even taking time out of paid ­employment,” she said.

“Many parents also opted to meet their care needs informally, either by arranging their work schedules to cover care needs themselves or by calling on the help of extended family such as grandparents.”

As part of the trial, some long daycare centres trialled the provision of extra services, such as a coffee cart and a pizza van in the evenings. Both were popular with parents.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show 26 per cent of women who work weekdays are required to work some non-standard hours, including 19 per cent who work between 7pm and midnight.