Coronavirus: $3bn childcare provider rescue plan worked, says Dan Tehan

Education Minister Dan Tehan has declared the government’s temporary Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package a success.

Education Minister Dan Tehan. Picture: AAP

Education Minister Dan Tehan has declared the government’s temporary Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package a success as the majority of childcare providers say the government’s $3bn boost helped them stay open and retain staff amid the pandemic.

A new survey of more than 7000 childcare providers, undertaken on behalf of the Morrison government by ORIMA Research between April 24 and May 4, shows 87 per cent of providers said the package helped them care for children of essential workers and vulnerable children; 76 per cent said it helped them remain financially viable.

“Our government designed and implemented an emergency, temporary Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package to ensure as many childcare businesses as possible survived the COVID-19 pandemic while continuing to provide care to our children,” Mr Tehan said on Monday.

“The system worked, with 99 per cent of around 13,400 services operational as of May 8, 2020.”

Announced on April 2, the package gave almost one million families temporary access to free childcare, delivering a lifeline for essential workers and protecting jobs among 13,000 providers of early childhood education.

Mr Tehan said the four-week review into the package made it clear the government needed to start planning for increased demand for childcare places as businesses re-opened and more people returned to work. “When we announced the relief package, we said it would be continually reviewed and assessed in light of our success at flattening the curve and other issues raised by the new system,” he said.

The minister said the government was looking closely at the connection between increased attendance and the relief package.

“The review suggests a need to consider how the relief package can support economic recovery, supporting parents to get back to work and study, and children’s early childhood education and wellbeing,” he said. “The government will consider the review.”

Submissions to the review indicated that in the days leading up to the announcement of the package, childcare attendance had reduced on average between 30 and 40 per cent, and mass service closures and staff layoffs were imminent.

Most childcare workers have also been eligible for the $1500 fortnightly JobKeeper payment.