Parents of twins and triplets report paying more for childcare under new child care reforms

Parents of twins and triplets are reporting more out-of-pocket costs than before Labor’s milestone child care subsidy reforms.

Silje Andersen-Cooke with her triplets. Picture: Ricardo Figueredo Ocho

Parents of twins and triplets are reporting more out-of-pocket costs than before Labor’s childcare subsidy reforms, with advocates saying the government is overlooking families who have more than one baby at a time in designing its policies.

Australian Multiple Birth Association director Silje Andersen-Cooke said while Labor had promised savings to millions of families through its childcare changes, many parents of twins and triplets were experiencing the opposite thanks to a combination of increasing fees and changes to how subsidies are calculated for subsequent children in care.

“Multiple birth families are already fronting up a lot of money when it comes to childcare and it is disheartening to hear a lot of them will be worse off or at best have no changes to childcare costs,” she said. “Families who have more than one baby at a time have very different support needs; policy on childcare subsidies and family support needs to reflect this.”

Labor’s childcare reforms are one of its key policies in tackling the cost of living and lifted the maximum subsidy rate from 85 per cent to 90 per cent for families with a combined income of less than $80,000.

That rate drops by 1 per cent for each extra $5000 of annual income until hitting zero at a combined income of $530,000.

The Australian revealed in June that even parents of one child were seeing expected savings from the reforms eaten up by increased childcare fees.

Sydney mother of three Hannah Mraz said not only had the cost of care gone up, but the subsidy for her twins had gone down by 10 per cent, while the subsidy for her eldest child went up by only 2 per cent.

“I was thinking we were going to get a saving, but now we’re paying more,” she said.

“We will have to go back to the budget. There will be compromises.”

A family’s childcare subsidy rate is calculated based off combined income and covers a set number of hours a fortnight.

Education Minister Jason Clare said for a family earning $120,000 with one child in care, their childcare costs would be about $1700 a year less than they otherwise would have been.

“We’ve commissioned the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission to look at what’s driving costs in the sector. I look forward to receiving the final report later this year,” Mr Clare said.

“The ACCC has put childcare providers on notice – they must be honest and transparent about pricing.”

North West Sydney Multiple Birth Association president Lianda Stoel said while she knew of some parents who had seen a “marginal improvement” in their fees, many were “taken aback” to discover they would be paying more.

She said rules around subsequent children in care, which used to automatically receive a 30 per cent subsidy, had changed to become a sliding scale instead.

Opposition early childhood education spokeswoman Angie Bell said she had observed many families being left out of pocket and still struggling with childcare fees despite the government’s $5.4bn reform package.