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Local councils are planning to increase child care fees by up to 10%, a rate well above that pledged by many private operators and far higher than the rise in the consumer price index.
Draft budget submissions show parents using long day care in the City of Knox will be hit with weekly increases of up to $30 a week, just over 10% for weekly full-time care, with fees to rise from $292.50 to $322.75 a week in 2008-09.
In a statement, chief executive Graeme Emonson said the council did not profit from its centres but needed them to be "cost neutral" and had decided on increases of no more than 10% a year until this was achieved.
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In the City of Casey, which had the highest number of babies born of any municipality in Victoria in 2006, long day-care fees are budgeted to increase between 4.5% and 7% while child-care users in the City of Yarra will see prices rise by just over 7% on January 1, up from $65 to $70 a day.
Glen Eira Council has set a flat rise for long day care of $4, an increase of more than 5% on its current fees. City of Port Phillip Mayor Janet Cribbes told The Age the council's fees will rise between 3.5% and 4.5% to cover cost increases due to inflation. The City of Melbourne is the only council to keep fees steady.
Childcare Associations Australia, an independent operator body representing about 35% of all long day-care providers, expects its members to implement fee increases of between 2.5% and 4%, below the CPI of 4.2%.
All councils released their budgets for public comment in late May, after the Federal Government's announcement that the child-care rebate will be increased from 30% to 50%.
The child-care rebate can either be paid to a centre or to parents, but critics have argued increasing the rebate risks an inflationary effect on child-care fees.
Most council budgets have not been finalised and are still open for public comment.
Meanwhile, Liberal MP Dennis Jensen yesterday said the Federal Government should have powers to intervene if a child-care centre was found to be profiteering from the higher rebate.
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said the Government would examine its options if child-care providers imposed unreasonable fee increases when the tax rebates come into force next month.
- reprinted from The Age