Four out of five childcare centres are on the brink of collapse and the out of school hours care industry fears it may never recover from the COVID-19 crisis, with both sectors being told they must wait for financial relief until the government orders them to close.

The Early Learning and Care Council of Australia said mass closures would begin early next week, as parents take their children out of centres and refuse to pay fees as they lose their own jobs.

Childcare centres are begging for help.

“More than 80 per cent of Australia’s early learning and care services are facing closure in the very near future and Australia wide we are looking at the potential of 150,000 job losses across the sector,” the council’s chief executive Elizabeth Death said.

“Many of the hundreds of services that will close will not reopen and there is the potential of a critical shortfall in services and places for the 845,000 children who are currently enrolled in Australia wide, not to mention the job losses.”

The Herald understands some centres are trading insolvent. Centres cannot get the child care subsidy unless parents pay their half of the fees, but many are no longer in a position to pay. The situation is causing conflict between parents and centres.

“Viability concerns are major with staff being stood down without pay,” Ms O’Kane said. “We already have a huge workforce issue and we are now wondering if the sector will ever recover. We so need action now or else the support will be too late.”

A group of OOSH providers have formed a coalition to lobby for help. The spokeswoman, Sinead Ryan from Junior Adventures Group, said some services now had only two or three children turning up, and others have closed.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said childcare was “one of the very sensitive areas” the government was working through. “[Childcare centres] are an essential part of keeping the economy running for those who are still part of it,” he said. “We haven’t finalised those arrangements yet.

“[Health advice is] the same for schools … it has not changed. We would continue to see childcare particularly for those who are at work … as being a fundamental service that is required to help us get through.”

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Early Learning and Care Council of Australia (ELACCA) CEO, Elizabeth Death said ELACCA members appreciated the Government initiatives for the sector thus far but, it is just not enough to mitigate impending mass service closures.

“More than 80% of Australia’s early learning and care services are facing closure in the very near future and Australia wide we are looking at the potential of 150,000 job losses across the sector.

“In simple and immediate terms that means people on the frontline, those that are working tirelessly to help Australians get through the COVID pandemic will not have care for their children.

“Our services have been trying to stay open so they can do what they do best, educate and care for our children in a safe, secure, supportive and hygienic environment, however it is at a critical point where it is no longer viable to remain open, “ Ms Death said.

Ms Death said that many parents will be forced to put their children into care with older relatives and people who are deemed vulnerable to COVID-19 which completely counteracts the consistent message by Government to keep attending early learning as a safe place for children and families.

“We urge the Australian Government to further consider the disastrous impact closure of early learning services across the country will have on families now and in the future when we commence economic recovery and business resumes.

“Many of the hundreds of services that will close will not reopen and there is the potential of a critical shortfall in services and places for the 845,000 children who are currently enrolled Australia wide, not to mention the job losses for our skilled early years workforce.

“We have engaged with Government on a viability package and urgently need more detail and timelines on how this is being considered so we can preserve the service and the employment of our workforce,” Ms Death said. 

Download the Media Release here.

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This report reveals that Australian governments are spending $15.2 billion each year on high-intensity and crisis services for problems that may have been prevented had we invested earlier and more wisely.

How Australia can invest in children and return more is one of the first Australian studies to analyse the cost of intervening late in areas that affect children and young people’s quality of life.

The report provides a baseline analysis of late intervention spending in Australia. It uses publicly available Australian data to calculate annual government expenditure on late intervention services for children and young people aged 0-24.

The partnership that delivered the report was initiated by CoLab – Collaborate for Kids (a partnership of the Minderoo Foundation and Telethon Kids Institute). The analysis was led by the Early Intervention Foundation and co-authored with The Front Project. It draws on the Early Intervention Foundation’s method and approach to measuring the cost of late intervention in England and Wales.

Downloads

Download the summary report

Download the full report

Information for Government

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The model looked at the impact of the current Australian system, which provides an early education program for 15 hours a week, delivered by a Bachelor qualified teacher, in the year before school.

Our current system offers a significant return on investment (ROI) of 1:2. For every dollar invested now, Australia receives $2 back over a child’s life.

Children, families, governments and business all benefit from the returns early education provides. Benefits are reflected in higher earnings and workforce participation, increased tax revenue and considerable savings in health, education and justice budgets. Early education plays a key role in Australia’s prosperity.

The findings demonstrate the potential for more children and families to live healthier, happier and more productive lives alongside dividends that will benefit our entire society and economy.

The ROI can be attributed to the skills and abilities children develop in early education. These abilities lead to stronger academic performance through school and a greater likelihood of school completion and undertaking further education. School completion and participation in further education are key predictors for higher future incomes and better wellbeing.

Increasing the benefits

We have an opportunity to increase the benefits of early childhood education and improve outcomes for Australian children and families by:

• Investing in quality: Every child should have access to a quality early childhood program that enhances their learning and development. Currently a quarter of services aren’t meeting the National Quality Standard.
• Committing to ongoing funding: Ongoing funding commitments from State and Federal Governments will lead to improved service viability, planning, job security and quality. The current agreement between the Commonwealth and the states and territories to fund these programs will expire at the end of 2019. It has been renewed annually or biannually for the past 7 years.
• Increasing access: Ensuring children in disadvantaged communities have access to quality early childhood education. They have the most to gain yet are the least likely to attend and the least likely to experience high quality learning.
• Offering two years: Two years of quality early childhood education in the years before school has a bigger impact than one year. Australia is one of the few OECD countries not offering two years of preschool, putting us at risk of falling further behind on international benchmark tests, like PISA.

Download our reports and information sheets:

The full PwC economic report

The summary report

Information sheet for Government

Information sheet for Business

Information sheet for the early childhood sector

Download the press release

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Spearheaded by the Early Learning and Care Council of Australia (ELACCA) on behalf of the nation’s largest early learning providers the report card released today carefully assesses funding promises for preschool programs, children facing disadvantage and support for educators and an ongoing commitment to quality.

ELACCA CEO, Elizabeth Death said it was important to release the information so voters know what parties will deliver for their children in NSW and in particular the access they will have to the two years of early learning.

“Two years of early learning are vital for all children to ensure they are ready for school and for life.

“Educators in early learning centres have been explaining the power of high-quality early learning to political candidates right across the State in the lead up to polling day.

“The report card is a careful analysis of the policy commitments given by the major parties.

Ms Death said the ‘Launch into Learning’ campaign had gained great momentum in NSW with the bipartisan approach to the campaign attracting the attention of both major parties.

Download this Media Release here.

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ELACCA CEO, Elizabeth Death said the Australian Greens Early Childhood Education and Care policy proposed free preschool programs for all Australian three and four year olds and the abolition of the activity test to enable right of access for all children regardless of where they live, how much their parents work or earn.

“We are pleased to see that the Green’s policy supports our call for major parties to commit to ensuring every child has access to two years of play based learning to help launch them into their lifelong learning journey.

“We know right now that 1 in 5 children in Australia start school behind. We know the ages 3 to 5 are critical for brain development and that is why children who have had access to two years of high quality, play-based early learning make the best transitions to school,” Ms Death said.

On behalf of its member base comprised of the largest early learning and care providers in Australia and ahead of the Federal Election, ELACCA has led the Launch into Learning campaign asking the parties to commit to:

• Significant new investment in all children to ensure they attend two years of high-quality early learning before primary school
• Better support for children experiencing disadvantage or vulnerability by ensuring they attend 600 hours of quality preschool programs
• Fixing the Child Care Subsidy so that it supports all children’s access to preschool programs
• A strategy to ensure Australia has sufficient numbers of highly trained early childhood teachers and educators
• Ongoing commitment to the National Quality Framework Ends

Download this Media Release here.

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Ahead of the federal election the campaign will reach out to the 400,000 parents connected with ELACCA’s partners and more than 40,000 educators, calling on the major parties to fund two years of access to high quality early learning in the vital years before children begin primary school.

ELACCA members include providers of preschools, kindergartens, family day care and long day care services and the organisation actively lobbies to improve quality and access.

ELACCA co-chairs Jenni Hutchins and Gary Carroll said the campaign would be bipartisan and targeting 24 key marginal seats across the nation to get its point across.

“This is the first time that the members of ELACCA have united to campaign on an initiative which is indicative of our collective passion and commitment to deliver quality early learning for all children across Australia.

“We know that the ages of three to five are critical to brain development and that children who have attended two years quality play-based learning make the best transitions to school.

“Launch into Learning will be reminding the major parties and their candidates that high quality early learning grows confident, capable and curious young learners who are ready to thrive.

“We want all parties to make a commitment that every, single child has access to two-years playbased learning to launch into their educational journey.”

The Launch into Learning campaign is calling on all major political parties to commit to:

• significant new investment in all children to ensure they attend two years of high quality early learning in the vital years before they begin primary school
  better support for children experiencing disadvantage or vulnerability by ensuring they attend 600 hours of quality preschool programs
• fixing the Child Care Subsidy so that it supports all children’s access to preschool programs
• a strategy to ensure Australia has sufficient numbers of highly trained early childhood teachers and educators – who are well paid and well respected
• on-going commitment to the National Quality Framework which helps ensure all preschool programs are of high quality. Ends.

Download this Media Release here.

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1. All NSW children have access to affordable, high quality early learning for at least two days per week, for the two years before formal schooling, delivered in long day and preschool settings.

2. NSW children experiencing vulnerability or disadvantage are able to fully participate in early learning and receive the support that they need.

3. Develop, implement and evaluate a strategic vision and action plan to implement a ten year NSW Early Childhood Education Workforce Strategy (2019-2029) that builds a quality, well remunerated and professionally recognised early years workforce.

4. Continued partnership support for the National Quality Framework.

Download the letter to NSW Government here.

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On 17 May 2018, The Hon. Amanda Rishworth MP addressed the McKell Institute and discussed her priorities as Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Development.

The Honorable Amanda Rishworth MP Addresses the McKell Institute

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