Yahoo Finance 250,000 families to save $2,000 on childcare costs
The Federal Government has decided to bring forward the start date for additional childcare subsidies from July 2022 to March 2022.
The new subsidies were announced in the most recent Budget and will allow families with two or more children under the age of six who are in childcare to receive an additional 30 per cent subsidy.
That subsidy would be on top of the already existing one.
More on Federal Budget 2021:
So, for one child in care you can get a 50 per cent subsidy but if you have two in care the second child will receive a subsidy of 80 per cent.
Around 250,000 families in Australia have two or more children in care and would be set to save around $2,000 a year under the new scheme.
Many families left ineligible for the scheme
While many have welcomed the news, Thrive by Five CEO Jay Weatherill said the changes will only impact one in four families who meet the criteria.
Weatherill said a further 700,000 families will be left no better off than they were before.
“Every Australian child should have access to affordable and high-quality early learning and care, not just a few,” Weatherill said.
“While the earlier start of additional childcare subsidies is a welcome step forward, too many families and children will still miss out.”
Weatherill said families recognise the importance of high-quality early learning for the development of their children and supporting workplace participation of parents but rising out-of-pocket costs are stinging hard.
“More than half of families using early learning and childcare say it’s hardly worth working once the cost of care is factored in,” he said.
“Thrive by Five is calling for the Federal Government to improve affordability of early learning with a 95 per cent childcare subsidy for all children.”
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