Daily Telegraph reports chronic staff shortages and more that affect rising fees

ACA NSW President, Lyn Connolly, has been quoted in today's Daily Telegraph outlining the following issues as some of the many underlying reasons why childcare fees are going up:

• a chronic shortage of staff and where the majority of short-listed candidates do not show up for interviews
• imposition of red tape (when a number of Authorised Officers interpret the need for higher requirements than the prescribed regulatory and legislative requirements)
• skewed focus by a number of Authorised Officers during assessments and ratings (eg environmental and sustainability at the expense of children's development and progress)
• higher staff ratios (including where NSW has higher staff ratios of up to 4 ECTs when all other states' ratios are up to 2 ECTs)

These are the current daily challenges faced by NSW-based early childhood education and care services, nowithstanding:

• the NSW Department of Education's written assurance that they will consider applications for temporary waivers on its merits;
• the Federal Government requiring preschool outcomes measures to be defined by end 2022 and to be in effect from 2024 onwards; and
• the NSW Productivity Commissioner's Green Paper and White Paper confirming that NSW has higher requirements than any other Australian states while now seeking a fit-for-purpose regulatory framework.

For any further information/clarification, please contact the ACA NSW team on 1300 556 330 or nsw@childcarealliance.org.au.

PUBLISHED: 8 APRIL 2022