Coalition unveils ‘significant’ rescue package for childcare sector reeling from Covid lockdowns
A “significant” rescue package for the childcare sector worth an estimated $50m a week will be rolled out to almost 5,000 providers reeling from the financial hit of Covid-19 lockdowns.
The package, announced by the Morrison government on Monday, comes as providers warned of potential closures without federal intervention, and as Victoria and New South Wales clamp down on the use of childcare to try to prevent the transmission of the disease through children.
It also comes as almost 160 centres are closed nationally because of an “immediate risk” posed to children by the health emergency sparked by positive cases in childcare centres.
The education minister, Alan Tudge, said the changes announced by the Victorian government on Saturday that restricted childcare to authorised workers had “completely changed the dynamics” of the financial viability of providers.
“This will be a significant financial package, which will be good for hundreds of thousands of parents, good for those businesses, and very important also for the workers who are very important to our economy,” Tudge said.
Under the package, childcare providers in commonwealth-declared hotspots will be eligible for payments of 25% of their pre-lockdown revenue, while Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services will be eligible for payments of 40%.
This will apply to services seven days after the hotspot is declared, where states have directed families to keep their kids at home.
Where kids are still allowed to attend, the supports will kick in four weeks after the hotspot declaration.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
The payments, that will go to an estimated 4,800 services, will be contingent on providers expecting attendance below 50%, waiving gap fees for families whose children are not attending, and maintaining staff.
In a statement, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, said the payments would “help keep services open and staff employed”.
“The sector has been doing an incredible job to provide essential care for Australian kids during the pandemic and we are backing them in while attendance rates are down.
“These payments will ensure our high quality childcare and early education centres are there on the other side of these lockdowns.”
The chief executive of the Early Learning and Care Council of Australia, Elizabeth Death, said the package was “welcome relief”, but providers were still awaiting for details of the payments.
“We have crossed the boundary of them finally acknowledging we needed something,” Death told Guardian Australia.
Her organisation represents about 30% of providers in the sector, including some of the country’s largest such as Goodstart, G8 Education, Guardian and Uniting.
The group estimated that providers were losing $2m a week as a result of the lockdowns, with a fee waiver program offered by the federal government still leaving many providers struggling.
In Victoria, the government has announced that only children of authorised workers are allowed to attend childcare, while in NSW, the govern
ment has told parents to keep their children home where possible.
The NSW chief health officer, Kerry Chant, has raised concern about the transmission of the Delta variant in the childcare sector saying it was a feature that had not been seen previously with the virus.