ECE subsidies — the rules

Children aged 3 to 6 get funded at a higher hourly rate by the Government. Services can claim a 20 hours ECE rate and then up to 10 hours of the 30 hours funding rate.

Those who claim the ECE rate are not allowed to charge parents for the first 20 hours.

According to myece.org.nz for kindergartens the funding rate for under 2s ranges from $8.89 an hour to $14.38 per hour for up to 30 hours per week from July 1 and for over 2s from $4.51 per hour to $8.01.

For kindergartens the 20 hours ECE rate is between $9.81 and $13.56 from July 1 depending on the percentage of certified teachers. These rates are to rise in July 2021.

For all other teacher-led centres — kindys, pre-schools, Montessori centres, language nests and licensed all-day education and care centres — the 30 hours funding ranges from $7.83 per hour to $12.53 per hour for under 2s and $3.96 to $6.93 for over 2s.

The first 20 hours ECE funding for children from ages 3 to 6 ranges from $8.62 to $11.82 per hour.

Home-based services get either $7.28 per hour or $8.59 per hour for under 2s depending on whether they offer a quality or standard service and either $3.94 or $4.60 per hour for over 2s for the 30 hours funding.

For the 20 hours ECE funding for children from ages 3 to 6 it is either $8.76 per hour for standard or $9.59 per hour for quality.

Kohanga Reo funding rates are either $10.31 per hour or $11.45 per hour for under 2s or $6.34 per hour or $6.90 per hour for over 2s for the 30 hours funding.

The first 20 hours ECE funding for children ages 3 to 6 is either $10.40 an hour or $10.89 an hour.

Playcentres, which require parental supervision, have funding rates of either $8 an hour or $9.14 an hour for under 2s or $4.03 per hour or $4.59 per hour for over 2s for the 30 hour subsidy.

The first 20 hours ECE funding for children ages 3 to 6 is either $5.13 per hour or $5.71.