Childcare booms
A new childcare centre springs up nearly every two months in Hamilton with the city at the forefront of a national explosion in the subsidydriven industry.
Ministry of Education figures show the number of private childcare providers rose by almost a quarter, or
1168 centres, nationally since 2002. In the same period up to April 2018,
86 new facilities have been built in Hamilton – an average of just under six a year across the city and pushing the total to 203.
The figures are inclusive of community based and private day care, including casual, home or hospitalbased care, kindergartens, playcentres and Te Ko¯ hanga Reo.
Housing prices and government childcare subsidies introduced in 2005 seem to be behind the growth, with 352,700 mums now in the workforce as a two income household is increasingly needed to service a mortgage.
Mike Honiss has operated daycare centres for 14 years and opened a second Little Sparrows centre in Leamington in March in addition to his Hamilton centre.
He says more women returning to the workforce rather being able to be stay at home mums is a long term trend.
‘‘Many young couples would simply struggle to survive on one income. When the Government introduced 20 free ECE hours back in 2005 for three and four year olds it gave the industry a ‘shot in the arm’. It reduced the cost of childcare significantly and thereby gave the incentive for both parents to return to the workforce earlier than they would have otherwise.’’
The vast majority of the growth in the sector has been among private providers like Honiss’ operation. There were 94 new private child care facilities in Hamilton over the period with a decrease of eight community-based facilities. The numbers show the largest increase for any city in the country.
Honiss and his wife Nicole considered carefully where they opened their second daycare to ensure demand and the right location.
‘‘We are in very close proximity to Leamington School and there are only a few other child care operators servicing the area.
‘‘They are a lot of work – like any new business it’s critical that you attract good staff ’’ Mark Honiss
‘‘You need to be sure the local community will support the idea. We spoke to the school from the outset as they know the families and obviously oversee children transitioning from childcare centres in and around Cambridge. It took about three years to find this location so we were very lucky that it ticked all the boxes for us. We’ve had a centre operating in Hamilton now for almost five years and we’re certainly not contemplating opening another Little Sparrows in Hamilton. There is simply too much competition in my opinion, they seem to be opening up everywhere and some are very large centres’’.
Despite the numbers of new centres Honiss said it wasn’t a quick and simple business to get started in. ‘‘They are a lot of work – like any new business it’s critical that you attract good staff and in childcare you also need the right number of ECE qualified staff. This has become more of a challenge I’m sure due to significant growth in the number of centres and everyone competing for the same pool of graduates and early childhood teachers.
‘‘Our funding is dependent on having a minimum 80 per cent qualified teachers on the floor at any given time so it’s critical to attract qualified teachers and this hasn’t been easy for the Leamington centre’’.
Ministry of Education spokesperson Katrina Casey said that in
2017 that more than 200,000 children attended New Zealand’s
5,527 early learning services.. ‘‘While the number of new, privately owned services has increased, they still have to meet the same standards, implement the same curriculum, and be subject to the same reviews by us, ERO and regional public health officers, as other services.