FDCA lodges Pre-Budget submission calling for 4 key funding priorities

Family Day Care Australia (FDCA) has responded to the Federal Government’s call for submissions regarding priorities for the 2022-2023 Federal Budget, lodging a submission to Treasury on behalf of its members.

• raising the CCS cap rate for family day care to be on par with that of the centre-based day care sector;

• applying an additional loading of 20 per cent to the recalculated CCS fee cap for non-standard hours care;

• initiating a direct funding support program (an “Approved Service Engagement Payment”) for family day care approved services to assist in the recruitment, induction and training of new family day care educators; and

• initiating a direct funding support program (an “Educator Start-up Grant”) for new family day care educators to assist in overcoming some of the financial barriers to entry into the sector in establishing their micro-business.

• the sustained downward trend in educator and service numbers occurring since 2016;

• an inappropriate hourly CCS fee cap rate for family day care, both for standard and non-standard hours care, which directly affects the capacity of both educators and services to be appropriately remunerated;

• services’ widespread and ongoing challenges in recruiting new family day care educators and growing their service; and

• barriers to entry into the sector for new educators.