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.

 

The pre-budget submission, an FDCA spokesperson noted, outlines the case for four key funding priorities that are not only pivotal in ensuring the long-term viability of the family day care sector, but also represent an appropriate and equitable allocation of funding for the sector to support sustainable growth, namely:

 

• 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 submission drew attention to the underlying factors that FDCA believes are contributing to four significant challenges affecting the future viability of the family day care sector, namely:

 

• 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.

 

The recommended investment measures seek to address these challenges, and FDCA thanked its members for their input, and for sharing their views on the key priorities for the 2022-23 Federal Budget.

 

“Your feedback was invaluable in developing the content of our submission and will assist us in ongoing discussions with relevant Ministers, Shadow Ministers, Senators and MPs over the coming months,” FDCA said in a communication to members. 

 

FDCA’s pre-budget submission may be viewed here.