QLD shows greatest gross increase in LDC centre numbers

The latest snapshot of the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) register suggests that South Australia has seen the greatest relative growth in long day care centres since April 2018, while Queensland has seen the greatest number of new centres open.

Each month a snapshot of the ACECQA register is taken to determine the individual centres that hold active licences. By comparing month-to-month, centres which have opened (new licences obtained) and closed (no longer carrying an active licence) are recorded. As centres may re-register at a new location, or for other reasons, an ‘opened’ centre may simply be a centre that has ‘closed’ in a previous month.

The September snapshot suggests that the number of new centres opening in Queensland is increasing at a much greater rate than the other states, with a continued increase in the slope of the graph. New South Wales and Western Australia are also appearing to increase, however at a much steadier level compared to Queensland. South Australia may also be experiencing a slight increase in the number of centres opening. As indicated in the previous month’s summary, over the past 12 months Victoria seems to be experiencing a drop in the number of new centres, and this trend continues.

Considering the number of centres which have opened and closed in the past six months, South Australia stands out as having the highest net growth above the other states. South Australia has seen a net increase of 17 new centres, a growth of 4.4 per cent. While the larger states have had more centres open, the relative percentage growth has been only 1.3 per cent in New South Wales, and 1.8 per cent in Victoria and Queensland. Most of the increase in Victoria was seen between April and May 2018 and has since slowed. Across all of Australia, the number of long day care centres grew by 1.7 per cent from April 2018 to October 2018.

Family day care (FDC) has seen a large decline in the number of centres across all of Australia, with Victoria having the greatest drop. Across all of Australia, the number of FDC centres has decreased by 11 per cent in the past six months. In Victoria however, the number of centres has dropped by 17 per cent in this period. Of the major centres, New South Wales saw the smallest drop in FDC centres, with only 5.5 per cent less operating now than April 2018.

The interactive map pin-points the individual centres which have opened or closed in the last six months. The map contains all data from April 2018 to October 2018 and is filterable by type of care. This map demonstrates that long day care is largely increasing, with more centres opening (green markers) than centres closing (red markers). Both FDC and outside school hours care can be seen to be in decline, with FDC concentrated in the main cities. The number of kindergartens across Australia is relatively staying steady with significantly less turn over than the other care types.