UNICEF Australia welcomes increased funding for early childhood in new Budget

The injection of $1.7b additional funds for early childhood into the 2021-22 Budget has been welcomed by UNICEF Australia who said the increased investment will support quality early learning, which in turn will provide  children with the best start in life and support women to participate in the workforce. 

“The Government has targeted these measures carefully to help increase access to early childhood education and care services for children in low and lower middle-income families. We are encouraged by this focus and believe that it is the right place to start,” a spokesperson said. 

A pre-Budget submission by UNICEF called for the Government to lift the taper rate for low and lower-middle income families from 85 per cent to 95 per cent, with the charity saying it was pleased to see this reform introduced for such families, with two or more children under five.

“We are also pleased to see the removal of the annual cap to the CCS, which will benefit a significant number of families, by removing disincentives to increased female workforce participation and enable children to attend a greater number of days in early learning settings,” UNICEF Australia added. 

“We thank the Government for this significant investment in Australia’s children. We are committed to ongoing collaboration with the Federal Government which builds on this investment to continually improve the quality and affordability of Australia’s early childhood education and care system. There is no more important investment that can be made, than those targeted to support our children.” 

To learn more about the work of UNICEF Australia, see here.