Families face childcare price hike

ABC childcare centres across Ipswich are set to raise their fees in the new year to comply with new regulations set by the Federal Government.

Bosses for the childcare chain, which has seven centres across the Ipswich area, say the average daily cost will rise by $3 to $5 at most of its centres, but some centres could be forced to charge as much as $7 extra.

The new rules will require childcare centres to employ a higher ratio of staff to children, while also raising the qualifications expected of childcare employees.

Most ABC childcare centres are now run by GoodStart, a not-for-profit business that stepped forward following the collapse of Eddie Groves' childcare empire.

GoodStart's chief executive, Julia Davison, told The Queensland Times her organisation would do all it could to minimise the extra cost for parents, but that rises were inevitable.

Other Ipswich childcare centres said they also expected to increase their prices to meet the new regulations, but added there was confusion about the precise requirements of the reforms and when they would be implemented.

But Gabrielle Sinclair, chief officer of the State Government's Office for Early Childhood Education and Childcare, said centres were being given ample time to adjust to the new rules.

"While new national legislation is planned to commence in 2012, new staffing standards and other provisions will be gradually introduced in Queensland to allow services and families time to adjust to new requirements," she said.

"It's not something that has been dumped on them overnight."

She said most Queensland childcare centres would be allowed extensions for many of the reforms until 2017.

However, Peter Price, president of the industry's peak body, Childcare Queensland, said the shake-up had been badly handled.

He said many centres were unsure about their price increases but were anticipating hefty rises if the cost of the reforms was not fully subsidised.

"The government can't even provide a final copy of the regulations, so how are centres supposed to teach their staff when nobody knows what is happening?" he said.

Mr Price said many centres were preparing financial buffers as they anticipated the final copy of the regulations.

"All the unknowns are so stressful for parents and centres and with a lot of people in Ipswich already doing it tough, if the costs do go up, it's going to force parents to go to backyard-type care, cash-in-hand operations, which defeats the government's purpose of high-quality child care," Mr Price said.