Bev Veitch

I'm a Family Day Care Educator with over 28 years, and was extremely disappointed with last night's story about one family finding it difficult to pay for their childcare once "free childcare" ceases on July 13th 2020, and the fact that they only featured one childcare centre, whose entire staff were able to access Jobkeeper, therefore the financial impact to their centre was minimised. I contacted ACA on Tuesday night in the hope that they would investigate further and do a complete story about this whole fiasco. When Scott Morrison decided to generously give families "free childcare" he omitted one small detail, that your Educator will actually be funding your "free childcare". When families apply for childcare, they first need to register with Centrelink, which calculates their CCS rebate based on income and special requirements etc. The Government pays a portion of their childcare costs up to 85% and the parents pay the balance which is called the gap. But from April we've not been allowed to collect the parent's portion. One in three Educators were eligible for Jobkeeper, which has helped them enormously, the rest have had to struggle on just the government's contribution, still working, but for between 50-60% less weekly income. If families feel that their childcare costs are too high, they've always had the option to lobby parliament to get it changed. Currently our families are enjoying "free childcare" while many Educators are struggling to stay afloat. ACA - if you're going to feature a story, please do everyone the courtesy of actually giving an unbiased viewpoint, not one designed to make it appear that Educators charge too much and have been heartless to our families. Basically, if a family is still working and has had no loss of job or pay, then they can still afford to pay the childcare they received prior to Covid. If they've lost their jobs, or their pay has significantly decreased, they have the option to apply for assistance in helping with their childcare costs. Family Day Care Educators provide a vital service to the community and country and we've been struggling with no voice. I had hoped that ACA could be our voice.