The Australian government announced this week it will set up a year-long inquiry into increasing childcare costs. The inquiry, which will be done by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will begin in January and cost $10.8million.
Childcare costs in Australia have risen by 41% in the last eight years, and the ACCC has been asked to suggest ways to make the childcare system more affordable for Australian parents.
‘We want to make sure that we've got all of the necessary measures in place to push prices down,’ says Education Minister Jason Clare. ‘If the ACCC recommends that there are other things we can do to push down prices then that's a good thing.’
‘Having more scrutiny and better transparency about some of the drivers in cost increases would be very useful, not only for parents, but at government, when we look at how we make investments in early childhood education and care,’ said Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, who said the review was important to ensure public money is being spent wisely.
As followers of The Juggle, Grazia’s parenting platform, will know, we’ve been campaigning for the same thing since we launched our Change Childcare Now campaign last year. So, if the Australian government can launch an enquiry into childcare costs, why can’t ours?
‘The Australian government are going to assess why childcare costs have increased so dramatically over the previous decade, and where funding needs to targeted in order to ensure it’s affordable and good quality,’ says Joeli Brearley, founder of the charity Pregnant Then Screwed (PTS). ‘The primary reason is they know that sky high childcare costs affect the number of mothers who can work, they're not good for children, and they're not good for economy. And Australia is in a better position than us in that our childcare is more expensive than theirs.’
The UK has the second most expensive childcare in the OECD, and it’s rising: the cost of a full-time nursery place for a child under two has risen from £236 a week in 2018, to £274 in 2022 – a leap of 16%. Little wonder then that PTS recently found 43% of mothers are considering leaving their jobs due to childcare costs, with one in five working in less senior roles than their ability to ease childcare bills.
‘Boris Johnson’s government didn’t seem have the appetite for looking at the childcare sector, it just didn’t appear to be a priority,’ says Joeli. ‘And rather than investing in decent childcare, I think this government may just increase ratios, which we know doesn’t work. The job as it stands is unbelievably stressful and the pay is appalling. By increasing ratios, you’re making the job more stressful without increasing salaries.’
So will the Australian government’s decision put pressure on ours? ‘It all adds to the conversation and it increases the pressure on our government to a degree. Australia has a very similar welfare state to ours so there’s a direct comparison. Other countries like Canada have also recently invested in their childcare sectors, because they view subsided childcare as essential infrastructure. We see from Scandinavian countries that having a properly subsidised system has enormous benefits for the economy. It’s also good for mothers, it’s good for children, and therefore it’s good for the future economy. All these other countries can see the benefits, so why is our government lagging behind?’