New Staff Ratios May Mean Fewer Childcare Places – Will you be affected?

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Permalink Reply by NightNannies on May 12, 2010 at 5:15pm

The new regulations towards improving standards have been created by qualified workers in the field who want higher pay and acceptance in the field of Child Care Teaching rather than just being seen as Babysitters. They also want to have safer ratios and less stress put on Workers and Children in Centre Based Care. Current Staff to child ratios of 1:10 babies and 1:5 is just crazy when it comes to the care of children under 3yrs. Thankfully there are various options such as not working, Family Daycare, Community based services and Nannies.

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Permalink Reply by Cheryl Carlton on May 25, 2010 at 1:14pm

Government changes mean more paperwork and less care time for the children. Numbers of under 2's will go down and fees will go up. Why is it all necessary? Over the last 15 years in the industry I have never heard about problems with the quality of child care, only the cost and availability. Will the Government help parents with the fees when the cost blows out? I bet not.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Buchtman on May 26, 2010 at 8:02am

NightNannies said:

The new regulations towards improving standards have been created by qualified workers in the field who want higher pay and acceptance in the field of Child Care Teaching rather than just being seen as Babysitters. They also want to have safer ratios and less stress put on Workers and Children in Centre Based Care. Current Staff to child ratios of 1:10 babies and 1:5 is just crazy when it comes to the care of children under 3yrs. Thankfully there are various options such as not working, Family Daycare, Community based services and Nannies.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Buchtman on May 26, 2010 at 8:25am

All of these regulations imply that that only persons capable of raising children, are those with the qualifications
of Dip in Chns Services or a degree in teaching (Early Childhood) and any mother without these qualifications are incapable of raising children. The real agenda of lower ratios and more qualifications, is for an easier work day and higher pay. Who will pay for this? You will , the parent. Fees have to rise to pay the additional wages. The Fed govt has lowered and capped the Childcare rebate to $7500 / year, indicating they won't foot the bill. When a babies room is built for 10 chn, you have to add an additional staff for ration 1:4. This means one more wage for the room. With the real cost of a carer around $1000 per week (includes award wage + super+workers comp+RDO+sick+Holidays etc), that means an additional $1000 per week split over 10 chn for 5 days. Primary school maths shows an additional $20 per day per child increase in fees is required to cover this extra person and with no government support, the PARENT must foot the EXTRA FEE. You guessed it, from 1/1/2011, fee increases for u/2 will universally increase by $20 per day and the parent has to pay, with no help from the govt who made the change.
This will really mean it is not viable to have LDC childcare for u/2. Childcare for u/2 will go underground to grannies, the next door neighbour, the local nanny, all totally unregulated.
With the nex changes, fees in the city for childcare will be around $150 per day or $750 per week, with little govt assistance, great isn't it.
Nightnanny's are the winners here, they can charge more, are not regulated and need no qualifications.

NightNannies said:

The new regulations towards improving standards have been created by qualified workers in the field who want higher pay and acceptance in the field of Child Care Teaching rather than just being seen as Babysitters. They also want to have safer ratios and less stress put on Workers and Children in Centre Based Care. Current Staff to child ratios of 1:10 babies and 1:5 is just crazy when it comes to the care of children under 3yrs. Thankfully there are various options such as not working, Family Daycare, Community based services and Nannies.

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Permalink Reply by david brown on June 4, 2010 at 5:32pm

I am concerned that the new rating system may be left to the discression of staff from docs. This could open the door to pressure being exerted on docs staff to rate centres higher than they should be. The rating system must be as far as possible measured against a strict guideline. if you meet the guideline you are automatically ranked at that level.
All centre should be made to meet the new guidelines regardless of what some parent think about the centre. Most parents would say a centre is excellent if it mean no fee rises expecially in the presence of the centre management.

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Permalink Reply by Chantal Torrecilla on June 6, 2010 at 11:01pm

I WONDERING IF MR KEVIN RUDD READS THESE REPLIES ??? BECAUSE HE NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT IT WILL HAPPEN IN 12 MONTHS TIME........ I BELIEVE THAT NO-ONE REALLY CARES WHAT HAPPENS TO SMALL BUSINESS PEOPLE LIKE ME..... I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT WILL DEFINITIVELY CLOSE MY UNDER 2'S IN 6 MONTHS AND 6 MONTHS LATER I'M CLOSING THE PRESCHOOL, DUE TO FACT THAT THE CHANGES WILL AFFECT ME ALOT AND I DON'T HAVE NO 'CASH FLOW' TO KEEP THE CENTRE OPEN.....THANK YOU

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Permalink Reply by NightNannies on June 24, 2010 at 6:13pm

Actually our Nannies do have Child Care qualifications the same as Child care workers in Centre based care. Our Nannies just choose not to have to work in a large group environment where they cant provide 1 on 1 care.

Chris Buchtman said:

All of these regulations imply that that only persons capable of raising children, are those with the qualifications
of Dip in Chns Services or a degree in teaching (Early Childhood) and any mother without these qualifications are incapable of raising children. The real agenda of lower ratios and more qualifications, is for an easier work day and higher pay. Who will pay for this? You will , the parent. Fees have to rise to pay the additional wages. The Fed govt has lowered and capped the Childcare rebate to $7500 / year, indicating they won't foot the bill. When a babies room is built for 10 chn, you have to add an additional staff for ration 1:4. This means one more wage for the room. With the real cost of a carer around $1000 per week (includes award wage + super+workers comp+RDO+sick+Holidays etc), that means an additional $1000 per week split over 10 chn for 5 days. Primary school maths shows an additional $20 per day per child increase in fees is required to cover this extra person and with no government support, the PARENT must foot the EXTRA FEE. You guessed it, from 1/1/2011, fee increases for u/2 will universally increase by $20 per day and the parent has to pay, with no help from the govt who made the change.
This will really mean it is not viable to have LDC childcare for u/2. Childcare for u/2 will go underground to grannies, the next door neighbour, the local nanny, all totally unregulated.
With the nex changes, fees in the city for childcare will be around $150 per day or $750 per week, with little govt assistance, great isn't it.
Nightnanny's are the winners here, they can charge more, are not regulated and need no qualifications.

NightNannies said:

The new regulations towards improving standards have been created by qualified workers in the field who want higher pay and acceptance in the field of Child Care Teaching rather than just being seen as Babysitters. They also want to have safer ratios and less stress put on Workers and Children in Centre Based Care. Current Staff to child ratios of 1:10 babies and 1:5 is just crazy when it comes to the care of children under 3yrs. Thankfully there are various options such as not working, Family Daycare, Community based services and Nannies.

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