Search
Close this search box.

The Cost of Childcare to Families

Search Entire Website
money coins child

Sept 20, 2013

Over the past 5 years the relative cost to households of ECE has gone up by 8.1%. But kindergartens account for almost all of the increase.

There has been a big increase in the cost of kindergarten fees relative to household earnings over the past 5 years of 64.4% or almost 13% per annum (between the June ’08 and June ’13 quarters). However this may be slowing down as over the past year the increase has been just 5%. Possible explanations for this are that:

  • during this period of time we saw substantial numbers of kindergartens that had offered sessional / part-day preschool and asking for a parent donation being re-licensed as all-day services with ability to charge fees for childcare outside of 20 Hours ECE.
  • kindergarten fee increases started from a traditionally very low base so even a small increase in terms of cents and dollars has seen a large increase in terms of percent figures.

Childcare centres have had a 2% increase in average fees relative to household earnings in the past 5 years – so only a very marginal increase on average for parents using a childcare centre. However, childcare fees have always been substantially higher than kindergarten and home-based fees so a tiny increase can still represent quite a few extra dollars for households.

Interestingly, home-based ECE has seen a decrease of 0.8% of average fees relative to household earnings over the past year, suggesting some room for negotiation by parents in fees!

Has this been useful?  Give us your feedback.

You are welcome to add a link to this page on your website. Copyright belongs to the OECE so please do not copy any content without our written permission.

Information provided is of a general nature. It is provided ‘as is’, and we accept no liability for its accuracy or completeness. See our Terms and Conditions.

Related Posts

early childhood research journal online

Removing Socio-Economic Barriers to Participation in Early Childhood Education

This paper reviews policy approaches to increase the participation of children from low socio-economic families in quality early childhood education. Problems are identified with current policy approaches and an equitable way forward is proposed. Read the full paper below. Or to order a pdf copy of the article go to the main NZIRECE Journal page.

Read More »
parent drop off child at preschool or kindy

Charging Parents for Late Pick-ups and Early Drop-offs

Late Fee. Should you charge a late fee for late collection of children?  Or charge the parents of children who arrive early? Some early childhood services ‘fine’ parents to try to deter them from leaving their child outside of hours that […]

Read More »
The Office of ECE

Share This Information

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

The Office of ECE Login

Take Action!

Help spread this vital ECE information, join our free social and email groups and become a member of OECE.

pay parity funding policy

1. Share This Information

2. Follow Our Social Pages

3. Get Regular Updates

Sign up to our free newsletters.

4. Become a Member

Public Area Categories
Categories