QLD Families To Take Financial Hit As Childcare Centres Increase Fees

Queensland families are set to take another financial hit with day care centres set to increase their fees.

As young Queensland families struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, day care centres are set to increase their fees to up to eight percent.

Day care centres are making the change to keep up with Brisbane’s CPI increase which has risen by six percent over the past 12 months.

A number of day care centres have attributed the rise in fees to the Covid pandemic with a number of centres experiencing a major drop in attendance.

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Other day care centres have blamed the states minimum wage increase as well as the rising cost of nappies, wet wipes and fresh food.

A spokesperson for Goodstart Early Learning Centre told the Courier Mail that a lack of attendance has resulted in a significant drop in revenue.

“As a not-for-profit provider, we have worked hard to keep the increase back in March to a minimum, well below the average increase for the early learning sector,” he said.

“The fee change is helping to ensure our teams have the necessary resources and support to keep everyone safe, while we continue to absorb the cost of absences and waived gap fees for families when we need to close rooms or entire centres.”

Like a majority of Queenslanders, day care centres have also been forced to grapple with the cost-of-living crisis with a number of centres forced to up fees to keep up with increasing rent.

Experts believe that childcare centres will increase fees again over July and August in a bid to combat rising inflation.

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