Creche expectations

The rules of rugby are confusing. The laws of conveyancing are confounding. But for sheer mind-bending inscrutability, the topic of child care trumps them all.

At what age should kids go into care? What are the benefits of the various types of child care? How do you find an available space close to home? The subject is like a Russian doll: as soon as you resolve one issue, another appears.

Perhaps the most perplexing issue of all is cost. Many families need a second income to afford mortgage repayments, groceries and fuel but it's a conundrum because the second income can be swallowed up by child-care fees. The Raising Children Network reports that one in four employees leaves work to care for their child because they can't afford child-care costs.

This financial year, the Rudd Government introduced changes to ease the burden of child-care fees and to try to simplify the labyrinth of government assistance. Unfortunately, parents and experts remain confused.

"I'm a PhD in economics and when the first child-care rebate came out a few years ago, I couldn't make heads or tails of it," says Joshua Gans, a professor of management at the University of Melbourne Business School and author of Parentonomics. "Now that money will be paid directly to the child-care provider [and the] bad side to this is that the provider realises this and charges higher fees."

Indeed, on July 1 several centres prompted outcry by raising their fees by more than 10 per cent. This comes on top of hefty previous rises. The National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling has calculated that, in the 12 months to September 2004, the cost of child care for Australian families increased by 10.3 per cent - the second-highest price increase for all goods and services over this period. (The highest was for fuel.)

"I wouldn't say the system is less complicated with these changes - it's about the same," says George Avramides, a technical services manager at ING. "Overall, people can expect to receive a little more money but this is still a complex area and parents need to get advice on it. Whether that means through the child-care people at Centrelink or through a professional adviser, it's certainly well worth it." Continued...