New online tool to help families budget for child care
Kate Ellis
posted Thursday, 7 January 2010
Minister for Early Childhood Education and Child Care Kate Ellis today launched a new online tool to help families budget for child care.
The Child Care Estimator shows families what financial support the Government can give them through the Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate.
“As families plan for 2010, the Estimator will help them make more accurate and well-informed decisions about child care,” Ms Ellis said.
“This is another way we’re helping parents and carers meet the cost of child care and decide what best suits their child’s needs.”
The Australian Government has invested $2.5 million in developing the Child Care Estimator on the Government’s online hub for parents mychild.gov.au.
“We’ve already delivered on our election promise to pay half of families’ out-of-pocket child care costs by increasing the Child Care Rebate from 30 to 50 per cent.
“That move has dramatically improved affordability, with ABS statistics showing child care costs to parents have fallen by more than 20 per cent as a result,” Ms Ellis said.
The Child Care Estimator is part of recent upgrades to mychild.gov.au and builds on the suite of estimators currently available on the Centrelink website. The new Child Care
Estimator is also available at centrelink.gov.au.
In November, Ms Ellis announced new features on mychild.gov.au to help parents easily access child care vacancy information. Through the website families can now get information about vacancies and fees at thousands of centres across Australia, find
centres on a map and see a street view.
“With the new Child Care Estimator, mychild.gov.au is a valuable resource for families and carers as they start looking at their child care options for 2010,” Ms Ellis said.
For more information on Australian Government early childhood education and child care initiatives visit www.mychild.gov.au or call 1300 363 079.
Tags: Child Care, Labor Government, Online, Parents