4 October 2023

ACCC Report Confirms Market Forces Alone Fail to Deliver Affordable and Accessible ECEC

The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) yesterday released its second interim report on its inquiry into child care services. This report and its recommendations focus primarily on the centre based day care and outside school hours care services. The overarching key finding of the ACCC’s second interim report is that “market forces alone have failed to meet community expectations and government objectives for child care services”.

The ACCC is continuing its analysis of family day care and in home care services costs and will report those findings in its final report due to the Treasurer by 31 December 2023.

In the final report, the ACCC will also report on changes to prices following the introduction of the increased Child Care Subsidy in July 2023 and provide its final findings and recommendations.

Read the interim report and its draft recommendations here.

Some key findings relevant to family day care include:

• Labour is the main driver of cost for supplying childcare, accounting for 69% at centre based day care and 77% at outside school hours care. The ACCC has conducted a survey of family day care educators to consider the costs incurred by educators to provide family day care services, and analysis of this will be included in their final report.

• The socio-economic status of a local area appears to be a particularly important consideration for providers, both in relation to entering a market, as well as making decisions about prices.
• Families with household income less than $73,000 were proportionally much more likely to use family day care than those with higher household incomes, and single parents were twice as likely to use outside school hours care.
• The ACCC supports a market stewardship role for Government in local area markets where there is an undersupply of childcare services.
• While family day care services operate differently to centre based day care services, they still face some of the same demand and supply challenges, which have consequences for profits, viability, and service quality.
• Like the rest of the sector, the shortage of qualified educators has consequences for family day care services.
• Family day care services need a minimum number of educators to break even, as the primary source of revenue for services is the levy charged to educators. The reliance on educators to make a service viable creates challenges for profits and viability as educators are contractors and are not obligated to stay with a service and can leave at any time. This presents a risk to the family day care service’s revenue stream and can lead to volatile or lumpy revenue and is a challenge to manage as the costs of operating a family day care service are largely fixed, such as labour expenses.
• Family day care services are also limited in their ability to increase revenue by raising the levy due to local competitive pressure and a reluctance to increase fees for educators and households.

Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Gala Dinner Tickets Now Available

Tickets to the 2023 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Gala Dinner are now on sale!

Being held in South Australia for the first time, the Gala Dinner will take place on Saturday 25 November at the Adelaide Pullman Hotel from 6.30pm - 11.00pm.

The Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Gala Dinner will celebrate all those nominated this year with special recognition for our award winners on the night. The awards dinner also  provides guests with the opportunity to join friends and colleagues for a night of celebration. 

FDCA members are able to secure their tickets at a discounted rate of $130 ($165 for non-members) by clicking here.

What’s included with your ticket?

Dinner guests will be treated to: 

• Pre-dinner welcome drinks and canapés
• A delicious 2-course meal
• Access to a 3.5-hour drinks package (6.30pm - 10.00pm)
• Entertainment from our live DJ
• Access to photos post-event

Event Details 

Location: Adelaide Pullman Hotel, 16 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide
Date: Saturday 25 November 2023
Time: 6.30pm - 11.00pm
Dress Code: Cocktail

Tickets to the 2023 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Gala Dinner are limited, so be quick to secure your ticket.

To find out more about the 2023 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards Gala Dinner, click here.

Find out how Family Day Care Legal Services has got you Covered!

FDCA offers more than just great public liability insurance to protect your business. We have a range of options to protect your home, your vehicle and you!

We also offer Family Day Care Legal Services through our partners, Wotton & Kearney, to provide you with top tier legal advice and peace of mind.

Wotton & Kearney are one of the undisputed leaders in the legal services industry, with specific expertise in the provision of family day care and over 340 specialised lawyers operating across Australian and New Zealand.

Trusted by educators and services for over 30 years, visit our website or give us a call on 1800 658 699 to find out more about how FDCA has got all of your business needs covered.

2023 Regional Educator Award Winners Announced!

Just in case you missed last week’s big news, FDCA announced the 2023 Regional Winners in the Excellence in Family Day Care Awards!

The list of all 71 Regional Educator Winners, click here.

We encourage everyone to visit our Facebook page to pass on their congratulations and to view the ongoing announcements and coverage of our winners.

All of our Regional Educator Winners are now in the running to be named as one of four National Educator Finalists. National Finalists will be named on 17 October 2023.

The next big announcement on the 2023 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards calendar will be Star Award Winners on 10 October 2023. Our Star Award winners include new and long-serving educators, coordinators and services that have shown outstanding practice and provide amazing outcomes for children.

We will follow the announcement of our Star Award Winners with the release of our National Finalists on 17 October 2023, who will all travel to Adelaide for the Awards Gala Dinner and presentation of our National Winners on 25 November 2023.

We applaud all winners and nominees in the 2023 Awards and say a special thank you to our members for participating and making it a hugely successful year for the awards.

Keep an eye out over the coming weeks for media stories on our Regional Educator Winners, which will be shared on our Facebook page and website.