The results of the 8th annual CareforKids.com.au Child Care and Workforce Participation Survey are in and we received a record 2,494 responses this year, our highest response rate ever.

The results offer a unique insight into the way Australian parents view and experience the early childhood education and care sector and reveal some very interesting results:

Parents think you are underpaid
More than 70 per cent of parents believe that child care workers are under paid and undervalued. Many parents remarked that they definitely feel as though child care workers should earn more but said they can't afford to pay more in fees. They also said that although child care workers are under paid they are certainly not undervalued by parents, with one respondent claiming child care workers are worth their weight in gold.

Work Rules
86 per cent of parents across Australia said the main reason they were using child care was to engage in paid work. Child care centres are still by far the most commonly used form of child care with 77 per cent of parents using centre based care. Interestingly our survey shows that more families use nannies/au pairs then family day care with 12 per cent saying they use family day care and 14 per cent using nannies/au pairs. Grandparents are also gaining in strength with 17 per cent of families relying on grandparents for regular care.

Waiting
16 per cent of parents said they waited more than 12 months to secure care but for 35 per cent the wait time was between one and two months. 76 per cent said they were eventually able to get the child care they wanted but 57 per cent said they found the process difficult or extremely difficult and frustrating.

Quality
The survey showed that on the whole Australian parents are happy with the quality of care offered by their providers. 65 per cent said the quality of care, safety and services were excellent while just under two per cent said their service offered poor/below average care and facilities.

Fees and Charges
76 per cent of parents don’t think it is fair to pay child care fees for public holidays however, 70 per cent think it is fair to charge parents who turn up late to pick up their kids. 73 per cent of parents are paying more than $200 per week for child care before the CCB and rebate are taken into account while only 12 per cent are paying less than $150 per week.

Outside of School Hours Care
This year we included a detailed section on outside school hours care (OOSH). An impressive 88 per cent of Australian parents said they were happy with their OOSH care and 67 per cent said they were able to secure a spot at the beginning of the school year.

For more information on the survey click here.