Full Fees & Only 20 Hours Child Care!! Oh My Help

[babytoo]

Does anyone else feel like they can never get ahead??? My husband was on a pretty poorly paid job and I was working part time up until I had my 2nd in February. My husband got a new job which pays much better and obviously I am not working at the moment....so I am only entitled to 20 hours child care for my 3 year old son now and they have taken any % off me so in essence for 3 days child care I have to pay $150!! Not very fair considering if my husband stayed at his old job we would probably be bringing home the same amount of money because the child care would be cheaper!
Also my son just misses out on starting school next year with the new changes so I don't really want to drop his days at kindy...he likes learning, mixing with friends etc and if he was at home he would probably be just watching tv as I am tied up with the new bub! Private school would only cost me $37 a week and thats for five days!! Does anyone have the same problems and even better a solution??

[Jem]

Soon the minimum hours will increase to 24 hours... i know its not much, but for 6 hour days at daycare.. thats another day :D

[Kells]

Can you send him to a kindy near you rather than using a child care centre's kindy facilities? My DS kindy was only $45 a term, rather than the $50 a day at his childcare!! (although you do only get half days).

I know what you mean about getting ahead. I have just taken on an extra day at work, and so therefore my percentage dropped, and now cos DS is a 'school child' for some reason DD childcare percentage dropped by heaps, so now instead of paying $225 a fortnight for TWO kids for 2 days per week each, I now pay $218 for DD to go 3 days a week!! So I am using 2 days less childcare a fortnight, and only paying $7 less!! Go figure.

But I guess some countries would not offer childcare rebates etc, so I guess we should be grateful :eek:

I'd check out the public kindys and see if theres any in your area. They are really good for socialisation and preparation for school. Although, just occured to me - he may not be at the age for the criteria yet. :banghead:

Good Luck

[kiwibird27]

I agree with Kells - let your feet do the talking - look for community based or a centre that charge per hour rather than per day, then your CCB will only be applied to the hours you actually use, rather than the 11 hours the centre may be open, If your in QLD C and K centre's are great and cheap, if your not going back to work, pull him out and look for better options - Private centre's are equivalent to private primary schools - fees are high, it also only ever seems to help low and high income families, the ones in the middle are the ones who suffer!!!!!! If your studying though or "looking" for work you can get your 50 hours back, And if anyone suffers a sudden financial hardship (not on-going low income) e.g. suddenly loss your job, get burglarised, house burns down, something significant that causes temporary financial hardship then the centre can apply on your behalf for "special circumstances payment" which pays your gap fee for up to 13 weeks or as long as the Temp hardship last for!!! You just need someone to write a letter or show some proof of the thing happening