Free childcare that you have to pay for
Wednesday January 24, 2007
By Claire Trevett

The Ministry of Education is telling preschools to consider raising their fees if Government funding for 20 hours' free childcare is not enough.

The advice runs counter to the Government's own assurances in 2005 that fees for under-3s would not be affected by the policy and would be possibly controlled if there were unreasonable increases.

The option, being suggested as a way to bolster the free funding in childcare centres so they do not have to cut extra services, is likely to enrage parents, who will feel they are being asked to subsidise a Government scheme.

Childcare groups said parents of toddlers aged under 3 and those in daycare for more than 20 hours a week would be subsidising a "Government promise" to older children.

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