Trading Performance, page-7

As a parent with a child in day care, my 2c is that day care costs are far too high. Almost crippling at the moment actually.
There has been a number of day care centres opening in our area lately, with each offering more incentives to parents such as free coffee, nappies & meals included, sensory playgrounds etc.

Our centre doesn't offer food or nappies and has a very high daily rate. The increase in competition has perhaps halted fee increases to some degree.
When my wife & I sat down to crunch the numbers, we worked out we are better off by $100/week by my wife returning 38hrs to work. (+ having superannuation paid)
She is fortunate that the government has forced employers to be accommodating to mums... which she has to prove every 12 months. I don't get that luxury.
As of about March, we reached our CCR cap of $7500 and from then until July 1 have to pay the full rate/ day. You cannot imagine how devastating that is to our family finances. We can't wait for our child to reach school age when we'll actually save money.

Linking early childcare to jobs is absolute rubbish imo. What we need is a safe, clean environment where educators engage with kids via reading, playing etc. I'd argue our centre goes over the top on some topics. We use childcare so that we can do as the government wants and both work full time to just pay the bills.
I class ourselves as working poor.

Our day care centre also charges us for public holidays! It's a joke.

If a woman is earning a low to median income, you'd serious have to consider if it's worth paying these exorbitant fees.
It's no wonder there are more and more centres opening as this industry is a cash cow for some.