Govt sympathetic to childcare plan

By ANDREW LAXON

The Government will consider calls for cheaper childcare to help beneficiaries get back to work, says Social Services Minister Steve Maharey.

The Ministry of Social Policy has recommended that the Government increase its 50 per cent childcare subsidy for low-income families and pay for more than the present maximum of 30 hours a week.

It has also suggested temporary free childcare for about 20,000 families who have lived on a benefit for 10 years, to help them back into jobs.

Mr Maharey said yesterday that he did not want to respond specifically to the proposals because the Government was still working on this year's Budget.

However, he agreed with the ministry's general argument that it was unfair to push beneficiaries into jobs that could leave them financially worse off than staying on a benefit.

"The [previous] Government's had one year where it's placed enormous pressure on beneficiaries and really made very little progress on the issue.

"I think that's because they were not taking seriously these wider issues, which are very practical for beneficiaries.

"They're things like: 'How do I look after my kids properly?'; 'If I take this casual job in an orchard how fast can I get back onto a benefit?'; 'Will I make any real money because of transport costs?'

"These are good, practical issues and unless you solve them, you don't really solve the issue."

The Labour-Alliance Coalition is expected to be sympathetic to the ministry's childcare recommendations.

It may struggle, though, to find the money when it is already committed to other big-spending promises such as restoring superannuation and cutting student loan payments and state house rents.

In its briefing, the ministry warns that its childcare plans could be expensive in the short term.

It says the welfare-reforming US state of Wisconsin increased childcare spending from $12 million in 1986 to $175 million in 1998.

But the ministry argues that even a 5 per cent cut in benefit spending would save New Zealand taxpayers $3 billion over 10 years.

It says that in a national childcare survey last year, 30 per cent of sole parents described childcare as a barrier to having a job, with cost as the biggest factor.

Low-income families can get a childcare subsidy of $2.33 an hour (about half the cost) for up to 30 hours for preschoolers.

For school-age children, there is a $1.80 an hour subsidy for 20 hours a week, extended to 30 hours in school holidays.