Kindergarten parents targeted by debt collectors

Photo / APN

Debt collectors have been called into recover money from parents who can't afford to pay their kindy bills.

Describing the move as sad, early education expert and director of website ChildForum, Dr Sarah Farquhar said parents would expect such a move of private childcare services, not kindergartens.

She predicted other kindies would follow the lead of the Waikato Kindergarten Association and use debt collectors.

That association's chief executive Maree Stewart said she and her board had not used debt collectors lightly. She claimed other kindies were "just starting to do it too".

Associations contacted by the Herald on Sunday said they had not used debt collectors, although many felt financial pressures.

Tauranga Regional Kindergarten Association principal Peter Monteith, whose organisation oversees 19 centres, said they gave 30-hours free per child. But a reduction of $850,000 in Government funds meant families would be charged a donation of $2 a day.

Wellington Region Free Kindergarten Association general manager Amanda Coulston said children received 20 hours free at their 64 kindergartens. Extra time was $4 an hour.

They had never called in debt collectors despite a third of families not paying in full. Some centres had "large debts".

Auckland Kindergarten Association general manager Tanya Harvey said its 107 centres charge $4 an hour above 20 hours.

One-third of parents paid an optional fee of $1.55 an hour for the first 20 hours.

NZ Kindergartens' chief executive Clare Wells, who represents 29 of the 33 kindergarten associations, said calling in debt collectors was not widespread. The kindergarten philosophy was about affordability and accessibility.