Presentations to the Workshop on Out-of-School Hours Care and Womens Labour Force Participation: Innovations in Provision & Supply Wednesday 21 March 2012 Womens College, University of Sydney

Australian Government Support for Outside School Hours Care Matthew Hardy Branch Manager, Early Childhood & Child Care Programs 21 March 2012

Context Who can use Outside School Hours Care services? Who uses Outside School Hours Care? Australian Government Support for Outside School Hours Care Services Overview

Context Australian Government investment Child Care Benefit and Rebate Across all service types there are more than 15,000 CCB approved services

Who can use outside school hours care? No restriction on age of children by the Australian Government Majority of children enrolled in a service must be attending school Must be in line with priority of access guidelines

Number of approved outside school hours care services: June quarter 2011 Service TypeQuarterChange June 10 – June 11 June 11 Outside School Hours Care7,8915.3% - Before School Hours Care2,3958.2% - After School Hours Care3,3144.7% - Vacation Care2,1823.1% Source: Child Care Management System, DEEWR Who uses outside school hours care?

Number of children using approved outside school hours care: June quarter 2011 Who uses outside school hours care? Source: Child Care Management System, DEEWR

Child Care Benefit (CCB) Special Child Care Benefit (SCCB) Grandparent Child Care Benefit (GCCB) CCB for registered carers Child Care Rebate (CCR) Jobs, Education and Training Child Care fee assistance (JETCCFA) Support for families

Child Care Benefit CCB expenditure paid as fee relief: June quarter 2011 Service TypeJune 11 Quarter (000) Financial Year (000) Outside School Hours Care$39,332$158,566 - Before School Hours Care$5,283$19,008 - After School Hours Care$22,259$81,270 - Vacation Care$11,790$58,289 Source: Child Care Management System, DEEWR

Child Care Rebate Estimated entitlements: June quarter 2011 Service TypeJune 11 Quarter (000) Financial Year (000) Outside School Hours Care$43,447$151,343 - Before School Hours Care$8,305$27,260 - After School Hours Care$28,330$94,585 - Vacation Care$6,811$29,498 Source: Child Care Management System, DEEWR

Special Child Care Benefit Expenditure paid as fee relief: June quarter 2011 Service TypeSpecial Child Care Benefit Expenditure (000) Outside School Hours Care$810 - Before School Hours Care$65 - After School Hours Care$233 - Vacation Care$513 Source: Child Care Management System, DEEWR

Support for services include: Child Care Services Support Program, which incorporates: Community Support Program Inclusion and Professional Support Program Support for OSHC services

Community Support Program Provides funding for OSHC services in the first 12 months of operations, and those eligible thereafter. Eligibility for ongoing funding depends on services size and location.

Community Support Program Eligibility for ongoing funding depends on: the services average number of utilised places, the remoteness area of the service as measured by the Accessibility and Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA Plus), and The socio-economic status of the community, derived from the Socio Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA).

Inclusion and Professional Support Program (IPSP) The IPSP comprises the following elements: Inclusion Support Program Professional Support Program

National Quality Framework New national quality system Australian Government investing $273.3 million Key components Commenced on 1 January

Questions?

Outside school hours care: social gradients and patterns of use Rebecca Cassells and Riyana Miranti National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) Out of School Hours Care and Womens Labour Force Participation Workshop, University of Sydney 21 st March 2012

20 Why OSHC? Use of all forms of child care has increased substantially, concurrent with maternal LFP OSHC places have been increasing over time, and is predicted to rise by 40% over the next 20 years (Productivity Commission, 2011) Middle years emerging as an important policy focus for children. (ARACY, UNICEF) Child and family welfare benefits

21 Our study Key focus: patterns and transitions of OSHC care Socio-economic gradients Use of care by age of children Average hours of care Problems and difficulties with care

Data Data = HILDA, in-confidence, child level, Wave 9, 2009 Children – At school, 5-12 years old, parents working Care use during school term Around 1800 children The HILDA project was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (Melbourne Institute). The findings and views reported in this paper, however, are those of the authors and should not be attributed to either FaHCSIA or the Melbourne Institute.

Quick stats Similar findings to LSAC/child care survey/census 3 in 10 using any care 1 in 10 using formal OSHC Greater % of single parent families using any care and formal OSHC.

Formal OSHC SEIFA

Income quintiles

Transitions

Average hours of care

Problems/Difficulties

Summary Clear social gradient for child care usage, those from more affluent areas much more likely to be using child care than those who are not Children living in low income families are much less likely to be using formal OSHC than those in high income families. Evidence of transition points Many households experiencing difficulties with care access.

Outside school hours care: social gradients and patterns of use Rebecca Cassells

Outside school hours care and maternal employment Kelly Hand and Jennifer Baxter OSHC workshop, Sydney, 21 March 2012

Outline of presentation Contextual information Maternal employment and school-aged children OSHC and maternal employment Paid work and childcare: key themes from qualitative studies Employment arrangements and attitudes Child care issues & childrens perspectives

MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT

Maternal employment Hours of paid work by age of youngest child Source: LSAC B cohort (waves 1- 4), K cohort (waves 1-4)

Not-working mothers Reasons for not working, by age of youngest child Source: LSAC B cohort (waves 1- 4), K cohort (waves 1-4) Family includes : prefer to look after children, too busy with family Jobs includes : no jobs available, cant find a job with enough flexibility Childcare is cant get suitable child care Money/benefits includes : its not worthwhile with child care costs, would lose government benefits if worked Other is likely to include ill health, disability, caring

OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS CARE AND MATERNAL EMPLOYMENT

Before school care by age of children and mothers usual weekly working hours Source: LSAC B cohort (wave 4), K cohort (waves 3,4) OSHC = Outside school hours care

After school care by age of children and mothers usual weekly working hours Source: LSAC B cohort (wave 4), K cohort (waves 3,4) OSHC = Outside school hours care

School holiday care by age of children and mothers usual weekly work hours Source: LSAC B cohort (wave 4), K cohort (waves 3,4) OSHC = Outside school hours care

QUALITATIVE FINDINGS

Qualitative data Work and Family: the Familys Perspective (W&F) The Family and Work Decisions Study (qualitative component) (FAWD) The Life Around Here Study (LAH)

Employment arrangements and attitudes Most mothers reported that once their youngest child was at school they either returned to work or increased their work hours Some mothers returned to work due to external pressures such as financial reasons or pressure from partners Most work part time

Employment arrangements and attitudes Some mothers decided not to return to paid work once their youngest child had started school. Reasons included: Access to appropriate child care Concerns about use of non-parental care Desire to be available to participate in childs school life Difficulties managing sick days,school holidays etc (lone mothers) Lack of informal care alternatives (lone mothers)

Employment arrangements and attitudes The thought of after school care would be the thing that would kill [the idea of returning to paid work] for me. Im not interested in after school care, or before school care. I want to be there for my children. (Couple mother, 4 children aged 6 to 16, not in paid work)

Managing paid work and child care Most employed mothers work part time Many try and limit work hours to school times Some take unpaid leave during school holidays Formal before and after school care and school holiday care - try and limit this Mix of formal and informal Informal care from family members used by many - but can be stressful and often unstable Small number use self care or sibling care

Managing paid work and child care - barriers Availability of work during school hours Cost of child care Quality of care available Working outside of normal business hours (lone mothers) Children refusing to attend child care Impacts on wellbeing of children - using OSHC can make for a long day

Barriers: cost of formal care The cost on one child for child care isnt a great deal, but when you're multiplying it, it is a lot more, and for bigger families there's no adjustment… Particularly working families, I mean, if you're not working, its negligible. But when you're working, its a big outlay. And there's a fine line in the income, from when you're eligible for a health care card, and when you're not. You might only be earning $10 more, or $50 more, a week, than someone whos eligible, and you're not…(Couple mother, 5 children in household aged 8 to 15, works part time hours, uses family care)

Barriers: quality of care I use family day care and I have a really, really good family day carer. Ive had some pretty shocking ones and just about decided to give up paid work because of it. But with a good family day carer where you feel that she does at least as good a job as you do its easy to leave the children and just forget about them while youre at work. I dont feel that I could work if I was constantly thinking, I wonder what the children are up to and if theyre being cared for properly (Lone mother, 5 children aged 5 years to 20 years, works full time hours, evening and overnight shift work)

Barriers: non-standard work hours Being a nurse …I have to drop my children off so early in the morning so that I can, in order to start at 7AM shift somewhere. Which is really tricky. Having to get them up and take them physically to someone else to look after, and then get them to school, It doesnt seem a fair thing to do for them…The ideal thing would be to have a babysitter come in and look after them but its just totally out of my price range. Couldnt possibly do it. (Lone mother, 3 children aged 6 to 11, not currently working due to lack of child care at right time)

Barriers: child refusing to attend care If a couple of your good friends werent there it wasnt much fun. And they much preferred to be home. Much preferred. Thats why I quit that first job,…they used to have to go to after-hours care for two hours for two days a week…you should have heard the whinging and the groaning at that! (Couple mother, 3 children aged 10 to 16, works part time)

Barriers: impacts on children Some of the children get dropped off at seven oclock in the morning and dont get picked up until six oclock. And thats an awful long time at school. (Couple mother, 3 children aged 6 to 9, neither parent employed)

Self care : positive I drop the children off in the morning. And get back here, my children actually catch the bus home, and they are here on their own til I finish, which is 5.30, which is not too bad cos if they have any problems they can come next door or I can come down and check on them, make sure theyre ok. But they come and see me, and I let them in, so I know that theyre home. (Lone mother, 2 children aged 8 and 9, works part time, lives next door to workplace)

Self care: negative Yesterday I worked until 7. I rang him at quarter to five and said how are you? I'm bored…I don't like it here on my own. I can't relax at work….once I know schools finished cos I think I should be home, whats he doing, probably boiling the kettle to make food, so I don't relax, but I do it… It gets me down in the morning thinking about having to do it… sometimes I say to him, you gotta do it buddy, we need money. I said youve got pretty much the best of everything. You can look in his room, youll see. I've got to do it. This is how it has to be (Lone mother, 1 child aged 10 years, does seasonal/casual work)

Sibling care: positive He [youngest child] was probably about ten when I started working at the hospital and that was a definite, I am here, you can ring me, and hopefully theyll put you through. I felt at ten, I mean his older brothers were here too, I didnt leave him on his own when he was ten, but his older brothers were here, so that would mean his older brother was like 15 or 16, so I felt that was ok. (Lone mother, 3 children – youngest aged 15 still at home, worked when children small, currently studying)

Sibling care: negative The older children sometimes get them ready for school. Put them on the bus or get them off the bus and get them ready for them bed. But I was finding if I did that too often, my son was getting a little bit bullying. He saw it as a chore…And I just thought it was better all round to have child care. (Lone mother, 5 children aged 5 years to 20 years, works full time hours, evening and overnight shift work)

Conclusion - key themes Mothers views about combining parenting and paid work when their children are of primary school age are diverse Most mothers prefer to work part time when their children attend primary school Being available to care for sick children and accommodate school activities and school holidays are important concerns for mothers

Conclusion - key themes Barriers to employment and/or child care use include: perceived impacts on children; quality; cost; child refusals and lack of availability of care for non-standard work hours Some mothers see self care and sibling care as appropriate for older primary school aged children while others have used it but are concerned about child safety/wellbeing

Acknowledgements The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) is conducted in a partnership between the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The following researchers have also made significant contributions to the qualitative studies referred to in this presentation: Virginia Lewis and Jacqueline Tudball (F&W) Jody Hughes (FAWD) Matthew Gray, Daryl Higgins, Shaun Lohoar and Julie Deblaquiere (LAH) The findings are those of the authors and should not be attributed to FaHCSIA, AIFS or the ABS.

In Betweeners – Too Old for Care?

Archaeology Art, and/or Craft Biology, Human Biology and Botany Chemistry Drama, Dance and/or Music Earth Sciences and Geology Engineering ICT Literacy Physics Role Play and Immersion

Workshop Themes Archaeology Architecture Art, and/or Craft Biology, Human Biology and Botany Chemistry Cooking and/or Food Science Drama, Dance and/or Music Earth Sciences and Geology Engineering Forensics and Problem Solving ICT Life skills Literacy Physics Popular Culture and/or Excursions Role play and Immersion

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