Nanny subsidy pilot scheme to start in January 2016 to help parents who can't access mainstream childcare services

By Kelsey Munro
Updated May 2 2015 - 1:08am, first published 12:15am

For hundreds of thousands of Australian families, the daily wrestle between work commitments and family life is Sisyphean​ in its dimensions. Childcare is expensive, and hard to get. Even though the federal government spends $7 billion a year on early childhood services, still there are huge numbers of parents who can't find childcare at a location, price, quality or hours they need, the Productivity Commission reports. The most flexible option, nannies, has always been far beyond the reach of ordinary workers. With a going rate of $20 to $30 an hour, a nanny can quickly cost more than $1000 a week, without the taxpayer assistance that goes to other childcare. As such, a nanny has in Australia seemed a luxury only the very wealthy could afford.

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