A new report has found almost a quarter of children in the Ballarat electorate start school developmentally vulnerable compared with wealthy electorates.
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While Ballarat families have slightly better access to childcare than other Victorian electorates, including Bendigo, high childcare costs remain an on-going issue.
Victoria University's Mitchell Institute has mapped, by electorate, the childcare cost and availability, and the development vulnerability of children when they start school.
The report, released on Wednesday, analyses the major political parties' policy offering.
The data shows the rate of Ballarat children with developmental vulnerability at the start of school is 21.4 per cent, compared with 11.7 per cent of the wealthy bayside and independent battleground electorate of Goldstein.
In Bendigo, the figure stands at 23.9 per cent of children with developmental vulnerability at the start of school while it is 26.8 per cent in the Gippsland electorate.
Report author Peter Hurley, who is the Mitchell Institute's education policy lead, found a trend towards electorates with high rates of developmentally vulnerable children having a shortage of childcare places available.
"While evidence shows early learning can overcome disadvantage and assist children to 'catch up' before starting school, this analysis shows a trend towards lower availability of childcare in the electorates with the highest rates of child development vulnerability," Dr Hurley said.
"This is a really big problem because there is a lot of evidence that shows children who start school behind, stay behind."
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Cafs (Child and Family Services, Ballarat) executive manager client outcomes Rhiannon Williams said in the experience of the Cafs family support team, it seemed families were able to access education and care places in Ballarat.
"It seems families can access education and care places and as a regional centre there are fewer issues with transport to access services - Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and other support services - that may be seen in more regional/rural settings," Ms Williams said.
Mitchell Institute estimates the average out-of-pocket fees for the first child in childcare, using the average of 30 hours per week, is about $5000 per year. This is more than the average fees to a private primary school.
The Ballarat electorate is ranked number 48 in the cost of childcare, with number one being the most expensive.
In comparison, Bendigo is ranked 58 while the most expensive childcare was found in the wealthy inner-city and bayside seats of Kooyong, Higgins, Goldstein and Macnamara.
Dr Hurley said childcare was shaping up to be a major election issue.
"The high cost and poor access to childcare is a limiting factor for women returning to the workforce and for families boosting their income to meet the rising cost of living, so it is no surprise that it has become an election issue," Dr Hurley said.
On average 6000 families in every electorate use the childcare system. Parties are competing to demonstrate to these families their credentials to manage the many problems in the sector.
- Dr Hurley
Cafs financial counselling team leader Colin Handreck said among the organisation's financial counselling program client cohort, the current trend was for households to give priority to paying their childcare fees which reduces funds available for other living expenses.
"Clients generally have their childcare expenses paid up-to-date however present with a range of other debts and bills that they can't manage and are seeking help to resolve," Mr Handreck said.
"Historically, Cafs financial counselling program would receive regular referrals where household debts included a large debt (many $1000s) to a childcare centre. We are not currently seeing these very large debts and now, any childcare debts tend to peak at around $1200 to $1500."
Failure to address the low pay of childcare educators has resulted in poor retention, with the new analysis showing a record number of job vacancies and limited ability to fill them.
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