A Strategic Assessment of the Children's Services Industry

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STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT OF THE CHILDREN’S SERVICES INDUSTRYreasons as their major reason. Work-related reasons were cited as the primary reason forusing care by 78 per cent of those with children in long day care, 80 per cent of family daycare users and 93 per cent of parents of children in outside school hours care (DEEWR,2008a). Parents combine formal services with informal care being provided by parents,relatives (especially grandparents), friends or neighbours. Use of informal care has beendeclining in recent years, perhaps reflecting the growing participation of older women (someof whom are grandparents) in the labour force.From an economic perspective, demand and supply and the interrelationships between themare critical elements of the market for early childhood services (Willer, et al., 1991, Kalb andLee, 2007). Supply is reflected in the quantity and characteristics of services that providersoffer at a given price.5.1 The supply of children’s servicesThe total number of all funded places, both Commonwealth and State or Territory, in 2006was 861,434 Australia wide (SCRGSP, 2006).Figure 5.2: Supply of Children’s Services by Type (2006)300,000250,000200,000150,000100,00050,0000Centre‐Based LDC Out of School Hours Care Preschools Family Day Care(a) Other care (e) Occasional careSource: SCRGSP, 2008Approximately 92 per cent of children using long day care are under 5 years of age (DEEWR,2008a) while 84 per cent of children attending out of school hours services are aged 6 andover (PC, 2008).In terms of geographical distribution of available children’s services, the States of New SouthWales and Queensland have both around 27 per cent of available places, followed by Victoriaat 22 per cent of the total.43
STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT OF THE CHILDREN’S SERVICES INDUSTRYFigure 5.3: Total Available Places by Geographical Location (2006)Source: SCRGSP, 2008The proportion of available places as a proportion of the number of children, for children aged0 to 5 years differs by geographical region, from 22.5 per cent in the Northern Territory to ashigh as 60.6 per cent in Queensland with the Australian proportion as 45.1 per cent (SCRGSP,2008).A comparison of the distribution of funded ECEC places across Australia and the proportionof children resident in each State shows something of a mismatch. For example, while 20.2per cent of Australia’s 0 to 5 year old children live in Queensland, that State has 27.1 per centof the places (excluding out of school hours care).Figure 5.4: Total Number of Available Places as a Proportion of the Number ofChildren aged 0-5 Years44Source: SCRGSP, 2008
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A Strategic Assessment of the Children's Services Industry

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