10 Sep What is In Home Care — and why did Australia’s specialist childcare service need rescuing?
For families who can’t use ordinary childcare because of where they live, the hours they work or their child’s needs, an educator may be able to provide care in the family home. But this little-known part of Australia’s childcare system has been struggling to survive.
Most parents know about long day care, family day care and preschool. Far fewer have heard of In Home Care — a government-approved form of early childhood education and care designed for families whose circumstances make other types of childcare unavailable or unsuitable.
The Federal Government has now committed about $11 million in additional support to the struggling sector, following warnings that rising costs were putting services — and the families relying on them — at risk.
But what exactly is In Home Care, who can use it and why has it needed extra help?
What is In Home Care?
In Home Care, or IHC, allows an educator to provide early childhood education and care in a child’s own home.
It isn’t intended to be an alternative to ordinary childcare simply because a family prefers care at home. Families must be eligible for the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and show that another approved form of childcare is either unavailable or unsuitable.
Families may qualify because:
- parents or carers work non-standard or variable hours when regular childcare isn’t available;
- they live in a geographically isolated area; or
- the family has complex or challenging needs that make other childcare unsuitable.
That last group can include a child whose medical or other needs mean they cannot attend another service, even with reasonable adjustments, or a parent undergoing treatment for a serious illness who is significantly immunocompromised. Cases are assessed individually.
Australia currently has a maximum allocation of 3,200 In Home Care places. One place is equivalent to 35 hours of subsidised care a week for one child.
It doesn’t have to be a permanent arrangement
One useful aspect of the program is that a family’s circumstances don’t necessarily have to be permanent.
For example, a child who is seriously ill and temporarily unable to attend their usual childcare may potentially meet the criteria, provided the family can demonstrate that another approved form of care is not suitable.
Government eligibility requirements specifically ask medical professionals to indicate whether a condition is temporary or permanent, when it began and whether it is expected to improve, remain unchanged or deteriorate.
So a family needing help for several months because of illness may be considered, just as a family facing a longer-term situation may be.
Eligibility is not automatically ongoing. Families must report changes in circumstances, such as when their complex needs change or another appropriate childcare option becomes available, and their In Home Care arrangements can then be reviewed.
So why has the sector needed rescuing?
In Home Care is expensive to provide. Instead of several children being cared for at one centre, an educator travels to an individual family and provides care there.
The sector has also been caught up in changes to early-childhood educator wages.
A government-funded 15 per cent pay rise for eligible early childhood educators was introduced to help improve wages without passing the full cost on to families. In Home Care services were initially excluded from that worker-retention funding, leaving providers and families facing higher employment costs.
According to recent ABC reporting, more than 70 per cent of families using the program had either reduced their hours or left because of increasing costs, while the number of In Home Care providers has fallen from about 70 a decade ago to 21. Around 1,370 children are currently using the program — well below its 3,200-place capacity.
The government announced a $5 million In Home Care Sustainability Support grant in June to help existing providers meet operational costs and remain financially viable. Further assistance, including access to wage-support funding for eligible employees and additional operational grants, brings the support package to around $11 million.
Why isn’t everyone happy with the solution?
The extra funding has been welcomed, but there is a complication.
Many In Home Care educators work as contractors rather than employees. ABC reporting puts that figure at about 70 per cent of the workforce.
The worker-retention payment that helps fund the 15 per cent wage increase is available to eligible employees, but not contractors. As a result, only five of the sector’s 21 agencies currently qualify for that particular payment.
Australian Home Childcare Association president Nicole Morgan has warned this could create an uneven playing field between providers. Services unable to access the wage payment may find it harder to retain educators or may have to charge families more.
The government says those providers can still receive sustainability support, including funding that may be used to help retain contractors, and can become eligible for worker-retention funding if educators move to an employee model.
A broader government review of service delivery costs is also underway, so the longer-term structure of In Home Care has yet to be settled.
Could your family qualify?
Parents who think their circumstances might fit the program should contact the In Home Care Support Agency for their state or territory.
The agency assesses eligibility, helps families understand what evidence is required, develops a Family Management Plan for eligible families and connects them with an approved In Home Care service.
Families can find eligibility information and their state or territory Support Agency through the Australian Government Department of Education’s In Home Care pages.
