We refer to the report (330 childcare centres to raise fees next year, Sept 18), which raised concerns that some pre-school operators may be opportunistically profiting from the recent subsidy enhancements.
There are about 1,530 childcare centres, run by some 380 operators, both commercial and not-for-profit.
About a fifth of them have announced they will raise fees for full-day childcare for Singapore citizens next year.
Last year, 540 childcare centres raised their fees. This year, 220 did so. The median fee increase next year is broadly comparable with that of past years, within 5 per cent.
All centres must inform parents and the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) of any increase in fees by Sept 1 of the preceding year. A large majority of the centres raising fees next year informed ECDA of their intention even before the subsidy enhancements were announced.
With the enhanced subsidies from January, the bulk of working families earning $12,000 and below a month will pay less for childcare.
For example, families receiving these subsidies can expect to pay between 20 and 90 per cent less per month for full-day childcare at anchor operator childcare centres.
Childcare centres run by anchor and partner operators are subject to fee caps stipulated by ECDA. These caps have been maintained since 2014 and 2016 respectively. Together, they have helped to bring down industry median fees, which have remained unchanged at $856 since 2016. In 2021, we will lower the fee caps for partner operator centres.
We will grow the anchor-operator and partner-operator share of pre-school places to 80 per cent by around 2025, from about 50 per cent today.
This will allow fee caps of government-supported operators to be reduced further in the medium term. This means that for full-day childcare, working families can expect to pay around the equivalent of fees for primary school plus after-school student care, which are currently around $300 per month, before means-tested childcare subsidies.
These enhancements will more than double annual government spending on pre-school, from $1 billion today.
We are committed to making quality pre-school more affordable and accessible, to give every child a good start in life.
Charlene Han
Director, Policy, Planning and Development
Early Childhood Development Agency
