We're looking at patterns in the under & oversupply of early learning services across Australia

The Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA), Australian Community Children’s Services (ACCS) and the Early Learning and Care Council of Australia (ELACCA) have joined forces for the second year running, to commission a survey for all early learning service providers, to identify patterns in the under and oversupply of early learning services across Australia.

The survey collects information on a range of topics and aspects including the daily/sessional rates charged and the occupancy rates per day and by age group.

As a unified voice, our aim is to use the resulting data to engage with relevant government departments and planning authorities, to work towards addressing the growing issue of oversupply in some areas and undersupply in others.

In particular, oversupply is becoming a growing problem in Australia’s early learning sector.

With few barriers to entry for new or existing providers to set up new centres, the saturation of childcare centres in certain geographic areas has led to many services experiencing lower utilisation or closing down.

If not addressed, oversupply will lead to increased costs for families and may impact on the quality of services in local communities. However with the right policies in place, we can ensure a sustainable early learning sector that continues to provide families with affordable high quality early learning services, thus giving Australia’s youngest generation the best start in life.

To help us address this important issue, we urge early learning service providers to take the time to complete this survey, to ensure that the study into this critical issue can comprehensively cover all geographic areas in Australia.

Early learning services can complete the survey here.