Nannies to be funded with $250m pilot program in childcare budget

The Abbott government has earmarked nearly $250m for a two-year pilot program to provide funding for nannies for families on incomes of up to $250,000 a year.

The social services minister, Scott Morrison, said the scheme was part of the childcare package to be outlined in the 12 May budget and would have a particular focus on rural and regional areas.

He said the government would also work with employee organisations such as police associations to target the assistance to families performing shift work.

Nannies would not be required to have formal education qualifications and the National Quality Framework that covered the broader childcare sector would not apply to the pilot program.

Morrison said the extension of funding for nannies recognised that there were many families who found it difficult to access mainstream childcare services.

“The two-year interim home-based carer subsidy program represents the first major tranche of the Abbott government’s new childcare package and will provide subsidised care for about 10,000 children, especially in middle- to low-income families,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Key workers such as nurses, police officers, ambulance officers and firefighters, as well as other shift workers, are too often unable to access childcare and take advantage of government support because of the nature and hours of their work.

“The same is often true for families in rural and regional areas and those who have children with special needs, for whom mainstream childcare services are often inaccessible, lack the necessary flexibility or do not cater for their specific needs.”

Morrison said the government would be “proceeding carefully with subsidising nannies to avoid any unintended consequences” and would seek to ensure the program was “well targeted and insulated as far as practicable from abuse”.

The pilot program – set to begin in January – would determine “whether a more sustainable program can be affordably put in place for in-home care nanny services, including necessary integrity measures and quality standards”.

Morrison said the government would work with employee organisations and other groups to identify participants in the pilot scheme.

An hourly subsidy would be paid per child towards the cost of using a nanny. It would be paid directly to services “adjusted according to family income, consistent with the broader childcare subsidy model soon to be announced”.

People providing care in informal circumstances, such as family members, would be ineligible for funding. Families on incomes above $250,000 would be ineligible.

Nannies would need to be attached to an approved service, to be selected through an open tender process.

The nannies would need to be at least 18, and hold a first aid qualification and a working-with-children check, but need not hold a minimum early childhood qualification.

“The government will leave it to parents to decide if they wish to engage a nanny with formal educational qualifications,” Morrison said.

“There will be no differential subsidy provided in these circumstances.”

Morrison said although the pilot was due to end in December 2017, the government had set aside funds “to continue support at the same level beyond the trial period as an ongoing measure”.