Childcare provider warns potential increase of fees by up to 40%
One childcare provider has issued a warning to parents that they could potentially be increasing their fees by up to 40%.
Tigers Childcare runs 22 creches across Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Cork. They take care of around 3,000 children and employ 420 staff.
However, in a letter to parents, the company recently stated that it is not satisfied with the level of core funding – a government grant which was introduced to help early learning and childcare providers with their costs, in a bid to keep their prices down.
In a letter to parents, Tigers Childcare explained: “Unfortunately, as we enter year three of core funding from this September, funding once again remains inadequate and fails to cover our costs. Fees remain at 2019 levels. This is unworkable for any business and jeopardises our ability to provide quality care.”
They added: “Without urgent changes, we risk becoming unsustainable. Tough decisions are needed to keep our services safe and viable.”
In an interview with the Irish Independent, the CEO and founder of Tigers Childcare, Karen Clince, has since gone on to express her concerns about the rising costs.
“If we pull out of core funding and go fully private, we will put our fees up by 35% to 40% because we’re trying to cover loss, but occupancy rates will go down, as many parents can’t afford the fee hike,” she detailed.
“That will impact marginalised parents. It would be a huge increase and we don’t want it to happen. Morally we don’t want to only provide to affluent families. We want to provide services to every family,” she continued.
Noting that parents are “very concerned,” Ms Clince stated: “The saddest part is the most concerned are single parents, who finally got back out to work due to affordable childcare. Some are also in training. We also have homeless families and refugee families. These really are the most marginalised families.”
“Many childcare providers have already closed. We don’t have the money to keep propping this up. We don’t want the fees to rise for parents. The Government has to step in,” she concluded.