LETTER TEMPLATE

Subject: Urgent Affordability Reform Needed to Protect In Home Care

Dear Minister,

I am writing as a parent who relies on In Home Care (IHC), the only childcare option available to our family.

IHC is already grossly unfair compared to other childcare types. Families using IHC routinely pay up to four times more out of pocket than families who can access centre based care, not because we choose to, but because we have no alternative. This inequity exists solely because the IHC CCS Hourly Rate Cap does not reflect the real cost of engaging qualified educators.

From 2 March 2026, this unfairness will become catastrophic for our family.

The hourly rate for a casually employed diploma level educator doing 50 hours per week sits well above the CCS IHC Hourly Rate Cap, which remains stuck at around $39.80.

We fully support the upcoming award wage increases for educators. They deserve to be paid properly. However, because the Government has failed to increase the IHC Hourly Rate Cap to reflect these changes, the cost will be pushed directly onto families like mine through GAP fee increases. Families cannot absorb that.

If these increases go ahead without a corresponding increase to the IHC Hourly Rate Cap, many families will be forced to unenrol children from care they have been assessed as needing. Families may be required to resign from their jobs, educators will likely lose employment, and children will lose the only stable, safe, and trusted care arrangement they have.

What makes this even harder is knowing that this outcome is entirely preventable. A relatively simple increase to the IHC Hourly Rate Cap of around $12 per hour would allow educators to receive their lawful wage increases, keep families enrolled, protect children’s safety and development, and prevent widespread job losses. Opening the wage retention grant to IHC services could be another option for consideration.

YOUR STORY WILL BE INSERTED HERE

Families like mine are feeling angry, frightened, and abandoned. We are being asked to carry the cost of a system that already disadvantages us, simply because our circumstances are more complex.

We are asking for equal access to childcare, fair wages for educators, and a funding model that reflects reality.

Please act now. Without intervention, families will be forced out of the workforce, educators will lose jobs, and vulnerable children will be left without care.

Warm regards
XXXXXXXXXXXX