A $1.6 billion federal government childcare plan promising to give families hip pocket relief has pushed an Alexandra Hills centre to the brink of closure.
Bowman MP Andrew Laming said the plan would support families who needed childcare due to their work commitments and would provide financial relief to the Redlands childcare sector, helping centres keep their doors open.
Parent fees have been scrapped and the government will pay childcare centres 50 per cent of the fees they were getting on March 2, to a cap.
That would leave centres operating on half their previous income, but the government would also subsidise wages on top.
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Childcare centres with a 30 per cent drop in revenue can access the new JobKeeper scheme which will see the government pay $1500 a fortnight for eligible employees.
Mr Laming said the funding was a lifeline for childcare providers so they could continue to be there for parents on the other side of the pandemic.
But Rebecca Grugan from The Hills Montessori said she now faced losses of up to $10,000 a month while the centre remained open.
She said the centre had faced a 30 per cent loss of revenue caused by a coronavirus-related drop in enrolments.
In comparison, the government plan would slash revenue by half.
"We're now at a loss of $10,000 a month to stay open," she said.
"Our revenue has been stripped completely and our ability to earn more has been stripped.
"Some parents were still willing to pay fees even if they're keeping their children at home (but) now we're having to have a loss of revenue that high with no choice.
"Some (staff) will need to be stood down, others will need to have their hours cut.
"This week was the hardest in my professional life."
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Ms Grugan said she had to make some tough cost-cutting decisions, including no longer providing food and limiting the number of children who could attend the centre.
"A condition of the new government process is that we limit children attending our service based on a priority order," she said.
"We called (families) to find out each family's current situation and then having to prioritise those needs based on what we can actually afford to roster to without running the service into the ground."
Ms Grugan said the new arrangements should have been opt-in.
"We have had parents asking if there's a way they can still pay us," she said.
"All (the government) has to do is allow centres to waive the gap fee if they wanted to. Those parents who are struggling can still get their (child care subsidy) and those parents who are still willing to pay the gap still get the services they want and support the centre they've invested in.
"Parents think the government's paying what the parents are paying us. They're not."