Facts and Figures

• State and territory governments are responsible for licensing centre-based long day care (in all states) and occasional care, family day care and outside school hours care services (in some states). The licensing covers aspects of a service's operation such as the number of children in care, size of rooms and playgrounds,number of staff and their qualifications and health and safety.

• The Australian Government manages the administration of a quality assurance framework for reviewing, measuring and improving the quality of work being done by approved child care providers. It encompasses processes for self-study by services and improvements against principles of good quality care.

• The proportion of children aged 0-11 years who had used some form of child care (formal or informal) in 2005 was 48%. This was an increase since 2002 (45% of children in this age group) but the same as the proportion recorded in 1999.

• Informal care, either alone or in combination with formal care, was used by 33% of children in 2005. This was the same as in 2002. Formal care (either alone or in combination) was used by 23% of children, up from 19% in 2002 and continuing the upward trend observed since 1996.

• The most commonly used types of formal care were long day care and before and/or after school care, attended by 10% and 7% of all children aged 0-12 years respectively. These were followed by family day care (3%) and occasional care (2%) while other forms of formal child care were used by less than 1% of children.

• In 2005, grandparents were the main informal carers, providing care for 20% of children. The
proportion of children aged 0-11 years (29%) who had received informal care from a relative (including grandparents, siblings, and other relatives) had remained at a similar level as that recorded in 2002 (28%). However, the proportion of children who had received informal care from a person unrelated to the family (e.g. friends, neighbours or babysitters) has tended to fall since 1999 (down from 9% in June 1999 to 6% in June 2005).

• A higher proportion of children in one parent families (56%) used child care than children in couple families (44%). Both family types were more likely to use informal care than formal care. Among children from one parent families, 42% used informal care and 25% used formal care: 12% of these families used a combination of both types of care. Of children from couple families the proportions were 31% (informal) and 20% (formal) and only 7% used a combination of both types of care.

• Research is showing that the quality of child care is more important to a child's development and relationships with their parents and other children, than whether a child spends some time in child care.

• The number of children in formal care has ballooned from 446,700 in 1996 to 704,400 in 2005. The most popular kinds were long day care and out-of-school-hours care. But the parents of a further 188,400 children – or 6% aged between 0 and 12 – said they needed more care but were unable to find it.

• The cost of child care is not regulated in Australia, which means that private centres, which now provide two-thirds of child care places nationally, can charge according to what their market will pay. And in city centres, where child care places are excruciatingly difficult to access, that can be very high indeed.

• Community-based child care centres, which make up the other third of child care places, actually charge more than privately run centres, according to census data. They cost an average of $211 per week compared to $208 for private care. Places in inner-city Sydney can, however, cost up to $80 per day or $400 per week.

• The number of children in care has increased by nearly 30% since 1999, growing from 577,500 in 1999 to 752,800 in 2004.

• Nearly 600,000 families now have one or more children in care, with the average stay per child just under 20 hours a week, an increase of about 3%.

• Parents are paying more, with the average weekly fee paid by those using private long day care centres now $208, up from $184 just two years ago.

• Only 14% of workers in corporate chains said their centres hired more staff than regulations required, compared with 40% in non-profit centres and a similar proportion in independent, private centres.

• In non-profit and private centres, about 68% of workers said the program always accommodated children's needs and interests, compared with 54% in corporate chains.

• 15% of women with children under four work full-time, while about 34% work part-time.

• Studies by the National Institute of Child Health and Development of more than 1000 children highlight problems such as "disobedience, being defiant ... getting into fights, showing cruelty, bullying or meanness to others, physically attacking other people, being explosive and showing unpredictable behaviour". While the increase was small, it was spread across a large number of children. Another study by child care expert Penelope Leach, following up 1200 children at ages 10, 18, 36 and 51, reported similar findings.

• A Cambridge University study released in 2005 found that young children experience high levels of stress – manifested in higher levels of a steroid hormone known as cortisol – when they start child care. While the cortisol levels dropped over time, five months on these children had levels that were still significantly higher than those found in children who stayed at home.