New quarterly reports on early childhood education and care in Australia are now available.
The December quarter 2021 and March quarter 2022 reports are available on our website.
Each quarter we issue a summary of data about the early childhood education and care sector. It includes data on:
- the number of children and families using approved care
- the number of First Nations families using care
- the cost of care
- the number and types of services in Australia.
Key findings from the December quarter 2021 include:
- Overall, 1,388,240 children from approximately 1 million families attended a Child Care Subsidy (CCS) approved service. Of these, 1,338,580 children were eligible for CCS.
- 47.7% of children aged 0 to 5 years and 32.6% of children aged 0 to 12 years used approved care.
- On average, children attended care for 26.2 hours per week.
- The government paid $2.37 billion in CCS and Additional Child Care Subsidy.
- The average hourly fee across all care types, excluding In Home Care, was $10.65. This was a 4.7% increase from the December quarter 2020.
Go to the December quarter 2021 report.
Key findings from the March quarter 2022 include:
- Overall, 1,392,860 children from approximately 1 million families attended a CCS approved service. Of these, 1,335,660 children were eligible for CCS.
- 48.3% of children aged 0 to 5 years and 32.5% of children aged 0 to 12 years used approved care.
- On average, children attended care for 26.6 hours per week.
- The government paid $2.26 billion in CCS and Additional Child Care Subsidy.
- The average hourly fee across all care types, excluding In Home Care, was $10.75. This was a 5.1% increase from the March quarter 2021.