After-school care can move to commercial models

January 29, 2009.

For immediate release

After-school care can move to commercial models says SKIDS director

Dawn Engelbrecht, director of the “Safe Kids In Daily Supervision” (SKIDS) after-school care centres, said pressure on Government funding for after school care centres is not unexpected.

“The World recession combined with a move to the right in New Zealand’s Government sent us strong signals during the holiday break,” she said.

Her company has 45 after-school centres and is expanding at a rate of two a month.

She said that while Government funding cuts would be a definite setback for the service, there is room for all stakeholders in the industry to create a viable commercial model.

“The key stakeholders are of course, the children, their Parents, the schools and those who invest in after-school care businesses.

“And I think we can all safely argue that there is a definite social value in our service that benefits all taxpayers.

“We have a splendid record of improvement in the grades and overall health of children in our care, especially in the low decile schools. This is because we focus on running a disciplined routine of adequate study, rest, fun activities, exercise and nutrition in that couple of hours before Parents finish work and take their kids home. We also produce extra rental income for schools.

“A high quality after-school care service can bring huge benefits to a future generation of New Zealanders.

“But we should not be timid about exploring the idea of making them stand-alone commercial services without any need for Government subsidies. We just need it to be replaced by a different incentive for Parents.”

Mrs Engelbrecht said that as long as Parents can legitimately deduct the cost of after-school services from their taxable income, it is possible for good quality after school care to flourish.

She said she hoped the Government would give the services time to adjust to a life without subsidies and that alternative incentives were part of that adjustment

SKIDS operates as a chain of independently owned franchises which each have a contract with a school. Like other after-school care centres each centre can currently apply for Government funding support.

“Not all of our franchisees apply but in the last October round 13 of our 45 outlets shared a Government fund of about $235,000,”she said.

Mrs Engelbrecht said the business model applied by her company could adjust “in time” if Government funding were to diminish.

She said she agreed with the comments of Wayne Wright about the value of after-school care to keep Parents in productive work.

“If Government funding were to dry up tomorrow we’d be in crisis, but I think there are solutions for all of the stakeholders.

“The low decile schools would suffer most.”

ENDS

Caption: dawn Engelbrecht, director of SKIDS.

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