Recent reforms at Alpine Children's Services will see an increase in childcare costs come into effect from next Monday, 20 April, across all branches in Myrtleford, Mount Beauty and Bright, which has led some parents to re-evaluate the feasibility of their childcare routines.

Depending on a family's situation, daycare fees for one child per fortnight may increase by up to $300.

Alpine Children's Services CEO, Tanya Scott, said unfortunately the cost of delivering safe, high-quality care has increased significantly and government subsidies are not keeping pace.

"We completely understand in this cost-of-living crisis, this [increase] impacts families," she said.

"With numerous state and Commonwealth government reforms across the sector over the past 12 months, we have needed to implement these [changes], all of which come at a real cost.

"What we're seeing locally reflects on what's been reported nationally: rising childcare costs, workforce pressures and increasing expectations around child safety and staffing, as well as everyday costs like food, utilities and fuel.

"In early learning, staffing isn’t a flexible cost: it’s the foundation of quality care, both in terms of wages and ensuring we meet required educator-to-child ratios, which are essential for children’s safety and wellbeing."

Ms Scott said funding has not kept pace with these changes, as subsidy increases have been relatively modest compared to the rise in operating costs, which means the gap paid by families has grown.

"As a not-for-profit service, our priority is to provide safe, high-quality care for children while remaining financially sustainable," she said.

"Children benefit from being cared for by familiar, full-time staff who know them well.

"That continuity is critical for their development, safety and sense of security and it’s not something we’re willing to compromise on."

Currently, the Department of Education's 'Child Care Subsidy' (CCS) only funds up to $14.63 per hour for centre-based or outside school hours daycare, for children below school age.

ACS services are $19.90 per hour, therefore the difference is a direct additional cost for parents.

Myrtleford mother of five boys, Bo Harris, said so far, daycare has been quite affordable, but she now faces dropping childcare a couple of days per fortnight or changing childcare centres entirely.

"Just weighing up the costs, I may as well be at home with him a little bit more," she said.

"He loves going to daycare, but I’ll have to finish up a couple days of work to look after him.

"We pay for eight days per fortnight at $456, which I find quite affordable in our family situation, but with the increase and going over the CCS cap by $5.27 per hour, it jumps our fees up to $720 after CCS per fortnight; that’s nearly an extra $300.

"When [I calculate] that over two weeks, I think I might as well cut a day of work, because I’d be working that extra day and not really getting much benefit out of it.

"It’s just such an increase and it’s hard to really fathom: I feel it’s a really big hit for the town."

Ms Harris said she did not doubt it was a very hard email for ACS to send out to families in such really trying times.

"We were given three-weeks-notice by ACS via email about the increase," she said.

"It was worded very nicely and after speaking to Tanya, I think there is a really big hole in federal funding for daycare and everything.

"We need to direct our questions to the federal government and say: ‘you need to step in and look at really pushing for wage increases for childcare centre workers'.

"The federal funding is not aligning with what they’re wanting their workers to be paid, which is really putting the pressure on the families and the centres and just increasing prices exponentially."