Home-based childcare on the cards

Helen Clark

Home-based childcare is being studied by the Government to get women off benefits and into work.

Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday it was "one of a set of options" to improve childcare services but she offered no details how it might work.

The move is likely to face big challenges, including a lack of staff and cost.

But childcare is one issue the Prime Minister will address in her keynote "state of the nation" speech to the first sitting of Parliament today.

She believes boosting female participation in the workforce would lift the country's income per head in the OECD rankings and it is an issue of "national importance".

She will also use the speech to outline other ripening Government initiatives including a welfare revamp to create a "single benefit" replacing the current 10 base benefit types.

Also being outlined are plans to boost household savings for home ownership, tertiary education, and retirement.

However, details of these initiatives will be lacking as the Government has not finished policy work.

At yesterday's post-Cabinet press conference Helen Clark emphasised the importance of better childcare to get women into the workforce.

Childcare and work-life balance were the most important incentives for women to move off benefits.

"If we compare the extent of [childcare] provisions and affordability we've got with other countries we are really running to catch up," she said.

National leader Don Brash said last night there was a paradox in the Government's plans because it required childcare centres to be staffed by qualified people, forcing some to close because of a worker shortage.

Early Childhood Council chief executive Sue Thorne said that the sector was in crisis and many centres were struggling to employ the qualified staff required.

Meanwhile, Helen Clark was revealing few details of the benefit overhaul but said Cabinet would look at changes soon and probably complete the work to move on the plan "within the next year".

She did not want to call the new single benefit a "universal benefit" as it could be confused with the phrase "universal income". The overhaul was to make the system more clearly focus on shifting people from "dependence to independence".

Dr Brash said the universal benefit had been bandied around for a long time but he wanted to see details before commenting.

However, Helen Clark said she would not be revealing details of the initiative in today's speech.