Playcentres win $3.7m to cover their deficit

Eden-Epsom Playcentre mum Carol Chen, pictured with her daughter Harper, 3, will benefit from an extra $3.7 million for playcentres. Photo / Michael Craig

Playcentres have got an extra $3.7 million from the Government after threatening that many centres would have to close due to funding pressures.

Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said the Government has approved the extra money for Playcentre Aotearoa "to address its urgent funding issues".

"We know playcentre offers families a unique choice in early learning, so it's important that we support these parent co-operatives at this time," she said.

"The lockdown disrupted the flow of grants, donations and fundraising that Playcentre Aotearoa organise to help provide this learning environment for around 9500 children.

"I met with the playcentre chief executive at the end of May and he said the organisation needed this money to deal with urgent property issues. We will also continue to work to ensure playcentre is viable, and that it carries on offering families the chance to play, grow and learn together."

Martin said a further $500,000 would be available to assess the condition of playcentre facilities throughout the country. This will enable Playcentre Aotearoa to better understand the state of its centres and develop a long-term maintenance plan.

Griffin Moore, aged 2, with his dad Brian Moore at the Epsom-Eden Playcentre. Photo / Michael Craig

Playcentre Aotearoa chief executive Sean McKinley said Martin had provided what the movement asked for.

"She realised that we were running at a $3.6m deficit this financial year, so this funding will address that," he said.

"And the $500,000 is to assess all of our buildings so that we can draw up a proper plan going forward."

Martin said the Ministry of Education and Playcentre Aotearoa would "continue to work on co-designing a new funding model - as signalled in the Early Learning Action Plan 2019-2029 released last year".

She said playcentre "has been a Kiwi institution for a long time and the funding met immediate needs and allowed it to plan for its future".

"It's almost 80 years since it first started during World War II in 1941. Many families in Aotearoa continue to value its philosophy of 'parents as first educators' for their children, and devote a lot of hours to help run centres."

Today's funding announcement is in addition to extra funding of $3.1m over four years for playcentres in Budget 2020.