KPMG
KPMG welcomes the government’s $1.7 billion investment in childcare, which will help address some of the largest workforce disincentive rates impacting families, and in particular women wanting to work more hours.
A KPMG report last year proposed raising the federal government’s Child Care Subsidy to a nearly fully-funded 95 percent, from its current 85 percent. The government has chosen to follow this recommendation for families with two children or more in childcare.
The paper also proposed the elimination of per-child subsidy caps, and an increase in the maximum subsidy for the lowest income families. Today’s package removes caps for all families but also targets the maximum benefit at those households with income under $130,000.
Australian Treasury
To cut the cost of living for around a quarter of a million families and to help boost workforce participation, the Morrison Government will make an additional $1.7 billion investment in child care as part of the 2021-22 Budget.
The investment will add up to 300,000 hours of work per week which would allow the equivalent of around 40,000 individuals to work an extra day per week and boost the level of GDP by up to $1.5 billion per year.
The changes deliberately target low and middle income earners with around half the families set to benefit having a household income under $130,000.
Arlington has long had a childcare shortage problem. During the pandemic, strangely, that helped its programs survive.
Although childcare programs across the nation have shuttered due to the coronavirus, in Arlington, only three licensed programs have closed, said County Board member and childcare advocate Katie Cristol. One is reopening in a new location better equipped for social-distancing, while two others closed permanently (one of those closures was virus-related).
“The good news is, what has been one of the biggest challenges of the landscape of Arlington has been an asset,” she said, adding that demand remained strong locally, buoying Arlington’s centers, “most of which have faired fairly well.”
Governor Northam signs legislation to increase access to affordable early childhood care, education
Jack Mayer
and last updated 2021-04-28 17:27:37-04
RICHMOND â Governor Ralph Northam signed legislation Wednesday that increases access to affordable early childhood care and education by expanding eligibility criteria for Virginiaâs Child Care Subsidy Program. There is power in every childâand great beginnings lead to tremendous futures, Governor Northam said. Thatâs why expanding access to quality early childhood care and education has been a top priority of our Administration from day one. Today, Iâm proud to celebrate our latest effort to reshape Virginiaâs early learning system. This bill will help get Virginians back to work, and get our children prepared for success in school and beyond.
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“USDA’s change to P-SNAP earlier this month means every Missouri household receiving SNAP benefits will get no less than a $95 P-SNAP benefit for May,” said Jennifer Tidball, Acting Director, Department of Social Services. “I am also very pleased that over 810,000 online SNAP transactions have occurred since May of 2020. That success is due in part to the growing number of Missouri retailers that offer that option. In fact, Missouri currently leads the nation with the highest number of participating SNAP online retailers. We sincerely thank current participating Missouri retailers and those who will be joining in the near future.”