An early childhood group says some parents are opting not to send their kids to daycare because of escalating costs.
Parents have noticed that fees have started rising again since last week's Budget, because the funding boost centres received only meets half the cost of inflation.
Te Rito Maioha/Early Childhood New Zealand says early childcare centres were only given a 2 percent funding increase in the Budget, but with inflation running at 4 percent, the group that advocates for centres says that amounts to a funding cut.
It's working parents like Marlena Bunnage feeling it: both she and her husband work full-time with their two-year-old and two teenagers, so their wonderful local daycare plays a huge part in their lives.
"My daughter loves it there, When we pull up in the car she says 'yay - I'm home!'"
Affording it though, is no joke - because they've just been hit with a $ 50-a-week hike to their childcare bill, and even though the family is middle income, Marlena has to find the money elsewhere.
"I would say it would come out of our food. My car is not filled up every week like it used to be. I've given up saving for a rainy day because that fund just keeps getting depleted for basics."
The centre was heartbroken to tell Marlena, but said it had no choice. "They said it was a matter of either increasing the fees or the centre might have to face closure."
Nikki Parsons from Te Rito Maioha/Early Childhood NZ said the 2 percent funding increase amounts to a broken promise, because it means centres subject to 4 percent inflation can't keep up with costs.
"I would characterise it as a broken promise. They (the Government) made lots of discussion about how they were going to increase funding, and they were going to do things, and they haven't."
Associate Education Minister and Minister for Regulation David Seymour denied that, and said: "I don't think there's been a specific promise by anyone for an exact percentage."
"Early childhood has been affected by the fact things are bad economy-wide. Our job is to make sure that the balance between what the Government can afford on behalf of the taxpayer, what parents expect and what parents can pay all squares up," he said.
"Right now, I don't think the numbers are adding up for a lot of families. And that's why we are doing a little bit of putting more money in, a little bit of reducing rules and regulations that don't actually make sense. And a little bit of reviewing the funding formula so it's fairer for different types of centres."
He said he empathises with families and centres, and is promising a review that should reduce cost for everyone.
"The Ministry for Regulation will announce tomorrow that the first sector review is kicking off. They're going on a search and destroy mission through the centres, to find rules that don't stack up."
Pointless red tape, he said, puts too much cost on centres.
"(One centre) was told it needed a safety plan for the apple tree in case an apple fell on a child's head. You wouldn't get Isaac Newton discovering gravity at a place like that."
That review should take six months, with policy change expected in a year or so.
Though centres say the cost increases starting now will get worse in the meantime.
"Quite often parents are choosing now to stay home instead of enrolling their children in childcare."
The Government's new Family Boost will subsidise childcare for those on lower incomes, though Marleena's household earns too much to qualify.
She's given up trying to save for a rainy day; the goal now is to pay for both childcare and food.
