Our association was pleased to see Premier Smith step up in response to our January 30th closures and we decided to take a short pause on further action to reassess and get more details on the Government's response. As of February 1st, however, childcare operators only received approximately 15% of their revenue, which is the reduced parent pay portion of fees, and had to wait 40-45 days to receive the rest from Government. We can't stress the financial urgency enough. Many operators struggled to pay their rent and staff on the 1st of February. While we were relieved to hear the Premier would take decisive action, the struggle was far from over for the childcare industry.

We met with Premier Smith within a week of closures, where we were offered a very respectful meeting and felt our concerns were truly heard. The following week, a new Ministry was appointed to childcare: Ministry of Jobs, Economy and Trade, under Minister Matt Jones. The following week, the timing of our funding model was changed, effective March 1, to pay operators 80% of their revenue on the first of the month and reconcile at the end. We are very grateful for the immediate action taken to meet our requests!