The announced removal of Network Management regulation
will even up the playing field, reduce unnecessary time and
cost and bring some certainty back to the sector, says the
Early Childhood Council.
“This is very welcome news.
The Government’s attempt to control market access had
clearly failed – too much cost, too much time and too many
exemptions. The Network Management policy did nothing to
encourage services into communities that needed them, making
it actually more difficult to address demands for new
services. Significant barriers to opening a childcare centre
meant only those with the deepest pockets could get through
Network Management,” said Simon Laube, ECC
CEO.
Network Management was originally about new
services, but the previous Government extended it to cover
all current providers in New Zealand. This meant that any
time a provider wanted to move, or change the number of
children they provided services to, they were charged a fee
and had to wait considerable time to potentially have their
request declined if the Ministry did not share their view of
the need or demand for the change.
The
policy has long been criticised as onerous and unworkable,
having been implemented and expanded without adequate sector
consultation, with the subsequent lack of certainty scaring
off community groups and small private providers
alike.
“Setting up a new ECE service is
already very difficult, but network management made it more
risky and costly – when areas are crying out for a new
centre with waiting lists building up, it didn’t make
sense to keep this regulation any longer.”
“This
is fast, common sense action from Minister Seymour and we
look forward to more as the ECE sector Regulation Review
starts to make progress,” said Simon
Laube.
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