Parents using the government’s free childcare scheme will start receiving SMS alerts prior to being charged, ETC chairman Clyde Caruana – who is responsible for the scheme – told the Times of Malta.

Mr Caruana said the scheme gave parents a leeway of not sending their children to childcare for up to 25 per cent of the total hours booked without being charged.

Notwithstanding this, a number of parents have contacted this newspaper complaining that they have received bills of over €900 from childcare centres without exceeding the absence allowance.

Mr Caruana rebutted arguments that childcare centres have little incentive to follow up in the case of repeated absence and are abusing from the scheme.

“It is the parent’s responsibility to make sure their children attend the childcare centres. One argument that irked me a lot in the newspapers is that of parents having no option but to turn up at the childcare centres with sick children.

“I refused to accept that argument. Parents turn up at a childcare centre with sick children not because they have to pay, but because they have no other option where to leave their children. That is a completely different argument… it would be very cruel if parents thought of their children in terms of money.”

Questioned if the ETC asks childcare centres for proof that the absence allowance has been ex-ceeded when parents are billed, Mr Caruana said he asked the centres for the attendance sheets.

“Of course I ask them for proof. There are the attendance sheets. In case of a dispute, we refer to these signed attendance sheets.

“The system is automated now, and parents can sign in using their e-ID and see the atten-dance records.

“From this year, we will start sending SMSs to parents when they are close to exhausting their absence allowance balance. Most of the onus at the end of the day rests with the parents.”

Asked if parents had been misled by the government marketing it as a free scheme, Mr Caruana insisted that if used properly, the system was free.

“Let me remind you that 83 per cent of parents did not pay anything for their childcare. Those who were billed had a clear pattern of not sending their children to childcare.”

He also fended off criticism that the terms and conditions of the scheme were not easily understood. The conditions say the government will pay for childcare if attendance for any given month is between 90 per cent and 100 per cent. If attendance is less than 90 per cent, the remaining balance is deduced from the 15 per cent absence allowance.

“Parents have signed a contract. If they do not understand it then they can ask about it. The problem is that parents sign a contract and do not bother to read it. There is no fine print. If they do not abide by the rules then it is their problem.

“If parents were allowed to book as many hours as they like, then everyone would overbook and childcare centres would not be able to caters for them. It would choke the system and a sizeable number of children would be left out.”

Mr Caruana said that a substantial amount of money would be lost without any service being rendered. This year, the scheme was expected to cost the government €13 million.

“I have never had a complaint in the past two years about parents being billed after just exceeding the 10 per cent absence threshold. If there is such a complaint, I will investigate. The scheme in itself was a huge success. In 2013 and 2014 there were only 1,800 parents making using of childcare, and last year we had over 5,000.”

Mr Caruana explained that medical certificates only needed to be presented by parents to show that their children were fit to attend childcare.

“The 25 per cent allowance makes good for any absence due to sickness. Medical certificates are not needed to justify non-attendance, they are needed for re-admission to childcare. Once this 25 per absence allowance has been exceeded, parents will be charged unless they present hospital certificates.

“We all know the Maltese culture, if there is something for free then we will consume as much as we can. There is the need for some sort of limit,” Mr Caruana said.