The government is not keeping track of how much childcare centres are billing parents for the use of free childcare services.
The service is offered for free, but childcare centres can charge parents if a certain amount of pre-booked hours are not used.
The scheme gives parents the leeway of not sending their children to childcare for up to 25 per cent of the total hours booked without being charged.
A freedom of information request from this newspaper, asking for a breakdown of how much each private childcare centre has billed parents since the service was introduced was rejected on the basis that no such data is held by the Ministry of Education.
The freedom of information request was rejected on the basis that no such information is held by the Ministry of Education
Parents are obliged to book the required hours of childcare with the centres one month in advance.
In the past months a number of parents contacted the Times of Malta complaining that they were being billed even if their child had not exceeded the absence allowance.
One mother told this paper how a bill of €1,000 was not pursued after she disputed the childcare centre’s claim that her child’s absence allowance had been exceeded.
According to information tabled in Parliament by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo, a total of 848 children exceeded the absence allowance.
In an interview with this newspaper last month, ETC chairman Clyde Caruana, who is responsible for the scheme, said he asked childcare centres to see the children’s attendance sheets whenever parents were billed.
“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 then see the attendance records.
“Starting 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,” Mr Caruana said.
Mr Caruana insisted that parents who exceeded the absence allowance were clearly abusing the service.
He said that all complaints about the scheme were followed up and no complaints had ever been received about a parent being billed after his or her child had missed just 10 per cent of the hours booked.
There are 92 childcare centres registered for the scheme, which this year is expected to cost the government €13 million.