Competition for Occupancy in Childcare

With 15,787 services currently approved to operate under the NQF, I think we can all agree that the Early Education market has changed quite dramatically over the last 5 years. The emergence of many new centres and providers means there is greater competition within the sector with providers increasingly finding their occupancy under threat.

It’s now more important than ever to ensure you’re staying competitive and performing better than your competitors.

So how do you compare? Let’s find out.

• The national average occupancy is 75% with only 25% of services reporting increasing occupancy between 2017 and 2018. 31% of providers reported a decrease in occupancy from 2017 to 2018.
• On average, single centre providers receive 31 new enquiries each month. By comparison, large provider groups with 25 or more centres receive on average 25 new enquiries per centre per month.
• 129,961 Long Day Care vacancies were reported, on average, each week in 2018 nationally, with the number increasing significantly from December 2017, where the average weekly reported vacancies were 9,885 per week.
• In 2018, services that received an ‘Exceeding’ rating against the NQS achieved, on average, a centre occupancy of 87%. Those services that received a ‘Working Towards’ rating had an average centre occupancy of 78%. The average service spends $136k more in annual staff costs to achieve an ‘Exceeding’ rating
• It is commonly understood that on average 20% of calls to childcare providers go unanswered. We recently had a client who had 86% of their calls going unanswered. Do you know if all your calls are being answered?
• Staff wages account for 57% of revenue nationally on average
• Overwhelmingly, providers are relying on word of mouth as a marketing channel, cited by 98% of centre owners, followed by 53% of providers now using Google and Facebook advertisements as parents leverage online search tools to inform their preferences.

Not quite measuring up to the competition? You’re not alone. That’s where Enrolment Hub can help provide you with comprehensive support.

Why not get in touch with Scott and see how we can work together to see your business thrive into the future.

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