The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard today welcomed the announcement by the Court Appointed Receivers for the ABC2 Group, PPB Corporate Recovery that new operators have been selected for the vast majority of ABC2 Group child care centres.
New operators have been identified by PPB for 210, or almost 90 per cent of the original 241 centres deemed unviable under the ABC business model in December 2008.
This announcement will provide certainty for thousands of working families and employees affected by the collapse of ABC Learning last year.
Greater diversity in the child care sector has been achieved, with PPB selecting a range of operators for the centres including not-for-profit organisations, individual owner operators and other private operators.
This process has resulted in 65 different organisations running more than 200 child care centres. Previously just one organisation operated all 241 centres.
In line with the Government’s criteria, the Court Appointed Receiver has selected operators who have the experience, financial capacity and commitment to deliver sustainable, high quality child care for children and their families.
Regrettably, suitable operators could not be found for 19 centres which will now close by 15 May 2009. For these centres, PPB and DEEWR have been able to identify suitable child care for all affected children in nearby centres.
Eight centres have not attracted suitable operators and operate in locations where alternative long day care places are either insufficient or unavailable. The Minister has asked PPB to explore every possible option to find sustainable solutions for this small group of centres. However, it is possible these centres may have to close in June 2009.
The Government is pleased that many of the new operators have indicated a willingness to take on ABC employees and their accrued employee entitlements.
Detailed advice to individual employees on their future will be provided in the coming weeks. PPB expects that 80 per cent of employees will be offered jobs with the new operators.
ABC Learning employees who resigned or are made redundant may be eligible for assistance under the General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme (GEERS).
In November 2008, ABC Learning went into receivership, leaving approximately 1,100 centres facing the threat of immediate closure.
The sudden closure of so many centres would have severely disrupted the care arrangements of over 100,000 children and placed the livelihood of 16,000 child care staff at risk.
To minimise disruption and uncertainty as far as possible for thousands of families and employees, the Rudd Government was quick to respond with decisive action.
The Government has committed up to $58 million and overseen an orderly, logical process focused on continuity of care for the children and finding sustainable, long term solutions for as many of the child care centres as possible.
The Government worked closely with PPB to deliver ongoing sustainable, quality child care for over 12,000 children and has helped secure the employment of more than 1,800 child care staff.
PPB and the new operators as well as the various landlords, still have more to do to settle contracts, arrange licenses and transition the centres to new ownership but PPB is confident these will be in place by 15 May 2009.
The Minister acknowledged the enormous and complex task undertaken by PPB Corporate Recovery over a very short timeframe, and also thanked the receiver of ABC Learning Ltd, McGrathNicol, for their assistance throughout the process.
The future of the 21 Department of Defence owned and leased child care centres has also been resolved with the company B4Kids Pty Limited engaged by Defence to manage these centres.
A full list of ABC2 centres and their status is available on PPB’s website at www.ppb.com.au.
A link to this list will be provided on the Australian Government’s www.mychild.gov.au website.