Childcare rules are pushing parents to send in sick kids, operators say

An online petition signed by more than 1,000 people is calling on the government to stop financially penalising parents who keep sick toddlers at home instead of sending them to childcare.   

The petition warns that the current free childcare rules are forcing infectious children into centres and putting other children and staff at risk of illness.

One childcare centre operator told Times of Malta this is the most pressing issue facing childcare centres today, and it is creating an unfair burden on families.

The petition is backed by 65 operators representing 80 childcare centres and calls for certified sick days to be excluded entirely from the standard absence allowance under the government’s free childcare scheme.

Under the current rules, parents must start paying fees once they exhaust their allocated absence hours. While the policy is intended to prevent abuse, operators say it fails to reflect the reality that toddlers, whose immune systems are still developing, fall ill frequently. They argue the system places a disproportionate burden on working families, particularly foreign workers without extended family support.

They spread illnesses to the other children and the staff. It messes up the whole system

Pia Darmanin, a general manager overseeing four childcare centres, described the issue as the most pressing crisis facing the sector today.

Darmanin, who has a master’s degree in early childhood education and has been in the business for over 20 years, said she started the petition last month.

“It’s not fair to punish sickness, and it’s creating a feeling in parents that a child shouldn’t miss childcare,” she said, explaining that parents whose children had a bad night frequently drop them off at childcare nonetheless the next morning, only for them to develop a fever later in the day.

“Then they spread illnesses to the other children and the staff. It messes up the whole system.”

In many other instances, parents take their children back to childcare before they have fully recovered and when they are still contagious, spreading illness to peers and staff.

The centres Darmanin manages refuse to bill parents out of principle and absorb the costs instead, but the petition warns this practice adds burdens to operators who are already constrained in many other ways.

She argues a sensible solution is a dedicated sick allowance activated by a medical certificate, mirroring the sick leave in the employment world.

‘Absence costs €69 million’ – ministry

In a reply to questions, the employment ministry defended the limits on the scheme, saying that of the total €277 million that the scheme will have cost between 2025 and 2028, a staggering €69 million is projected to be spent solely on covering absent hours.

“While the government remains open to discussion and committed to improving its schemes and initiatives, the policy direction has always been that the absence entitlement is intended to cover sickness periods for children enrolled in childcare,” a ministry spokesperson said.

“Cases involving hospitalisation are treated separately and are in addition to this entitlement.”

The absence entitlement amounts to 25% of the booked childcare hours.

The ministry also said the government has supported the scheme with work-life balance measures to ensure the “long-term sustainability” of the scheme.

‘Double standards and staff shortages’

Beyond sickness, operators highlighted structural flaws and double standards compared to state schools.

Childcare centres receive no government funding for children with disabilities, unlike primary schools which automatically assign learning support educators (LSEs).

The sector is also battling staff shortages as qualified educators leave for better-paid school LSE roles. This is worsened by bureaucratic delays, with operators waiting months for mandatory Protection of Minors Act (POMA) clearances.

Additionally, operators criticised a recent government directive limiting childcare strictly to parents’ exact working hours. They say they have no way of verifying that parents are, in fact, at work, while their children are in childcare.