With limited state funding for quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) programmes in South Africa, the financial burden often falls on parents or caregivers, where costs are passed on to users in the form of fees charged.
Using the 2013/14 Early Childhood Development Audit, this paper generates metrics of compliance with norms and standards in the Children’s Act 2005, explores variations in compliance across provinces and by registration status, and investigates patterns in user fees charged. The paper explores how operational costs align with higher standards of programming, defined in terms of compliance with norms and standards. The paper then considers whether access to subsidies is passed on as fee reductions to parents or caregivers.
