Childcare Subsidies

Childcare Subsidies!!! Why is it so hard to get a WINZ childcare subsidy, when WINZ is supposed to encourage and support us to become, and stay employed? I often offer to go into WINZ and drop forms off for parents that I know, I do this for them as it saves them between 5 to 60 minutes each of waiting in-line to be seen at the reception counter, just to drop in their childcare subsidy forms. Many working parents only get a 30 minute lunch break which is not long enough to wait in-line at WINZ and have a meal. Yet I recently went into WINZ to drop off some forms and they informed me that they would no longer accept forms unless they were handed in by the client on the paper. So every school holidays I take 50 WINZ forms in for parents which takes me a maximum of 5 hours, saving busy working parents up to 50 hours of waiting in-line! Just imagine how much longer the line will be now that there will be another 50 parents waiting in line!!! I believe it is far too hard for parents to get a WINZ subsidy! There should be a drop box at WINZ or a separate reception for working parents or just for childcare subsidies. As more parents get encouraged to work, they enrol their children in services like OSCAR or Childcare. These services often go without being paid for several months due to the difficulty of WINZ subsidies. We want it to be a simple process! This is for working parents! Make it achievable, for us to be able to have our children cared for and provide an income for our families that is not from WINZ. Surely it is concievable that working parents who need to get back to their job should have a more streamline service than people who are not working and therefore have time to wait in line. Just imagine how much longer the line will be now that there will be another 50 parents in line!!! Petition: To create a WINZ system that works for the working parents that require it. The subsidy is much appreciated by the people who need it but the process is so difficult and time consuming that it often creates problems with employers in that employees need time off to organise or update their WINZ applications. This petition is for the government to create a streamlined process with services that recognise the needs of working parents in todays environment. This service needs to be a simple quick process that will allow the working parent to access subsidies that are designed to help them achieve their desire to work therefore saving the rest of the workforce money in the form of taxes to support non-working parents.