Vacation Care services run by Northern Beaches Council will cease after the Autumn 2025 school holiday program, parents were informed this month.
The service was aimed at helping working families in the area find quality care for their children during school holidays as not all schools provide vacation programs.
But with demand declining and the program’s operating at a loss, Council has announced full closure of the service. This is despite a recent vote to apply for a rate increase to increase council services. The decision was made before the Special Rate Variation vote, in the same December meeting that saw cancellation of most Hop Skip Bus services.
Northern Beaches Council operated five vacation care services in 2017 but has since been consolidating its services due in part to declining attendance numbers. Council closed one centre in 2018 and another, Forestville Vacation Care, in 2022. It appears Manly Vale may have also already been cut as only Cromer and North Harbour are advertised to run the Autumn 2025 school holiday program before the service is shut down completely.
“Due to the significant ongoing decline in attendance, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close the Vacation Care service operated by Northern Beaches Council,” a recent letter to parents read.
Cromer and Manly Vale Vacation Care operated out of local community centres and North Harbour Vacation Care operated out of a building used as a preschool during the school term.
“It’s always difficult to close a service, but as the service was required to be cost neutral yet consistently operated at a loss, it was the only responsible thing to do,” Mayor Sue Heins said.
In 2021, a new Children’s Services Strategy was developed. The Strategy outlined the Vacation Care service had to be cost-neutral (similar to Council’s early learning services).
“Increasing costs and competition, changes in family work arrangements post COVID and ultimately decreasing attendance, all impacted to make the service no longer viable,” Mayor Heins added.
“I’d like to thank everyone who used the service over many years and give a shout out to the great staff that kept so many young locals entertained during the holidays.”
Mayor Heins also noted that the council decided to cut the Vacation Care service before deciding to increase rates. In fact, it was made at the same December Council meeting which saw the decision to eliminate four of its five Hop Skip and Jump community bus routes during a closed-door session and also where Council members voted to conduct a community engagement survey on whether to increase rates.
“The Council has a fiscal responsibility to ratepayers and the difficult decision to close this service and several routes of the Hop Skip Jump Bus were made as part of the ongoing service review process to reduce pressure on rates,” Mayor Heins explained.
Why the decrease in attendance?
Council attributed the decrease in attendance numbers to COVID, shifting working patterns, an increase in Vacation Care services operating on school sites and privately run vacation care programs.
In 2019 (pre-COVID), attendance was at 72 per cent (160 of the 220 available spots per day), however, by 2023/2024 attendance had fallen to 53 per cent (85 of the 160 available spots per day with the closure of Forestville Vacation Care). In the last school holidays, Summer 2025, attendance was down to 46 per cent. To be financially viable, Council said they required attendance to be at 85 per cent.
Council also said the industry staff shortages and increasing cost of living have all combined to increase operating costs.
For anyone who needs subsidy eligible vacation care after the Easter break, Council recommended the Starting Blocks website.
