Monthly subsidies for working mothers were doubled from $150 to $300 a child. Infant-care subsidies went up from $400 to $600 when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced higher childcare subsidies in his National Day Rally speech.

But parents have since found out that many childcare centres are planning to increase fees, with average monthly fees for childcare and infant care now $684 and $1,184 respectively.

At a media conference last month, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, described the increase in childcare fees as 'unavoidable'. He said: "If you want better services, you want more convenient services, there will be inevitably some increase in cost, which the operators will also have to cope with." He added that the significant increases in subsidies should be enough to offset the fee hike.

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