MPs passed a bill yesterday to pay child care bills for families or single parents earning under $70,000 a year — and Government said people could be benefiting before the end of the year.

The Child Day Care Allowance Act 2008, passed with all-party support yesterday, could help up to 400 families said Culture and Social Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler.

He said: "Ministry staff frequently receive inquiries from parents, many of them single parents, who are crying out for help with the cost of day care services for their young children."

He said the bill would relieve the financial burden on families and encourage parents to spend more quality time with their children instead of working extra jobs to make ends meet.

Mr. Butler said it followed a promise made in the 2008 Throne Speech to provide free child care services for qualified families for children up to the age of four.

However he said children aged five not in primary school would also be included.

The children must be Bermudian and the parents or guardians must be Bermudian or married to a Bermudian and they must go to a licenced day care centre or registered home day care facility.

The move to freeze out non-Bermudians came under attack from United Bermuda Party MPs who said it was discriminatory — a similar accusation levelled at the new law for free travel for Bermudian students debated last week.

The financial threshold was set at families earning less than $70,000 using new statistics culled from the poverty study just released by Government.

For simplicity other factors such savings have not been factored into the assessment of families applying for the financial breaks.

Mr. Butler said Government would establish a maximum monthly fee for child care services which will be payable directly to approved day care centres and home child care providers.

There are 60 day care centres and 82 home child care providers but Mr. Butler admitted there was a squeeze on places.

He added: "Government will review this situation and if an increase in the availability of child care services is warranted, will consider strategies to promote the establishment of additional child care facilities."

Shadow Minister of Social Rehabilitation Donte Hunt welcomed the bill but expressed concerns about the arbitrary cut-off point which meant a family earning slightly over $70,000 but with young children would get no help but a family earning slightly under would get everything.

He said it would lead to a sense of inequality.

Mr. Hunt also warned banning low income guest workers from the benefit, even though they pay the same taxes as Bermudians, would reflect badly.

He said: "It would give us notoriety throughout the world in terms of our human rights factor."

Mr. Butler told the Press that the issue had been a thorny one.

"Because of that issue we had even decided to let the Bill lay on the table of the House and not take it up until we had an answer in November."

But he said Government was constantly badgered from voters about when help was coming.

And Mr. Butler said Government did not rush the process but had consulted widely, including with the Opposition who were invited to special presentations. Their input led to suggestions for amendments which Government would take up, said Mr. Butler who added that overseas experts had also chipped in.

The key was to get the bill passed but it could well be amended and refined as time wore on said Mr. Butler.

He said regulations would be produced in the Fall to go with the Bill which meant families could get financial help before the end of the year.

On the question of giving no help to non-Bermudians he said: "That happens all over the world where the natives of a country receive the benefits."

He said parents coming to Bermuda had to prove they could support their children before they came so the numbers of expats needing help would be small.

Former Health Minister Patrice Minors was one of a host of Progressive Labour Party MPs who said it was right to exclude non-Bermudians.

"This is for Bermudians and should remain for Bermudians," said Mrs. Minors, who added that key foreign workers are able to pay for the welfare of their own children.

Opposition Whip John Barritt backed the legislation and said maternity leave should also be extended to give children the best chance for learning from their mothers at the earliest age.

He said Government knew it was on safe wicket by leaving out non-Bermudians, as they cannot vote, but added: "All these people pay taxes. Why do we go out of our way to be uncharitable?"

Works Minister Derrick Burgess replied: "The bill is very clear — the benefit is for Bermudian children."

He said a lot of "these folks" (foreigners) have benefits of their own in terms of housing and cars paid for by their companies.

PLP backbencher Lovitta Foggo said the legislation moved Bermuda a step forward as the Island does not have the type of welfare system in the UK or the US.

Shadow Transport Minister Shawn Crockwell welcomed the legislation but pointed out that non-Bermudians make a substantial contribution to society, and that some are struggling parents.

Energy Minister Terry Lister said free child care would help give the children a good foundation in life, making them less likely to end up in Westgate or sitting on walls. This would ultimately benefit society, he said.

He described the non-Bermudian debate as a "non-argument" because by and large low-income expats do not exist.

Former Opposition Leader Wayne Furbert said free education should be available for all from the youngest age.

Shadow Works Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin said it was myopic to exclude non-Bermudians because it would lead to an unfair playing field in the early years at school. Bermudian children would end up suffering, she said, because their teachers would have to spend more time with their non-Bermudian counterparts who had fallen behind.

Veteran PLP backbencher Walter Lister praised the legislation and compared it to the times when he was young and his father, who earned $20 a week, had to shell out $1.20 for education for young Walter and his three siblings — with precious little left over.

Shadow Labour and Immigration Minister Trevor Moniz said the he hoped the Government would start looking at the bigger picture.

"Don't think in terms of platforms. Promises made, promises kept. That's great advertising, but let's get serious."

Micheal Scott, the PLP backbencher, then defended the Bermudian focus of the legislations saying that it would target the right audience and the Government couldn't be asked to understand how other cultures raise their children.

He said: "It's targeted funding. It's uplifting. We know in this house the Bermuda problem is very specific. They (foreigners) are not Bermudian because they have a different cultural approach to how they deal with their children.

"Having to respond to this is something we can ill afford."

PLP backbencher Zane DeSilva said he was confused by the opposition which wanted the PLP to cut back on spending on the one hand and spend "frivolously" on the other.

He was attacking the UBP's suggestion that the child care allowance act should include every child in Bermuda regardless of their nationality.

Jon Brunson, the UBP Youth, Sport and Recreation Shadow Minister reiterated his party's stance saying: "Our platform did not say Bermudian or non-bermudian it said children."

Junior Labour Minister Walter Roban then spoke for almost 20 minutes to say that he thought the legislation introduced by his party was great and that it should be clear to the public that the PLP deliver.

He said: "I do believe it is clear to the public that this government is going to ensure that Bermudian families are going to be able to do what they need to do."

Grant Gibbons, Shadow Education Minister said: "We did not discriminate between Bermudians and non-Bermudians (in the UBP platform).

"We don't do it in education we don't do it in health. It would be self-defeating to do this in this case."

But Mr. Butler, giving the final word on the bill, was adamant that the bill would be for Bermudians only and that was a mandate the PLP had from the election.

He added: "They (UBP) had it in their platform and their platform was rejected. That's the end of the story."