Parents have vented their frustration after experiencing complications signing up to the government-subsidised summer day camp programme that were attributed to a “clerical error”.

The Ministry of Tourism, Transport, Culture and Sport launched Camp Connect in 2023 to provide discounts on often costly private and government-run camps.

There were complications surrounding registration last year and more were experienced this morning when parents raced to fill out online registration forms for approximately 40 camps that sell out in a matter of minutes.

Some said all camps were listed as sold out exactly at the time of registration.

Owen Darrell, the minister, responded: “I want to begin by apologising.

“We know that registering for summer day camps this year was frustrating for many families, and I’m genuinely sorry for the confusion and stress it caused.”

He added: “A clerical error resulted to a few camp titles being listed incorrectly, and though we caught the issue and corrected it quickly, we know it added unnecessary complications.

“Additionally, some camps filled within minutes, which we understand left many feeling disappointed.”

Mr Darrell said that despite offering thousands of camp spaces, demand continued to exceed capacity.

He said officials were now reviewing applications and removing duplicate entries to make sure all spaces had been correctly allocated.

“Once completed, we’ll begin contacting families on the wait-list in the order they signed up,” Mr Darrell said.

His remarks came after parents reported seeing a message informing them of a system error and stating that a new registration time would be set.

However, they said, once the error had been spotted, enough time had elapsed that the camp spots had actually sold out.

One wrote: “There was a glitch. So those who were sitting at their computers at 9.30, every camp was sold out, you had to go back and try again but by that time many legitimately were sold out.”

Another added: “All camps led to the same camp but it was fixed around 10am.”

The camps offer a significant discount.

All Camp Connect programmes are listed at the subsidised price of $60 per week while non-subsidised camps can be as expensive as $350 or $400 per week.

Some parents complained of not being able to sign up multiple children in one form — they claimed that by the time one child was registered, there was no time to fill out another registration form for a second child before the spots were gone, which caused complications for multi-child families.

One parent asked: “Why do you still not have an option for people with multiple kids?”

Another described the system as “a train wreck”.

She questioned why the discounted camps were open to privately educated children — though some said such comments were discriminatory, as the circumstances of parents who choose to pay privately for their children’s education were not known.

Numerous parents said they had signed up to camps but had not received confirmation e-mails.

One parent said that when they received confirmation of having been placed on the waiting list, the name of an unrelated camp was listed.

Last week, ahead of registration, Mr Darrell told Parliament about an expansion of Camp Connect this year.

He said capacity was increased by 540 placements, bringing the total to more than 4,000 for the summer break.

The camp programme was expanded so it could be available for a longer period, from June 3 to September 5, while 11 additional camps were added to the mix.

The system was launched in the hope of alleviating the stress of finding affordable summer camps for families, not least those with limited financial resources.