Dunedin early childhood education providers believe high waiting list figures are "artificial".
Ministry of Education figures released this month highlighted waiting list increases for early child care centres around the country, most significantly in the past two years.
The proportion of services with waiting times of more than six months increased from 11.9% in 2002 to 28.1% in 2008 for children aged 0-2; and from 11.2% to 22.7% for children aged 3-4 over the same period.
The ministry's Education Counts website states "long waiting times are a barrier to participation in early childhood education".
However, Dunedin Hospital Early Childhood Centre manager Margaret Smith said waiting lists were "really artificial" and there were many variables associated with them.
Parents would often put their name on waiting lists for several centres and not remove them despite finding a provider or changing their mind about care.
Space was available for 70 children at the centre and the waiting list was long, but Ms Smith did not know "how real" the list was.
If a child could not be placed in the most desirable centre, parents often looked at other options, such as part-time rather than full-time work, home-based care, or having a relative care for the child.
Despite "most centres in Dunedin" operating at capacity, she did not believe waiting lists were a concern in the sector.
University of Otago Childcare Association director Kay Lloyd-Jones confirmed all four university-operated centres had long waiting lists and "there is a possibility a lot of them [children] won't ever get in".
She described the situation as a "bit of a phantom".
"Everybody is on everybody's waiting lists. A lot of people do make other arrangements."
She put increasing waiting list numbers down to people planning larger families under the previous Labour government, the 20 free hours education scheme opening up care options to families, and it becoming "more socially acceptable" for children to go into under-2 care.
Dunedin Community Childcare Association director Jo Ellis described waiting lists as a "blunt instrument" which were "hard to predict".
