The frequent closures are causing major headaches for working parents who can be told with little notice their child is a high-risk contact and must stay home.

Majura Park Childcare Centre chief executive Natalie Colbert said there were 15 COVID-19 incursions across the three centres she operates, mostly from children attending while infectious.

"We've been really financially hit. The centres can can kind of manage in short doses and short amounts of loss of revenue, but it's the educators who really struggle because they kept going into isolation," Mrs Colbert said.

"We'd have an educator have a seven-day isolation, they'd come back for a day and then they'd be back into isolation for another seven days. And that means that they were dropping down to pandemic leaves disaster payment rather than their normal wages, which is a loss of income for them."

Each time there is a confirmed COVID case on site, centres must do an assessment to be submitted to government to work out what the level of risk was and who the infectious person had come in contact with.

Every child and staff member they were in contact with has to go into isolation. If the risk is significant, the childcare regulator can issue an administrative action to close a room or centre which allows the provider to waive fees.

Early Childhood Australia chief executive Samantha Page expects intermittent closures to continue for at least six months and is lobbying for a different funding model to help providers and parents cope.

"I think we were all hoping we were going to come back to 2022 vaccinated and life would get back to normal. But 2022 is looking more complicated and I think we need a different solution to waiving fees," Ms Page said.

"What we suggested to the government is that the families all have for the next, say, three months a higher level of childcare subsidy, so say 95 per cent childcare subsidy, and then it would be OK for services to waive fees."

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One mother told The Canberra Times her usual early childhood service was closed for 12 out of the first 15 working days of the year.

Another mother said she had to take leave on some days to care for her two-year-old because of closures.

"I'm trying my best to work with him at home but even on the days that I was able to work I couldn't realistically get much work done," she said.

Ms Page said the sector was after more guidance and support around the definition of close contacts and the appropriate use of rapid antigen tests for workers.

"Kudos to the educators and teachers and service managers that are working through this because they're entering now their third year trying to deal with this situation. I think it's really tough.

"We really all need to say a big 'thank you' and try and make their life easier where we can."

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