The Prime Minister has acknowledged that parents might end up paying more for early childhood education.
But John Key also says that the policy of 20 free hours' early education introduced by the previous Government won't be changed.
When asked on his way into Parliament on Wednesday afternoon whether he could rule out parents paying more, Mr Key said he couldn't.
But both he and Education Minister Anne Tolley say the news media will have to wait until the Budget on 20 May before finding out what changes will be made to make the scheme more affordable.
Earlier, Finance Minister Bill English said the Government was moving to contain the cost of early childhood education.
The National Party pledged before the 2008 election that parents would not pay any more for childcare than they did under Labour's policy of 20 free hours, but Mr English said that the cost of such education had trebled in the past six years, and that the Government was moving to balance the support parents receive with the need to contain future costs.
The Labour Party said the Government was clearly looking to cut costs in early childhood education, which might include the 20 hours policy.
