Why is childcare being backstopped???, page-34

The Government’s primary aim is to support services to remain open to ensure that quality early childhood education and care continues to be available to support essential workers and disadvantaged and vulnerable children and families.

The following information will be updated as needed. An overview of the support mechanisms in place to assist the early childhood education and care sector manage the impact of COVID-19 on its business, including support available up to and including 5 April 2020 can be found on the department’s website.

Payments to be made to providers under the Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package from 6 April 2020 to support services to remain open

To ensure ongoing access to early childhood education and care, from 6 April 2020 until the end of the 2019-20 financial year, services that remain open, and have children enrolled, will receive a weekly payment to ensure they can deliver early childhood education and care to families who need it.
These payments will be made instead of the usual Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) payments.

Services will not be able to upload session reports to the Child Care Subsidy System during this period but must continue to keep attendance records and provide statements to families while the payments remain active.

Payments will be based on 50 per cent of services’ fee revenue up to the existing hourly rate cap, based on the fortnight before 2 March 2020. Importantly, this measure will complement the Australian Government’s JobKeeper Payment.

The Government will also make payments of higher amounts (to the 50 per cent) available in exceptional circumstances, such as where greater funding is required due to an increase in enrolments to meet demand to address the needs of essential workers or vulnerable children.

In return for receiving payments, services are required to:

*stay open unless closed on public health advice or for other health and safety reasons

*ensure families are not charged a fee, including an out of pocket or gap* fee

*prioritise care to essential workers, vulnerable and disadvantaged children and previously enrolled children
continue to record attendance of children

*comply with all other provider obligations including National Quality Framework and other relevant conditions of approval under Family Assistance Law.

It is important that if families have recently ceased their enrolment from your service that you encourage them to re-enrol. By families staying enrolled they will keep their CCS eligibility so the subsidies will flow again as per usual once the payments cease.

Where children enrol at a service who otherwise would be considered ‘at risk’ for the purposes of ACCS (child wellbeing) services are required to make a referral to an appropriate support agency as per the existing ACCS (child wellbeing) referral requirements.
Services do not have to apply for payments, they will be paid automatically from 6 April 2020, but should ensure that their bank account details and email addresses are current.