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Effective July 7 2008 - July 5 2009
Download your copy of the fee schedule and conditions of care: THE CITY OF GREATER GEELONG FAMILY DAY CARE FEES WILL BE DE-REGULATED. This means that Care Providers may choose to formulate their own fees and conditions in line with Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) legislation (see www.DEEWR.gov.au/childcarehandbook). The service has a base fee. Fees and conditions are to be discussed with the individual Care Provider. Care Providers cannot charge a fee for the care of a child that exceeds the fee charged for any other child where that child is receiving the same kind of care. If a session charge is made care must be available for the whole session.
| | Priority of Access | FaSCIA Priority of Access guidelines apply across all approved child care service types as follows:
Priority 1: a child at risk of serious abuse or neglect
Priority 2: a child of a single parent who satisfies, or of parents who both satisfy the work/training/study test under section 14 of the Family Assistance Act.
Priority 3: any other child
The Family Assistance Office (FAO) is responsible for decisions about the amount of care for which the Child Care Benefit (CCB) can be paid.
Where demand exceeds supply the service allocates available places to families with the greatest need for child care support. A waiting list operates and is systematically reviewed in order of date of enquiry using priority of access guidelines.
WAITING LIST
Parents are offered a placement when vacancies arise, which if no longer required is offered to the next family on the waiting list.
All options for placement are explored. If the vacancy is not suitable, (eg days and hours are not suitable; the parent/guardian and/or Care Provider''s expectations differ), parents are entitled to remain on the waiting list until an appropriate vacancy exists. | | BASE FEES | | Core Hours | Care between 8.00am to 6.00pm, Monday - Friday.
$6.05 ($5.60 + .45c admin levy) per hour per child.
| | | Non-Core Hours Care on weekends / public holidays | Care between 6.00pm and 8.00am, Monday - Friday.
$7.15 ($6.70 + .45c admin levy) per hour per child.
| | Schooling percentage | For all children attending school the fee is as above.
The schooling percentage is 85% of Child Care Benefit entitlement. | | Administration Levy | Fees include a service levy of .45c per hour per child, Charged by the hour.
| | Transport | .96c per kilometre
Transport costs are shared between families attending the same school / pre-school. If the Care Provider normally takes her own child/ren to the same facility, no fee is to be charges. This charge applies to school / pre-school pick up and drop off and any other associated travel. | | Meals | Breakfast $3.10, Lunch $3.60, Dinner $4.15, Snacks $2.50
Parents may choose to provide meals and snacks in accordance with the service nutrition policy. | | Penalty Rate - Late Departure | | $5.00 per hour or part thereof. For time beyond normal booked hours and not specifically discussed in advance, with Care Provider. | | Penalty Rate - Late Payment | | $5.00 per day. For overdue payments not made on pre-arranged day, this fee will be charged for everyday the payment is not made. |
| Hours Charged | The minimum charge for care is for one hour then to the nearest half-hour daily thereafter. Fees are charged according to the hours booked at enrolment unless actual hours are greater. Booked time reserves a placement. A holding fee per day will be charged when a child does not use all or part of the booked time.
To ensure that Care Providers operate within regulations that apply to numbers of children, families are required to comply with booked hours. Changes of hours are to be discussed with the Care Provider and are to be approved by the Family Day Care Support Officer/Co-ordinator.
| | Holding Fees | Absences for all holidays (including school holidays) are charged at 100%. The payment of the holding fee guarantees that the place is reserved for the child and is to be available. The holding fee charged is based on the confirmed booked hours when returning to care.
If a family who has paid a holding fee requires the place, and the Care Provider is unavailable, the holding fee for the time requested is to be refunded.
Holding fees are not charged if a holding fee place is temporarily resold, eg. Family A pays a holding fee for 8 hours, Family B requires 6 hours. Family B will pay for 6 hours of care, and family A will only be required to pay for the 2 unsold hours. | | OUTSTANDING FEES | It is important that fees are paid promptly, on the day agreed by parent and Care Provider. It is advisable to contact the Co-ordinator if experiencing difficulty in payment of fees, as possible short-term assistance due to financial hardship (eligibility criteria applies) may be available.
Care will not commence if fees are owed to another Care Provider, or another City of Greater Geelong child care service, until the debt has been paid. If fees are overdue by more than two weeks, placement may be forfeited and legal action taken.
| | PRESCHOOL CARE | CCB is payable for absences due to kindergarden attendance if the Care Provider is the contact person while the child is at pre-school and if a child is in care both before and after a kindergarten session, a full day of care will be charged. This does not apply when a child is only in care either before or after a session. If care is required in school holidays, the full day will be charged during the school term.
| | 24 HOUR CARE | The FDC Co-ordinator may approve up to fourteen 24 hour periods per child per financial year. This care is primarily provided for work-related care purposes. Approval must be sought from the FDC Co-ordinator prior to care commencing, and supporting documentation from the employer is required. 24 hour care is monitored by the scheme and the Australian Government. If a family requires more than the fourteen periods, approval must be sought from the FAO by the service.
| OVERNIGHT CARE/WEEKEND CARE | | The care is primarily provided for work-related care purposes. In every instance approval must be sought from the FDC Co-ordinator prior to the care commencing, and supporting documentation from the employer is required. | | NON WORK RELATED CARE | CCB for non-work related purposes is limited to up to 24 hours per week per child during core hours, dependant on vancancies and the individual needs of each family. This means that days may be altered in consultation with parents, Co-ordination unit and Care Providers, to accomodate families with work related needs in accordance with Priority of Access guidelines. Generally non-work related care is offered between 9am and 3pm to allow the Care Providers to manage school.kinder drop offs/pick ups. Changes of care days/hours are to be approved by the Support Officer/Co-ordinator. | | CARE PROVIDER UNAVAILABILITY / ILLNESS | Care Providers are required to give the Scheme and parents at least two weeks notice when taking holidays to allow alternative care to be arranged should parent/guardians not have a back-up.
While Family Day Care aims to provide consistent care, occasionally Care Providers may be unable to give adequate notice due to unavoidable family illness or other legitimate reasons. It is important that parents have an emergency back-up person should this occur. Alternative care may be able to be arranged dependant on vacancies. For short-term care, a friend or family member known to the child may be more appropriate for the benefit of the child/ren.
There is no charge when the Care Provider is unavailable.
| | ADDITIONAL CHILDREN | Care Providers are not permitted to provide care for additional children/siblings, without approval from the Support Officer/Co-ordinator, and registration with the scheme. Additional children''s names must be recorded on the FAO assessment form to be entitled to CCB. Parents are required to contact the FAO and notify them of additional children using FDC.
| | ADMINISTRATION | RECORD OF CARE AND PAYMENT SHEETS ARE LEGAL DOCUMENTS AND ARE SUBJECT TO AUDIT BY COUNCIL'S AUDITORS AND THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT COMPLIANCE UNIT.
Parents/guardians are required to:
* sign their child/ren IN and OUT daily on the attendance record section of the Record of Care (Australian Government requirement), (Care Provider nay only sign when dropping off or picking up children from school, kindergarden etc)
* verify hours used by signing the parent verification on the Record of Care.
* Please check hours recorded are correct before signing. Do not sign blank or incomplete records at any time. Care Providers are required to provide a receipt following any payment.
For the safety and well being of children it is important that parents/guardians can be contacted in emergency situations. It is vital that the scheme be advised of any changes to work and home telephone numbers, addresses, doctor and emergency contacts.
| | TERMINATION OF CARE | When care is no longer required, parents/guardians are required to give the Scheme and Care Provider one full week''s (seven days) notice along with payment for the week. NOTE: CCB cannot be claimed if the child does not attend the final week of care, and full fees may be charged.
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| | CHILD CARE BENEFIT (CCB) | Family Assistance Office (FAO) telephone number: 13 61 50 (8.00am - 8.00pm)
Centrelink information and on line services can be found at
www.familyassist.gov.au
Quote the City of Greater Geelong Family Day Care Service Provider number: 555 002 944A when linking a child to our service.
The FAO administers and is responsible for payment of CCB across all Australian approved service types (Family Day Care, centre based care, specialised vacation care and before/after school care programs). All eligible parents/guardians are entitled to at least the minimum amount of CCB through the FAO. Families can choose to claim CCB entitlements:
1. as reduced fees through approved services, or
2. as a lump sum from the FAO, (paid after the end of the financial year of care) therefore full fees are payable to the Care Provider. (Services are required to obtain a Customer Reference Number (CRN) from the FAO on behalf of these families).
If claiming reduced fees, parents/guardians pay their portion of the fee to their Care Provider, who claims the balance of the fee from the Australian Government by submitting Record of Care and Payment sheets to the Family Day Care service.
The Family Assistance legislation requires Care Providers to issue receipts (that meet accountability requirements) following payment, and to submit service copies with their Record of Care and Payment Sheets fortnightly.
Children under seven years of age, must meet the government''s immunisation requirements or have an approved exemption from the requirements for the family to be eligible for CCB.
The FAO will advise the service of maximum approved hours of care. Parents need to contact the FAO to advise of changes in circumstances that may affect their CCB entitlement
such as: changes in income, change of service provider, changes in relation to the 24 and 50 hour limits, changes in parenting arrangements, change in school age status, child commences or leaves care.
If using more than one service, parent need to nominate how many of the eligible hours will be claimed at each service. For FDC, information regarding siblings in care and/or other services used is to be recorded on the Care Provider's Record of Care and Payments sheet as it occurs.
| | CHILD CARE TAX REBATE (CCTR) | From 1 July 2008, the rebate of CCTR will increase from 30% to 50% of working families' out of pocket expenses for approved child care costs. Payments will be made by the FAO quarterly instead of annually, with families receiving the first quarterly payment from October 2008. To be eligible for CCTR, families must have approved child care: and receive CCB: and passed the CCB work / training / study test requirements. | | ABSENCES | Allowable Absences
Each child is eligible for CCb for the first 42 absences from care across all approved child care service during each financial year. These absences can be taken for any reason and do not require supporting documentation, but the are only available on a day on which care would otherwise have been provided if the child was not absent, and the family was charged for that care. Additional Absences
Once the first 42 absences days have been used, CCB is payable for any additional absences where: * The absence realtes to a day on which care would otherwise have been provided if the child was not absent and * the absence is one taken for an **additional absence reason and * your service ontains and keeps the required documentation and * you meet the requirements for recording attandance and absences and * child care fees are charged. ** Additional absences: illness (with medical certificate), non-immunisation, rostered days off, rotating shift work, temporary closure of a school or pupil-free days, period of local emergency, shard care arrangements due to court order, parenting plan or parenting order, attendance at pre-school, exceptional circumstance (with supporting documentation). CCB will not be paid for PH's if 42 absences have been used. All absence days must be reported to the Department. Care Providers must record the number of absences each child has used in the financial year-to-date on reciepts, which a service is obliged to provide to all families using care. Families can also view their absence count on the View Child Care Attendance online statement available through the Family Assitance Office website at : www.familyassist.gov.au Rotating Shifts
Child Care Benefit is payable for absences where a parent is not at work due to working a rotating shift from full or part-time employment provided that:
* Care is available for the child if required and
* The service receives a statement either from the employer, verifying the rotating shift nature of the parent''s employment. Absences do not count toward the 30 allowable absences days. Definitions of rotating shifts:
* A shift that requires a worker to work in rotation, different periods of the day over a period of time. Eg, the requirement to work a morning shift at regular hours of one week, followed by afternoon shift to a period, followed by evening shift. The rotation of these shifts would follow a regular pattern.
* A shift system that rotates to cover the seven days of the week rather than a specified number of days each week. So, during one week work may be from Monday to Friday, whilst in the next week the working week may be Tuesday to Saturday, and so on. This may be worked in conjunction with the first example of a rotating shift. A rotating shift does not cover situations where a parent works:
* One week on, one week off.
* Alternating weeks of two and three days (eg, two days one week, then three days the next).
* Periods which include casual or "on call'' types of employment. | | Public Holidays | There is no charge for absences on Public holidays, unless care is specifically booked and not used for the Public Holiday. (see page 1 for fee) The following days (if gazetted by the Victorian Government) are recognised Public Holidays by the Scheme: Christmas Day, Boxing day, New Year''s Day, Australia Day, Labour Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Queen''s Birthday. Care Providers will choose either Geelong Cup or Melbourne Cup Day dependant on the needs of families, and will be required to advise the service which day will be taken.
Absences for Gala Day, Geelong Show Day, Melbourne Show Day and either Geelong Cup or Melbourne Cup are to be treated as allowable absences.
If a Care Provider chooses to charge for public holidays the following applies (as per the Government Child Care Services Handbook) Public holidays will be counted as an absence day for CCB if: * The service provides care (or care has been booked) to the absent child on the normal operating days immediately before and imediately after the public holiday and * The child would normally have attended the service or individual carer on the day if it were not a public holiday and * Fees are charged in respect of the absent child for the day. CCB is payable for public holidays at the usual rate. |
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