Family Day Care - Conditions of Care

The following information explains the legislation, funding schemes and processes that guide how our service operates and with which you are expected to comply.

1. Family Day Care fees for the 2024-2025 financial year
2. Administration levy*
3. Priority of access
4. Register of care list
5. Payment of fees
6. Outstanding fees
7. Holding fee
8. Child Care Subsidy
9. Absences
10. Additional absence days
11. Individual personal identification number (PIN)
12. Records of care
13. Emergency contact details
14. Hours charged
15. Kindergarten/preschool care
16. 24-hour care
17. Overnight and weekend care
18. Non work-related care
19. Contract Educator unavailability/illness
20. Contract Educator annual registration requirements
21. Additional children
22. Termination of care (cessation of care)
23. No jab, no play

1. Family Day Care fees for the 2023-2024 financial year

Our ‘core hour’ fees are set by individual contract educators and approved by the service.
Parents will be notified 6 weeks before an increase in fees comes into effect. Please consult with your contract educator regarding any fee changes. You will be notified officially once the service has signed off on the proposed fee for 2024/25

You are required to pay more for care outside core hours (see table below).

2. Administration levy*

This levy is used to ensure that the Family Day Care contract educators, children and families have access to high quality support and resources and to assist in the running of the service.

The levy subsidises the cost to Council to provide the service coordination and quality support provide by the coordination unit, that regularly visit contract educators and children, assist families who require additional support, provide contract educators with training and professional development, provide car seats and other resources as required by contract educators.

The levy assists Council to ensure all contract educators are paid in accordance with the Family Assistance Law and to ensure the service meets the requirements of the National Early Years Services Regulations and National Quality Standard.  

3. Priority of access

The Australian Government 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 'A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999'  

Priority 3: any other child.

Where demand exceeds supply, we allocate available places to families with the greatest need for child care support.

Services Australia is responsible for decisions about the amount of care for which the Child Care Subsidy can be paid. For more information, visit the Services Australia website.

4.  Register of care list

To secure a Family Day Care placement, you must complete an online enquiry form that states the hours required, age and number of children, starting dates, transportation requirements and location.

Details remain on the register of care list until an appropriate vacancy comes up, with priority access given according to the priority access guidelines (above). 

The Family Day Care enquiry form is available on our website.

5.  Payment of fees

Fees are calculated according to the record of care forms you verify on a fortnightly basis. From these forms, an invoice is generated and sent to you via email.

Payment can be made:

• In person – via Eftpos at any of our Customer Service centres
• Online
• By phone - via credit card to customer service on 03 5272 5272 (8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday to Friday) or
• Via Payway direct debit (contact us for details).

Please note: As of July 2023 cash payments are no longer accepted. For more information visit Changes to gap fee payments from July 2023 - Department of Education, Australian Government.

6.  Outstanding fees

It is important that fees are paid within 7 days of issue of invoices.

If you are having trouble paying your fees, please contact us as payment plans can be arranged. You may also qualify for short-term assistance due to financial hardship if you meet certain eligibility criteria.

If you have an outstanding fee owed to another Family Day Care contract educator, or City-operated child care service, care will be withheld until it has been paid.

If fees are overdue by more than two weeks, your place may be forfeited, and legal action may be taken.

7.  Holding fee

Holding fees are designed to maintain your child’s place in care, even if the child is not there. Holding fees cost the same as the standard fee for booked hours.

You must pay holding fees for the following:

• holidays (excludes public holidays)
• illness
• when your child attends kindergarten (to maintain care before and after session and during kindergarten holidays).

The Child Care Subsidy portion of the holding fee cannot be claimed for more than six consecutive weeks, except for kindergarten care.

After the six-week period has ended, you must choose to pay the full fee to retain your place or relinquish your spot and risk it being filled by another family.

Note that holding fees are not required if a child is only in care either before or after a kindergarten session or if the contract educator is not available for any reason, such as holidays or illness.

8.  Child Care Subsidy

We are an approved Child Care Subsidy service provider (Customer Reference Number: 555 002 944A). 

Services Australia administers and is responsible for payment of Child Care Subsidy across all Australian approved service types, including Family Day Care, centre-based care, vacation care and before/after school care programs.

We require a Customer Reference Number for both you and your child (separate numbers). Customer Reference Numbers are created by Services Australia.

We only issue receipts following payment.

Your child must meet the government’s immunisation requirements for your family to be eligible for Child Care Subsidy and we are told the maximum approved hours of care for each child.

Please contact the Services Australia to advise of changes in circumstances that may affect your entitlement such as:

• changes in income
• parenting arrangements
• school age status
• child commencing or leaving care.  

If using more than one service, please nominate how many of the eligible hours will be claimed at each service. Siblings in care and/or other services used are to be recorded on the record of care as it occurs. 

All families must register their details via MyGov for more information visit  Department of Education - Early Childhood.

Please ensure you update your income estimate annually with Centrelink or via your tax assessment to avoid cancellation of your Child Care Subsidy.

For more information, contact Services Australia on 136 150 (8:00am to 8:00pm). 

9. Absences

Each child is eligible for Child Care Subsidy for the first 42 absences from care, across all approved child care services, for each financial year.

These absences can be taken for any reason and do not require supporting documentation but are only available on days that care was booked and you were charged for that care.

We report all absence days through the Child Care Management System.

You can view your absence count on the ‘View Child Care Attendance’ online statement available through the Services Australia website.

10. Additional absence days

Once the first 42 absence days have been used, Child Care Subsidy is payable for any additional absences in cases where all the following apply:

• the absence relates to a day on which care was booked
• the absence is one taken for an ‘additional absence’ reason (see below)
• you obtain and keep the required documentation
• your educator has correctly recorded attendance and absences
• childcare fees are charged. 

Acceptable ‘additional absence’ reasons include illness (with a medical certificate) and shared custody arrangements due to a court order.

Child Care Subsidy will not be paid for public holidays if 42 absences have been used (visit  Services Australia - if your child is absent from childcare  for more information). 

Child Care Subsidy is also payable for additional absences where a parent is not at work because he/she is working a rotating shift or is obliged to take a rostered day off from full or part-time work provided that:

• care is available for the child if required and
• you provide a written statement from your employer, confirming that you work rotating shifts or have rostered days off.

A rotating shift is defined as:

• A shift that requires a worker to work in rotation, different periods of the day over a period of time.
  For example, 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, while 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.

11. Individual personal identification number (PIN)

With the introduction of electronic time sheets all registered parents and emergency contacts will be issued with a personal identification number. This number must be kept confidential and is not to be shared with any other person.

The PIN will be used to sign children in and out of the service and to verify time sheets.

12. Records of care

Record of care documents are legal documents that are subject to audit by all levels of governments. It is therefore vital that they are accurate. 

You must complete the following every time you use our service, to comply with government regulation:

1. enter your individual pin to sign children in and out of the service
2. verify the hours by entering your individual pin at the end of your weeks care
3. check that hours recorded are correct before verifying.

Contract educators can only sign a child in and out when they are responsible for dropping off or picking up children from school or kindergarten or where an authorised person (parent/guardian or emergency contact) is unable to sign.

13. Emergency contact details

For the safety and well-being of all children, it is important that you can be contacted in emergency situations or can provide the details of at least two local authorised persons who may be contacted in the event of an emergency, if you are unavailable.

All emergency contacts will be issued with an individual PIN via email.

Please update your details by contacting the family services administration team on 03 5272 4741. Details that must be kept up-to-date include:

• work, home or mobile numbers
• addresses
• emergency contacts
• family doctor.

For more information, visit myGeelong.

14. Hours charged

To help manage our numbers, you are expected to comply with and pay for your booked hours. Any changes to hours must be discussed with your contract educator in advance.

It is important to note that you are required to pay for all your booked hours of care. If your child is picked up early or dropped off late, you must still pay in full for their agreed hours.

Please note: Child care subsidy will not be applied for your first week of care if you do not attend or your last week of care if you do not attend.

15. Kindergarten/preschool care

Child Care Subsidy is payable for absences due to kindergarten attendance if:

• your contract educator is the contact person while the child is at kindergarten
• your child is in care both before and after their session.

A full day of care will be charged.

This does not apply if your 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.

16. 24-hour care

The Child Care Subsidy is payable for up to fourteen 24-hour periods of care per child, per financial year.

This care is primarily provided for work-related care purposes. Approval must be sought from the Family Day Care Team Leader prior to care commencing, and supporting documentation from your employer must be provided.

We monitor 24-hour care, as does the Commonwealth Government.

If you require more than the fourteen periods of 24-hour care, we must seek approval from the Department of Human Services.

17. Overnight and weekend care

The Child Care Subsidy is payable for overnight and weekend care when care is primarily provided for work-related purposes.

In every instance, approval must be sought from the Family Day Care Team Leader prior to care commencing, and supporting documentation from your employer must be provided.

18. Non work-related care

Child Care Subsidy for non-work-related purposes is limited up to 24 hours per week, per child, during core hours. Our ability to provide this service is dependent on vacancies and the individual needs of all families.

To meet the Australian Governments Priority of Access Guidelines, we must prioritise families with work-related needs and may therefore at times need to alter days, in consultation with you and your educator.

19. Contract Educator unavailability/illness

Our Contract educators will give at least two weeks’ notice when taking holidays, to give sufficient time for you to organise alternative care. 

While our aim is to provide consistent care, occasionally our contract educators may be unable to give adequate notice due to unavoidable family illness or other legitimate reasons.   

It is important that your family has an emergency back-up person, should this occur. Although we may be able to help with alternative care, dependant on vacancies, a friend or family member known to the child is likely to be more appropriate in these circumstances.

You will not be charged for care when your contract educator is unavailable. This includes national and local gazetted public holidays, if you do not require care.

Contract educators are obliged to notify families before arrival if they have someone in their home, who is unwell. It is up to individual families to make the decision whether to leave their children or not.

However families will be obligated to pay for the day whether they attend or not, as long as the Contract educator is well enough to provide a safe learning environment for the children in care away from the person who is ill.

20. Contract Educator annual registration requirements

For Contract educators to remain registered with the service and provide education and care, they must ensure all registration requirements remain in date.

These include first aid, CPR, Working With Children Check, national criminal record check, public liability insurance.

Contract educators are also required to undertake a minimum of two professional development sessions a year and participate in service organised meetings on a regular basis.

It is an educator’s responsibility to ensure their registration requirements are current. If registration requirements lapse, educators will not be able to provide education and care and families will be notified by the service

21. Additional children

Please note Family Day Care Service follows all National Early Education and Care Services Regulations, including but not limited to reg 123a.

Family Day Care Ratio Requirements

• 1:7 educator to child ratio
• Maximum of four children preschool aged or under
• Ratio includes the educator’s own children younger than 13 years of age when there is no other adult to care for them.
• Care cannot cross over at any time.

22. Termination of care (cessation of care)

When you wish to terminate care for one or all of your children you are required to give at least 7 days written notice to the Administration Office via email [email protected]. Failure to do this may result in full fees being charged.

Note:  Child Care Subsidy cannot be claimed if your child does not attend the first day of care or the final day of care and full fees will be charged.

23. No jab, no play

In an effort to improve childhood immunisation rates, the Victorian Government amended the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008. The ‘No Jab, No Play’ amendment came into effect on 1 January 2016 ( this does not apply for school aged children).

Early childhood education and care services cannot confirm enrolment of your child unless you have provided documentation that shows your child:

• is fully vaccinated for their age OR
• is on a recognised catch-up schedule, if they have fallen behind with their vaccinations OR
• has a medical reason not to be vaccinated.

‘Conscientious objection’ to vaccination is not an exemption.

You must provide evidence of one of the aforementioned documents prior to commencing in care services.

To ensure your enrolment is up to date at all times you are required to show evidence of immunisation updates as they occur.

The legislation does not require we monitor or document the ongoing immunisation status of your child following enrolment, or to exclude enrolled children who are not fully immunised for their age (except in the case of a disease outbreak). For more information, visit Depaertment of Health - No jab, no play for early childhood education and care services.

The Better Health Channel has information for parents on No Jab No Play laws.