Question: Can childcare opt out for receiving payments and stop their services?

Answer passage (source: Australia):
page_title: Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
section_headers: Child Enrolments, Attendance and Absences
I have already charged families the gap fee for care provided on or after 23 March 2020. Can I give them a refund?
section_content: It is a business decision for each service whether or not they choose to
charge families a gap fee, or in this case refund the gap fee for children
absent from care due to COVID-19. From 23 March 2020 there is no legal
obligation for services to charge gap fees for children absent from care, up
to and including 5 April 2020 to the remainder of the 2019–20 financial year.

Reviewer feedback on this answer:
Doesn't address the question about services opting out of receiving payments.
While the response does discuss childcare fees, none of the answer pertains to the actual question.

Reviewer ratings:
Bad
Bad

Answer passage (source: Australia):
page_title: Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
section_headers: Child Enrolments, Attendance and Absences
What is the out of pocket fee waiver?
section_content: Ordinarily, when Child Care Subsidy operates, providers are required to
recover the out of pocket fees from families, even if the child is absent from
care. Due to the impact of COVID-19, the sector has reported significant
decreases in attendance. To support families and the sector, for the period 23
March to 5 April 2020, providers were able to waive out of pocket fees for
families where a service remained open, but children were absent.

Reviewer feedback on this answer:
Talks about family absences instead of childcare providers stopping their services.
The response discusses how the Child Care Subsidy would normally work and gives information about this sector being able to waive out of pocket fees for families regardless of a child's attendance.

Reviewer ratings:
Bad
Excellent

Answer passage (source: Australia):
page_title: Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
section_headers: Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package–information for providers and services
Will the Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package payments be an ‘opt-in’ measure or are all services required to participate?
section_content: Providers can choose to opt out of receiving the Early Childhood Education and
Care Relief Package payments for one or more of their services. The service/s
for which the provider has opted out, will not receive payments under the
measure or Child Care Subsidy/Additional Child Care Subsidy payments.
Providers will need to give notice of the voluntary suspension of Child Care
Subsidy approval for any of its services. Providers can do this by writing to
their state assessment team and providing the following information:

the full legal name and trading name of the provider
the unique provider approval number
for each service for which the provider requests a suspension–the unique service approval number
the reasons why the provider is requesting a suspension
the desired period of the suspension
the name and contact details for the provider’s representative in respect of the request.


Reviewer feedback on this answer:
Clearly says that childcare providers can choose to opt out of receiving payments.
The response gives a very detailed and clear answer to the question. It also states how providers should go about opting out if they would like.

Reviewer ratings:
Excellent
Excellent