mteb/FeedbackQARetrieval huggingface dataset:
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Family Day Care and In Home Care
Are there different Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package payment arrangements for Family Day Care or In Home Care providers?
No. Unless otherwise notified by the department, the payments will be paid as
a lump sum on a weekly basis at the provider/service level. Consistent with
the previous arrangements for the Child Care Subsidy, payments will not be
made to educators.
Approved providers are responsible for the administration of the payment
including decisions on how to apply payment amounts to individual educators.
Approved providers as business owners should explore options to support their
business model and their educators. Further information is available on the
australia.gov.au website.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package–information for providers and services
What is the calculation method for payments under the Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package?
The payment will be based on a reference fortnight, and calculated as 50 per
cent of the lesser of:

the hourly fee for the session of care; or
the relevant Child Care Subsidy hourly rate cap.

The reference fortnight is as follows:

For an Outside School Hours Care Service that provides only vacation care–the fortnight starting on the first Monday of the school holidays between school Term 3 and Term 4 in 2019 in the state or territory in which the service is located.
For all other services, it is­ the fortnight starting 17 February 2020.
Where a service charged fees for only one week of care during the fortnight starting
17 February 2020, or in the school holidays between Terms 3 and 4 in 2019, the
amount will be calculated on the week in which care occurred and the amount
doubled.

Example
A Centre Based Day Care (CBDC) service charges $100 for a 10 hour session of
care. Therefore, their hourly fee is $10 per hour ($100 ÷ 10 = $10). As $10 is
less than the CBDC hourly rate cap of $11.98, $10 is the amount used.
On the fortnight starting 17 February 2020, the CBDC service had 20 children
attending the service. Each child attended 10 sessions of care for the
fortnight (or five per week) and were charged $100 for a ten hour session
(meaning the hourly fee was $10). For that fortnight, the service’s total fees
charged were $20,000 (or $10,000 per week).
The payment this service will receive is worked out below:

the hourly payment is $5 ($10 x 50% = $5)
$5 hourly payment x 10 hour session = $50 payment per session
$50 x 20 children x 5 sessions per week = $5,000 paid per week.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Information for families
What conditions must be met by services to receive payments?
The service must meet a number of conditions to continue to receive these
payments.
These conditions include:

that the service remains open and provides sessions of care to at least one child, unless closed on public health advice or advice of a state regulatory authority for COVID-19 health and safety reasons 
families and carers are not charged fees relating to sessions of care provided to children during the period the service receives the payments 
priority of access is given to children of essential workers, vulnerable and disadvantaged children; and previously enrolled children; and
the service must comply with all other Family Assistance Law and National Law obligations.

Additionally, services must not increase these fees for the duration of the
Relief Package, and must not add any new fees that were not listed in a
family’s Complying Written Agreement prior to 6 April 2020.
It should be noted that Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package
payments are discretionary payments under Family Assistance Law, and failure
to comply with the conditions can result in the payments being reduced or
suspended.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
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?
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.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package–information for providers and services
Can I change my service offering under the Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package in relation to meals, nappies or late fees? 
The intent of the weekly payments is to enable access to free child care for
families of the priority groups like essential workers, during the COVID-19
crisis. The weekly payments should be the full amount a provider/service will
receive, unless they apply for and meet the criteria for an Exceptional
Circumstance Supplementary Payment. Also noting that the Relief Package is
complementary to other Government business support payments, like the
JobKeeper Payment a provider may receive.
While providers/services receive payments under the Relief Package, they
should not be changing their service offer and/or increasing or adding new
administrative fees.
A provider’s usual service offering generally includes consumable items such
as meals, wipes, or art supplies as part of the cost of providing a session of
care. For example, if nappies were included as part of the session fee your
service usually provided, nappies should continue to be provided without any
extra cost to families.
Some services also charge administrative fees. These fees do not form part of
the session of care fee that a family’s Child Care Subsidy was calculated on,
meaning that services can continue to charge administrative fees, for example,
late pick-up fees. However, services are not to increase these fees for the
duration of the Relief Package or add new ones that were not listed in a
family’s Complying Written Agreement.
A condition of a provider/service receiving payments under the Relief Package
is that all services continue to meet the provider obligations under Family
Assistance Law and there are to be no fees charged for care provided.
The department can take compliance action against services not meeting the
conditions of the payments. Information about such practices can be directed
to the department’s tip off line 1800 664 231 or emailing
tipoffline@dese.gov.au.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package–information for providers and services
Are Relief Package payments available to services that were temporarily closed or not yet open during the reference periods?
Services in this situation will need to apply for an Exceptional Circumstance
Supplementary Payment. Unless the other criteria for an Exceptional
Circumstance Supplementary Payment are met, the payment a new service would
receive is the lower of 50 per cent of fee revenue or 50 per cent of the
hourly rate cap for the enrolments during the period of operation.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
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?
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.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Family Day Care and In Home Care
What if a Family Day Care or In Home Care service has already applied for an Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment because their (sole trader contractor) educators are not eligible for the JobKeeper Payment?
If a Family Day Care or In Home Care service has already made an application
through the Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment process the
department will be in contact with them shortly to request further information
about those educators (sole trader contractors) who are not eligible for the
JobKeeper Payment. Confirmation and evidence will be sought that all relevant
educators have applied for an ABN before any additional payment can be
assessed.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package–information for providers and services
Will immunisation requirements for children continue?
Yes. All Child Care Subsidy (CCS) eligibility requirements will continue in
place, and all approved providers and services must continue to comply with
Family Assistance Law and National Law requirements. This includes the
requirement under the CCS for children to meet the Childhood schedule on the
Department of Health’s National Immunisation Program
Schedule, be on a suitable
catch up schedule in line with the Department of Health’s current Australian
Immunisation Handbook, or have
an approved medical
exemption recorded on the Australian Immunisation
Register.
For all care types except In Home Care, families with children who do not meet
the CCS immunisation requirements can attend child care services being
supported by payments under the Relief Package where permitted to do so under
state or territory regulations. These children must be enrolled under a
Relevant Arrangement or Organisation Arrangement.
For families using In Home Care, all children attending an In Home Care
service must be CCS eligible. Children who do not meet the CCS immunisation
requirements cannot attend In Home Care child care services.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package–information for providers and services
What about children who were full fee paying previously?
Children previously paying full fees will have been accounted for in the base
payment calculation and can continue to attend at no charge. However, you can
tell us about these children if you apply for an Exceptional Circumstance
Supplementary Payment, noting that services should prioritise care to children
of essential workers, vulnerable and disadvantaged children, and children with
existing enrolments.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Information for families
What can I do if my service is refusing care for my child?
The Government is relying on services to provide care to as many children as
they can, giving priority to essential workers, vulnerable and disadvantaged
children and previously enrolled children.
However, each service is dealing with new circumstances and having to
reconsider available staff, health and other business challenges. This means
each service has to make decisions on its own capacity to offer care, based on
these new considerations.
While repeated, serious breaches of conditions of the Relief Package may
result in a service losing access to payments under the Relief Package, the
significant impact of COVID-19 on operating arrangements will mean some
services will not be able to continue to offer the same care to all families.
Where services have increased demand and feel they cannot afford to meet it
based on current levels of support, an Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary
Payment is available. This means if a service has more children attending now
than it had during the reference period it can apply to receive a higher
payment.
If you are an essential worker with need for increased care hours, and have
been refused by your service, you can contact the department’s tip off line on
1800 664 231 or emailing
tipoffline@dese.gov.au.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package–information for providers and services
How do I stay up to date on the Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package?
As we navigate COVID-19, the Department of Education, Skills and Employment is
engaging directly with both providers and services more often. Many contact
details are out of date, resulting in providers and services missing out on
important information.
The department encourages providers to update both their provider and each
service’s contact details in the Child Care Subsidy System, particularly email
addresses. The provider and service email addresses could be the same, but
both may need updating.
You can update your details via the Provider Entry Point
(PEP).
Guidance is available in the task card How to View and Update Organisation
Details in the PEP.
Alternatively, you can update your details via your third party software.
Please contact your software provider if you need assistance updating your
details via a third party software program.
Please also make sure that you have subscribed to receive communications
from the
Department of Education, Skills and Employment.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Family Day Care and In Home Care
As a Family Day Care service, are we allowed to charge our educators the fees that keep our service running?
Any type of internal fee arrangement between a Family Day Care service and an
educator is a commercial business arrangement. The Government does not
regulate or intervene on matters between educators and services. As part of
broader messaging around the COVID-19 response the Prime Minister has appealed
to all businesses to look at their rate of fees and charges and see if they
can reduce them in recognition of the unprecedented times being experienced.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package–information for providers and services
How will the Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package payments affect families on Additional Child Care Subsidy?
The Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package payments will be made
instead of the usual Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Additional Child Care
Subsidy (ACCS) payments.
If the family’s current ACCS determination continues past the end of the Early
Childhood Education and Care Relief Package payment period, they will return
to their ACCS entitlement. This will be the case for most families receiving
ACCS (grandparent).
To ensure that ACCS (child wellbeing) continues to flow when the system
returns to normal, if a family’s ACCS (child wellbeing) determination expires
during the period, services will need to apply for a new determination. We
encourage providers to submit determinations prior to the resumption of the
regular system to avoid any gaps in ACCS (child wellbeing). If a family’s CCS
cancels during the payment period they will need to reapply for CCS (and be
assessed as eligible) for a service to receive ACCS (child wellbeing) payments
when regular payments resume.
If a family has submitted an application for ACCS (temporary financial
hardship) their eligibility will be assessed and payment made up to 5 April
2020.
If a person’s ACCS (transition to work) eligibility expires during the Relief
Package period or the person requests to cease the ACCS (transition to work),
they will need to apply for ACCS (transition to work) if they meet the
eligibility criteria for the payment to recommence on 28 June 2020.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Family Day Care and In Home Care
Can In Home Care be used by families whose children are unable to go to school or access their regular child care arrangements due to COVID-19?
In Home Care (IHC) is a specific type of care that is targeted to families who
meet the IHC eligibility criteria.
Risk of COVID-19 infection, or an early childhood education and care service
or school closing because of COVID-19, would not by itself be a valid reason
to access IHC. However, critical workers may be able to access IHC and should
contact the relevant IHC Support
Agency within their state or
territory to discuss their requirements.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Child Enrolments, Attendance and Absences
What if I need to amend a session report for a session of care prior to 6 April 2020?
After 28 June 2020, providers will be able to submit sessions of care for
periods prior to 6 April 2020, and to make resubmissions to correct already
submitted sessions.
These submissions and resubmissions will be monitored to ensure providers
remain compliant with legislation.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Family Day Care and In Home Care
Are Family Day Care and In Home Care educators being asked to take a 50 per cent pay cut?
No, Relief Package payments to providers are based on the lower of 50 per cent
of service fee revenue or 50 per cent of the Child Care Subsidy hourly rate
cap, based on the fortnight before 2 March 2020.
However, educators may also be eligible for the fortnightly JobKeeper Payment
to cover their wage.
If a Family Day Care or In Home Care educator is not eligible for the
JobKeeper Payment then they may be eligible for an Exceptional Circumstance
Supplementary Payment.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package–information for providers and services
How do we respond to families who had previously taken their children out of care for health and safety reasons who now wish to return their child to care?
Under the Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package, services must
prioritise care to children of essential workers, vulnerable and disadvantaged
children, and children who were previously enrolled.
Where services choose to accept new enrolments and increase attendance where
parents request it, they are able to apply for Exceptional Circumstance
Supplementary Payments, where the current level of attendance is higher than
the reference period, to meet the demand for child care up to their service’s
full capacity.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment – JobKeeper ineligibility – information for providers and services
My service is currently experiencing higher hours of attendance than during the reference fortnight and I have had to employ additional staff. Can I receive a higher Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment? 
Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payments made on the basis of JobKeeper
ineligibility are designed to allow services to continue to pay the staff who
worked during the reference fortnight. Services who are currently experiencing
higher hours of attendance may be eligible for an Exceptional Circumstance
Supplementary Payment on the basis of higher demand. Applications for this
payment can be made through the form.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Child Enrolments, Attendance and Absences
What if a child is absent on their last day of enrolment?
If an enrolment ends on or prior to 5 April 2020, and the child is absent on
the last day, normal absence rules apply. That is, if a family has confirmed
their child’s last day at a service, but that child does not attend their last
booked session(s) of care, no Child Care Subsidy (CCS) will be paid for any
days after the child’s last physical attendance at the service.
If absences are reported in the above circumstances and CCS has been
previously paid, these amounts will be recovered from the service once the
enrolment ceases.
If a child is absent on their last day of enrolment in the period between 6
April 2020 and 28 June 2020, the CCS amount which has been paid to the service
will not be recovered from the service or the family.
For example, if the child ceases their enrolment on 8 April 2020, and has been
absent for the two weeks immediately prior to this date, the CCS amount which
has been paid to the service over the period up to 8 April 2020, will not be
recovered from the service or the family.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment – JobKeeper ineligibility – information for providers and services
My service is eligible for an Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment on the basis of ineligibility for JobKeeper. How do I apply?
Services seeking an Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment should
complete an online form.
As part of the application form, you will need to upload a completed payment
spreadsheet. This is what the department will use to calculate your
eligibility and payments. You may choose to complete the
spreadsheet before beginning the online
application form to give you more time to compile and check your responses.
This spreadsheet records the hours for which staff were paid during the
reference period (17 February to 1 March 2020). In completing this
spreadsheet, you will also need to confirm these staff were still employed as
at 18 May 2020 and declare where you are eligible for JobKeeper for this staff
member.
Before submitting your application, you are legally required to obtain
permission from all employees who worked during the reference period to
provide their personal information to the Australian Government Department of
Education, Skills, and Employment, the Australian Taxation Office, and
Services Australia. You will need to keep records of this permission.
Early Childhood Education and Care COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions
Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package and the Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment—information for providers and services
My Centre Based Day Care service is not eligible for the JobKeeper Payment. Am I eligible for an Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment? 
The Government has expanded the categories of providers that may apply for the
Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment. These include some providers
that are not eligible for the JobKeeper Payment, including non-government
schools, large charities/not-for-profit organisations, and services that have
30 per cent or more full-time equivalent current employees that are not
eligible for JobKeeper. State and local government run and not-for-profit
providers are not eligible to apply.
Services associated with non-government schools should now be receiving a
weekly Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment as well as a separate
payment to cover the period from 6 April. If you are a service associated with
a non-government school that is not eligible for JobKeeper and you have not
received an Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment, you should contact
the department at
ECECreliefpackage@dese.gov.au.
Large charities/not-for-profit organisations should have now been contacted by
the department to confirm JobKeeper ineligibility. Once confirmed you should
receive a weekly Exceptional Circumstance Supplementary Payment as well as a
separate payment to cover the period from 6 April.
Services that have 30 per cent or more full-time equivalent current employees
that are not eligible for JobKeeper must apply to the department.