Eligible hours for Child Care Benefit (CCB) 007-03040020

What type of care is the customer claiming CCB for?

• Registered care, go to Step 2
• Approved care, also include Child Care Rebate (CCR) go to Step 3

Customers are required to lodge a Claim for Registered Care (FA018) on which they need to indicate whether or not they satisfied the work/training/study test or exception for each week they are claiming CCB.

Did the customer and their partner (if applicable) satisfy the work/training/study test or an exception applies for CCB for registered care at some time during the week the child care was provided (that is no minimum number of hours is required)?

• Yes, they are eligible to be paid CCB for up to 50 hours per child for that week. Procedure ends here
• No, update the record:
• On the Child Care Usage Registered (CIUR) screen, code 'N' in the Work/Tng/Study: field for each week claimed, during claim or reassessment activity
• Procedure ends here

Backdating limits

For reduced fees customers, if the customer's work/training/study test details are incorrect, they can be backdated for a favourable determination to 1 July of the previous financial year.

There is no limitation on backdating for an unfavourable determination.

To correct the customer’s work/training/study test details either for a favourable or unfavourable decision navigate to the Child Care Work Training Study (!CWTS) screen to make the appropriate updates.

CCB lump sum claims can have the work/training/study test details backdated to 1 July of the financial year they are claiming for.

As CCF/CCR is no longer applicable from 2 July 2018, updates cannot be for a date later than 2 July 2018.

Customers self-assess the work/training/study test, but when changing historical information, record on a DOC the reason for the change.

Periods of 24 hour care

If a customer requires a period of 24 hour care, this is assessed separately by the Special Child Care Assessment Team (SCAT). The assessment will override the customer's normal eligible hour limit.

CCB is limited to 24 hours per child per week unless the customer satisfies the work/training/study test or an exception applies.

Is the customer an eligible grandparent with primary care of a grandchild?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, and:
• the customer is caring for a grandchild but the above requirements are not met, code the reason they are not eligible (for example, not the primary carer of a grandchild) on the Grandparent Assessment (CHGA) screen, go to Step 5
• the customer is not caring for a grandchild, go to Step 5

The work/training/study test was waived for grandparents with primary care of a grandchild attending child care, so the customer could access up to 50 hours of full time care per child per week and wasl also eligible for CCR if there were out of pocket expenses. This applied at the customer level for all children in their care attending child care.

Grandparents who were in receipt of an income support payment were automatically eligible for Grandparent Child Care Benefit (GCCB) which covered their full child care fees.

The Record details on the Grandchild Assessment (CHGA) screen was coded for each grandchild in child care.

The Child Care Work Training Study (CWTS) screen was still to be coded for all grandparents regardless of income support payment status. The system did not recognise the customer as having met the work/training/study test if this screen was not coded and the customer was not eligible for an income support payment or lost their income support payment eligibility.

Go to Step 6.

All CCB for approved care customers were eligible for up to 24 hours per child per week without meeting a work/training/study test.

To be eligible for more than 24 hours and up to 50 hours per child per week, 1 of the following needed to apply:

• The customer was an eligible grandparent with primary care of a grandchild using approved care, or
• The customer (and their partner) must have both met the work/training/study test or an exception applied. The activities to meet the test must have been undertaken for at least 15 hours per week (or 30 hours per fortnightly)

Note: a person could have combined activities for the purpose of meeting the work/training/study test to be eligible for more than 24 hours CCB. For example, part time or casual work may have been combined with study or looking for work, to calculate the number of hours the (individual) person was undertaking activities.

To be eligible for CCR, the customer (and partner) must have satisfied the work/training/study test or an exception applied at some time during the week, that is, no minimum number of hours was required.

Customers stated whether or not they satisfied this test when they claimed CCB. This information could have been given verbally. Customers also need to contact to advise a change in circumstances which may have affected their eligible hour limit.

Evidence was not required as customers self-assessed as to whether they satisfied the work/training/study test. If the information supplied by the customer was questionable, or the customer was uncertain, Service Officers can request further evidence to ensure that the information supplied was accurate.

Exceptional circumstances

Service Officers could determine short term entitlement for up to 50 hours per week exceptional circumstances for CCB. The customer record must have been clearly documented and updates made to update the Child Care Work Training Study (CWTS) screen with the period that the exceptional circumstances applied.

For an increase of more than 50 hours per week due to exceptional circumstances for CCB a claim for Special Child Care Benefit and/or increased weekly limit of hours (FA023) must have been completed by the customer and lodged with the service, or completed by the service if the child was at risk.

Did the customer (and their partner) satisfy the work/training/study test or an exception applied for CCB for approved care or CCR in the week?

• Yes, the customer may have been paid CCB for up to 50 hours per child per week. Go to Step 6
• No, CCB was limited to 24 hours per child per week. Go to Step 6

Update details for the customer (and their partner or ex-partner for any partnered period).

Ex-partners: There was no legislative requirement for customers to provide work/training/study test information for ex-partners. Therefore, both CCF: and Rebate: fields must have been updated to indicate that the ex-partner satisfies the test for any partnered periods.

Automatic assessments: There was no requirement to update the CWTS screen when the customer and their partner met both the CCB and CCR tests automatically. Automatic assessments can be viewed on the CCF Rate Explanation (REXCCF) screen.

• Where a person was in receipt of 1 of the following payments, the person would have been assessed as automatically meeting the test for both CCB and CCR. This applied to the person only and not their partner, therefore the partner's information was still need to be updated:
• ABSTUDY
• Austudy
• Carer Payment
• Carer Allowance for a disabled adult
• Carer Allowance payments for a disabled child (the family satisfies the test if either member of a couple was receiving CA for a disabled child)
• Disability Support Pension
• Pensioner Education Supplement
• Youth Allowance (full-time student)
• If the following circumstances applied for a customer or their partner, the family would have automatically met the test for both CCB and CCR:
• Customer or their partner was in receipt of Carer Allowance (CA) payments (not Health Care Card (HCC) only) for a disabled child
• Customer or partner had their grandchild in their primary care and had claimed CCB for approved care for the grandchild
• When in receipt of the following payments a person would have automatically met the test for CCR only (not CCB as Services Australia cannot automatically determine if they are undertaking activities for 15 hours per week or more):
• Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker)
• Newstart Allowance (NSA) (job seeker)
• In Event date: field, the date coded was the date the customer satisfied or failed to satisfy the test or exception. Within a claim, this was the date of receipt of the claim unless the customer advises another date that they satisfied or failed to satisfy the work test. If the customer is advising a change of circumstances the event date was the date that they satisfied or failed to satisfy the work test
• A change to the work/training/study test (and therefore the eligible hour limit) can be backdated. Backdates for favourable determinations are limited to 1 July of the previous financial year for reduced fees customers. There is no limitation on backdating for an unfavourable determination. Note: a future date could not be recorded. If the customer advised of a change to their work/training/study test details in advance, they were advised to update their details via online services once their circumstances had changed
• Coding the CCF: field to indicate whether or not the person satisfied the test or exception applied (reminder: the customer and their partner both needed to have been undertaking activities for 15 hours or more per week or 30 hours per fortnight to meet the test. If the WTST was not met, the eligible hour limit of 24 hours applied for all children in their care)
• Coding the Rebate: field to indicate whether or not the person satisfied the test or exception for the Child Care Rebate (reminder: no minimum number of hours is required)

Note: the CWTS screen must record the customer's correct work/training/study test details.