Absences for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) 007-17103134

Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) can be used for allowable or approved additional absences.

CCS and ACCS cannot be used for unapproved or disregarded absences. When calculating child care subsidy, these absences will be deducted from the total fee for the child, for that week and the customer will be assessed as ineligible for CCS for these absences.

The Process page contains further information on viewing absences on a customer’s record.

CCS and/or ACCS can be paid for up to 42 absence days without evidence for each child for any reason each financial year. This applies across all services the child attends, not for each service.

Public holidays are counted as an absence and are not considered as an additional absence over the 42 day limit if:

• the child would normally have attended the service on that day (if it were not a public holiday), and
• fees have been charged for that day

The family's CCS hours entitlement limit still applies to allowable absence days.

In all circumstances, including shared care arrangements, the 42 absence days per financial year relates to each child, not to each individual claimant.

Evidence may be required for CCS and ACCS for absence days above the limit. Customers need to provide supporting documentation to the child care service to demonstrate an additional absence is required. The child care service will decide whether the absence is approved or not. The child must have used all of their 42 absence days before they can access additional absence days.

There is no limit to the number of approved additional absence days a child care service can approve, providing the absence is supported by evidence.

Reasons for additional absences can include:

• illness (with a medical certificate), or another absence due to sickness of the child, a carer, carer's partner or sibling, supported by medical certificates
• temporary closure of a school or pupil-free days
• up to 28 days following a period of local emergency where:
• the service is closed, or
• the child is unable to travel to the service due to the emergency
• shared care arrangements due to a court order, parenting plan or parenting order, where a copy has been provided to the approved child care service
• the child is not immunised, and
• the absence occurs during immunisation grace period, and
• a medical practitioner certifies exposure to the infectious disease would pose a health risk to the child
• attendance at preschool

The Resources page contains examples of approved absences.

The government can decide to increase the number of allowable absences that CCS and/or ACCS can be paid for in an emergency event:

• in a particular location, and
• for a particular period

These extra allowable absences are displayed as special purpose absences in Process Direct and event absences via online services/Express Plus app.

The government makes the rules for when and how special purpose absences apply. Depending on the emergency event circumstances, special purpose absences may only be available when a child attends a particular service, or is in the care of a particular customer.

If a child has both annual allowable absences and special purposes absences available, special purpose absences will be used first.

When a customer has exceeded their eligible 42 allowable absence day limit and no further evidence is provided, the absence is deemed an 'unapproved absence'.

Where an absence is recorded before the child's first physical attendance, or after the child's last physical attendance and does not meet the requirements of a prescribed or additional absence. The absence is deemed a 'disregarded absence'.

CCS may be payable if a child is absent in the first 7 days before or after the child physically attended the service (including the first/last day of care), for any of the following reasons that will be determined by the service:

• any of the additional absence reasons
• the child, the customer, the customer’s partner or another person who the child lives is ill (where evidence has been provided to the service)
• the service has changed ownership
• the usual service is closed, and the child attends a different service under the same provider
• a family tragedy (a major event including the death of an immediate family member) has occurred
• the enrolment ceased incorrectly
• local emergencies declared and approved by the Department of Education

Note: where an approved absence is recorded before care, CCS will not be paid until after the child has actually attended the service.

Customers will be liable for full fees where the absence is an unapproved absence or a disregarded absence.

Customers may contact Services Australia when this happens as these instances will often result in the child care provider charging full fees for the disregarded absences.

See Resources for an example.

The government introduced changes to absences in response to coronavirus (COVID-19) for the 2019-20 year.

Customers were entitled to an extra 20 absences days for any reason up until 5 April 2020. This allowed customers to access 62 paid absence days without evidence being required. Child care services were not required to submit session reports from 6 April 2020 to 12 July 2020.

Note: a $0 session fee was recorded on every current CCS enrolment on 6 April 2020 and 12 July 2020. This ensured families could get the full benefit of the increase to allowable absences.

The government introduced changes to absences in response to coronavirus (COVID-19) for the 2020-21 year.

Children attending a Victorian child care service are entitled to 45 special purpose absences for the 2020-2021 financial year. This allows these children to access a total of 87 paid absence days for the 2020-21 year without evidence being required. The child only gets the benefit of the special purpose absences while attending a Victorian child care service.

Notes:

• A $0 session fee was recorded on many current CCS enrolment for children in Victoria on 12 October 2020 with reason ‘COVID-19 system update’ to ensure enrolments did not cease
• Some services are varying or withdrawing the $0 session of care submitted on 12 October 2020. This is causing the system to reassess and cease enrolments. A debt is being raised on the ceased enrolment for the absences between the child’s last physical attendance and the enrolment cease date. If the provider has incorrectly varied or withdrawn the $0 session of care for 12 October 2020, they must resubmit it. This will cause a reassessment of the customer's CCS entitlement
• Families/customers may have had their enrolment ceased prior to the $0 session of care submitted on 12 October. Any absences between the child’s last physical attendance and the enrolment cease date is raised as a debt against the service. The service has a right to recover this debt from the customer although the decision to do so remains at the discretion of the service
• Some services may also submit $0 sessions of care for other dates in October/November 2020 to prevent customers being charged for absences. These will have been already approved by Department of Education

The government introduced changes to absences in response to coronavirus (COVID-19) for the 2021-22 year and extended these until 30 June 2023.

Allowable absences

For the 2021-22 year only, if a state or territory restricted access to child care in a region for more than 7 days, more special purpose absences were provided to the impacted families.

For both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 financial years, all Australian families can access 10 extra allowable absences per child.

This is on top of the standard 42 allowable absences provided to families per child each year.

This brings the total number of allowable absences available to 52.

Note: for the 2022-23 year, the system will display as 42 allowable absences and the remaining 10 extra absences will present as Special Purpose Absences.

In certain circumstances, families can access additional absences if they have used their annual allowable absence limit. This includes if a child is ill, and a medical certificate is provided.

From 1 March 2022 until 30 June 2023, if a child or a member of their immediate household has COVID-19, the family may provide evidence of a positive COVID-19 test result from a government agency in place of a medical certificate.

Special purpose absences

Families living in or attending a child care service in a Commonwealth declared COVID-19 hotspot, are able to access special purpose absences.

To be eligible to access the special purpose absences, the COVID-19 hotspot must be:

• subject to a state or territory lockdown, and
• declared as a Commonwealth COVID-19 hotspot by the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer for more than 7 successive days

Families can also access special purpose absences when a state or territory government order has limited access to child care.

During these periods, families will not have to use their regular 42 allowable absences.

Special purpose absences will be available from the date the area was declared a COVID-19 hotspot until the state or territory:

• lifts restrictions around access to child care (for Centre Based Day Care, Family Day Care and In Home Care services), or
• allows all primary school-aged children to return to face-to-face learning (Outside School Hours Care services)

If eligible, special purpose absences are applied to the impacted families, they do not need to do anything.

Absences before the first day of care

Normally, CCS absences before the child’s first physical attendance at their child care service are not payable.

An exception now applies for enrolments that started during COVID 19 lockdown. If a customer commences their child’s enrolment with their child care service after 12 July 2021 CCS may be payable for absences before the first day the child attended care.

Customers may be eligible if the following apply:

• they lived in, or their child’s service was in a declared COVID-19 hotspot for more than 7 days, and
• absences before the first physical attendance are within the within 28 days of the lockdown ending, and
• absences were recorded at the start of the child’s enrolment

If the customer is eligible and meets the above criteria, Services should record:

• a $0 session with the start time of 6.00am and end time of 6:15am, with
• session description of ‘COVID-19 first day of care’ on the first day of the enrolment

This ensures CCS absences before the first physical attendance are paid.

Tell families to speak to their child care service to see if this applies to them. Child care services have been given instructions by Department of Education on how to record this exception.

The Resources page has a link.

Absences after last day of care

Normally, CCS absences after the child’s last physical attendance at their child care service are not payable. However, changes have been made to pay for CCS absences after a child’s last physical attendance to families affected by COVID 19 lockdown period.

If a customer wants to end their child’s enrolment with their child care service after 12 July 2021 CCS may be paid for absences after the last day the child attended care.

Customers may be eligible if the following apply:

• they have recorded a first attendance, and
• they lived in, or their child’s service was in a declared COVID-19 hotspot for more than 7 days, and
• they ended their enrolment within 28 days of the lockdown ending

If the customer is eligible and meets the above criteria, services should record:

• a $0 session with the start time of 10:00pm and end time of 10:15pm, with
• session description of ‘COVID-19 last day of care’ on the last day of the enrolment

This ensures CCS absences after last day of care are paid.

Families will need to speak to their child care service to see if this applies to them. Child care services have been given instructions by Department of Education on how to record this exception.

The Resources page has a link.

Special purpose absences

For January and February 2022, families with children in child care services outside Western Australia, can get unlimited special purpose absences. These absences will be automatically applied.

For March and April 2022, families with children in child care services in Western Australia, can get unlimited special purpose absences. These absences will be automatically applied.

This means families will not have to use their 52 allowable absences for the 2021-22 financial year during this time.

Families may get back paid absences if their child has already exceeded their 52 allowable absences.

Absences due to COVID-19 isolation requirements between 1 December 2021 and 30 June 2023

Families will get paid for absences taken in the 7 days before the child’s first day of attendance, or after their last day of attendance, if the child or a member of their immediate household is required to isolate due to COVID-19.

This applies in all states and territories from 1 December 2021 to 30 June 2023.

Child care services should record these absences using the reason code ‘Child ill’.

Families are not required to provide evidence for these absences. Unless the child is ill and the family provides a medical certificate, child care services are not required to maintain records of these absences.

Absences between 1 January 2022 and 28 February 2022

Families in all states and territories, with the exception of Western Australia, can get paid for absences that occur before the child’s first day or after the last day of care between 1 January and 28 February 2022.

Absences before the first day of care:

• If the customer is eligible, services should record:
• a $0 session with a start time of 6.00am and end time of 6:15am, with
• the session description ‘COVID-19 first day of care’ on the first day of the enrolment
• This ensures absences before the first physical attendance are paid

Absences after last day of care:

• If the customer is eligible services should record:
• a $0 session with the start time of 10:00pm and end time of 10:15pm, with
• the session description ‘COVID-19 last day of care’ on the last day of the enrolment
• This ensures absences after last day of care are paid

Child care services have been given instructions by Department of Education on how to record this exception.

Absences between 3 March 2022 and 30 April 2022 for Western Australia

Families in Western Australia can get paid for absences that occur before the child’s first day or after the last day of care between 3 March and 30 April 2022.

Absences before the first day of care:

• If the customer is eligible, services should record:
• a $0 session with a start time of 6.00am and end time of 6:15am, with
• the session description ‘COVID-19 first day of care’ on the first day of the enrolment
• This ensures absences before the first physical attendance are paid

Absences after last day of care:

• If the customer is eligible services should record:
• a $0 session with the start time of 10:00pm and end time of 10:15pm, with
• the session description ‘COVID-19 last day of care’ on the last day of the enrolment
• This ensures absences after last day of care are paid

Child care services have been given instructions by Department of Education on how to record this exception.

For the 2021-22 year

Child care services can waive the gap fee for families if a child is unable to attend care for any one of the below reasons:

• From the first day the restrictions are in force, if the state or territory has restricted access to child care in a region due to COVID-19, or
• From 1 October 2021, if a Family Day Care or In-Home Care educator can’t provide their usual service because they, or a member of their immediate household must isolate due to COVID-19, or
• From 1 October 2021, if an Outside School Hours Care service operating on a school campus closed as part of a direction to the school to close, or
• From 9 November 2021, if the child, or a member of their immediate household, must isolate due to COVID-19, or
• From 27 January 2022, if the child is at a higher risk of severe disease from COVID-19, or
• From 27 January 2022, if the child care service, or a part of the service closed based on general guidance from a state or territory government agency, such as a health, education, or regulatory agency, due to a COVID-19 case, or
• From 27 January 2022, if the child care service, or a part of the service, closed because educator to child ratios cannot be safely met due to the educator/s isolating

For the 2022-23 year

Child care services can waive the gap fee for families and continue to receive CCS if a child is unable to attend care for one of the following reasons:

• the child, or a member of their immediate household, must isolate due to COVID-19, or
• the child is at a higher risk of developing severe disease as a result of COVID-19. This includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, or
• the child care service, or a room at the service is closed due to COVID-19 because educator-to-child ratios cannot be safely met while educators are isolating. This includes Family Day care and In Home Care that cannot provide their usual service while they, or a member of the immediate household, are isolating

If one of the above reasons apply, families should talk to their child care service about getting the gap fee waived. In some circumstances, families will need to provide evidence to show their eligibility.

Where a child care service is approved to waive a gap fee, they can decide whether they will waive the gap fee or not. If they choose to waive the gap fee, it can be waived partially or in full.

Families may also want to change payment arrangements (for example, Centrepay deductions) if the service has decided to waive the gap fee for any period.

Note: families who get CCS must ordinarily make a co-contribution to their child care fees under Family Assistance Law. They do this by paying the difference between the provider’s fee and the CCS amount. This is known as the gap fee. The Department of Education are responsible for child care policy, including policy relating to waiver of gap fees. Services Australia does not have any role in applying or monitoring gap fee waivers.

Legislative changes have been made to update the terminology used when referencing gap free waivers. Within legislation 'gap fee waiver' will be referred to as 'prescribed circumstances discounts'. These updates will not be made in Services Australia reference material.

A period of emergency applies for an event which:

• affects a widespread area
• has a severe impact on the lives of a significant number of people in that area, and
• prevents children from attending a service or may make attending dangerous

The Department of Education will announce when a period of emergency is declared. Families can find out regions the period of emergency covers and the dates that it applies on the Department of Education website.

Families who reside or attend child care in declared regions, can now access extra allowable absences during a period of emergency, for example, bushfires, floods or a COVID-19 lockdown. More information is available on the Department of Education website.

Families:

• do not need to use their regular 52 allowable absences during a period of emergency
• do not need to do anything to get these extra allowable absences. They will be automatically applied if they are eligible for them.
• can view available extra allowable in their Centrelink Online account through:
• myGov, and
• Express Plus Centrelink mobile app

These extra allowable absences are displayed as special purpose absences in Process Direct and event absences via online services/Express Plus app.

Following the period of emergency, families may access additional absences if they have exhausted their annual allocation of allowable absences:

• for 28 days after the emergency, if a child is unable to attend
• for 7 days after an emergency, if a family decides the child should not attend

Gap fee waiver

Child care services can choose to waive the gap fees for families residing or attending child care in a declared region for the duration of the period of emergency.

This applies where the child is unable to attend the child care or the service is closed as a direct result of the emergency.

If the above applies, families should talk to their child care service about getting the gap fee waived. In some circumstances, families will need to provide evidence to show their eligibility.

Where a child care service is approved to waive a gap fee, they can decide whether they will waive the gap fee or not. If they choose to waive the gap fee, it can be waived partially or in full.

Families may also want to change payment arrangements (for example, Centrepay deductions) if the service has decided to waive the gap fee for any period.

Note: families who get CCS must ordinarily make a co-contribution to their child care fees under Family Assistance Law. They do this by paying the difference between the provider’s fee and the CCS amount. This is known as the gap fee. The Department of Education is responsible for child care policy, including policy relating to waiver of gap fees. Services Australia does not have any role in applying or monitoring gap fee waivers.

The Resources page has a link to the Department of Education website.

Customers can view details of their Child Care Subsidy information including any reported absences in their online services.

Staff can view details in Process Direct via the Child Care Subsidy icon.

See the Process page for more information.