Enrolment requirements for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) 007-17103117

To be eligible for CCS for a session of care the customer, or their partner, must have incurred a liability to pay for the session under a Complying Written Arrangement (CWA).

A CWA is a contract between a child care service and a customer in relation to a service providing care for a child.

A CWA must include:

• the names, signatures and contact details of the parties to the arrangement
• the date the arrangement was entered into
• the name and date of birth of the child to whom sessions of care are proposed to be provided
• when sessions of care are proposed to be provided to the child, by describing whichever is applicable (including, if applicable, both):
• routine days and start and end times for sessions of care, or
• the casual or flexible arrangements proposed, and
• the fees to be charged for sessions of care provided under the arrangement

A child's enrolment starts when an approved child care service and a customer (or their partner) enter into a CWA (except where the child is at serious risk of abuse or neglect).

Child care services submit CWA information electronically, and customers are required to confirm this information before payment of CCS starts. Customers are not required to provide a copy their CWA to Services Australia.

It is possible for one member of a couple to incur the liability for fees (enrol the child under a CWA), and their partner to claim CCS and meet eligibility requirements, through their partner incurring the liability.

However, in this scenario, it can only be the CCS claimant who has established entitlement by lodging a CCS claim who will be assessed for a session of care. Therefore, it is recommended that the member of the couple who has the arrangement with the child care service also claims CCS.

It is also possible that both members of a couple will enter into a CWA with the child care service. In this case, the service will need to identify one person with whom they have the CWA in the corresponding enrolment notice. This should be the member of the couple who is the CCS claimant.

It is possible for both members of a couple to be individually CCS eligible and entitled for different children in their family. In this circumstance, they will be classed as a combined family.

From March 2022 to July 2022, entitlement to higher CCS (Multiple Child Subsidy) will be assessed using children in each individual person's care.

From July 2022, the CCS System will:

• recognise combined families, and
• assess all children in the family for the higher CCS (Multiple Child Subsidy) entitlement

Combined families have the option to access higher CCS (Multiple Child Subsidy) rate for younger children before July 2022.

Families can:

• consider their families circumstances
• choose one member of the couple to claim CCS for all children
• lodge a CCS claim for all children in the family, and
• talk to their child care service to change the child's enrolment details

Combined families do not have to take up this option. They can wait until July 2022 to get the higher subsidy rate. Families who wait until July will be back paid their full subsidy entitlement for the period March to July.

Child care services are required to submit enrolment information from the CWA. There are 2 types of notices submitted:

• An initial (new) enrolment notice is submitted when a new child enrols with their service
• An updated enrolment is submitted whenever there are variations to the enrolment, correction of details or the child ceases to be enrolled

Customers can review all enrolments submitted to the agency and must confirm initial (new) enrolments before CCS will be paid for that enrolment. If the customer indicates any information in the enrolment is incorrect (such as the session day or sessions times), it is flagged with the child care service. Service Officers are to advise customers to speak to their child care service to have enrolment details corrected. An updated notice will then be submitted for the customer to confirm.

Once the child care service submits the enrolment notice, customers can confirm their enrolment one of the following ways:

• An online task may present in the customer’s Centrelink Online services and/or Express Plus app when a new enrolment needs action
• Enrolment details may present within a CCS online or Add Child claim for confirmation
• Customers can also confirm verbally, requiring a Service Officer to update in Process Direct

Note: customers need to confirm their child’s enrolment before any CCS payments can be made.

From 6 August 2023, the customer does not need to be CCS current for the relevant child/ren before they can confirm their enrolment online.

If the child care service submits the enrolment notice and the customer is:

• CCS current for the child in the enrolment, an Online task will present for the customer to confirm/dispute the enrolment details
• not CCS current for the child in the enrolment, an Online task will present for the customer to confirm/dispute the enrolment details. The task will provide a link for the customer to submit the relevant CCS/Add Child claim online

Where no enrolment details display, tell customers to speak to their child care service. Under no circumstances should Services Australia have direct contact with child care services (including specialists such as Social Workers, Grandparent, Foster and Kinship Carer Advisers, Multicultural Service Officers).

It is not the responsibility of the agency to act as a liaison point between customers and their providers. This would be considered a breach of privacy. The child care service can contact the Department of Education via their usual channels if there are issues with information being transferred to the customer's record.

Specialists (Social Worker, Grandparent, Foster and Kinship Carer Advisers, Multicultural Service Officers) can seek support via the Technical Support Line.

Customers can end their child's enrolment by speaking to their child care service. Child care services then update the enrolment details as agreed with the customer.

If the child care service is unable to do this or unwilling to end the enrolment, the customer can dispute the enrolment details via their Centrelink online account.

To do this, the customer can log into their Centrelink online account through myGov and navigate to the child care menu, selecting:

• 'My family'
• 'Enrolments'
• 'View details'
• 'This enrolment is incorrect' for the relevant enrolment

Note: if customers dispute an enrolment, they will not get paid for any CCS for this enrolment until:

• it has been resubmitted by their child care service, and
• confirmed by the customer

Customers can confirm the updated child's enrolment details online.

In both cases, a reassessment will occur. Payment for any absence days to which the customer is no longer entitled will be recovered from the child care service. The child care service may collect this from the customer. Any of the 'disregarded' absences previously paid as allowable absence days, will be added back to the customer's available absences.

The Resources page contains examples of unapproved absences.

If the customer wants their child to return to the same service after a previous enrolment has ended, the child care service needs to:

• re-establish the care arrangement with the customer, and
• submit a new enrolment notice

Once the child care service has completed this, the customer will need to confirm their child's enrolment online.

When a child has not attended child care for a continuous period of 14 weeks, the enrolment will automatically cease.

The customer remains current on CCS, but no CCS payments can be made as there is no current confirmed enrolment.

When an enrolment ends, the customer's entitlement will automatically reassess for the period of the enrolment notice.

If the customer still needs access to child care, the service will need to submit a new enrolment notice, which the customer must confirm for CCS to be paid. The start of the new enrolment cannot be a date covered by the previous enrolment, as overlapping of enrolments is not permitted.

Note: the 14 week non-attendance rule took effect from 13 January 2020 following a legislative change. Before this date, enrolments ceased after 8 weeks of non-attendance. All customers with confirmed enrolments who had accumulated weeks of non-attendance up until that date will benefit from the increase to 14 weeks. For example:

• if a child had not attended day care for 6 weeks when the legislative change took place,
• it will be a further 8 weeks before the enrolment for that child will automatically cease due to non-attendance

In response to Government approved changes to support families who were not able to attend child care during extended periods of lockdown, new functionality to extend enrolments was delivered in 2021.

This functionality:

• only applies during periods of emergency events e.g. lockdown, fires, floods etc, and
• ensures that active enrolments at a service will not auto cease due to 14 weeks of continuous non-attendance where an Extend Enrolment Event has been approved in Process Direct for the same period

If an enrolment has 14 weeks of non-attendance after the end date of Extend Enrolment event then the enrolment will be ceased.

Staff will be able to see in Process Direct a new Extension Event ID field in the customer's record under Enrolments twisty.

If an enrolment has been extended the Extension Event ID field will be populated with the Event ID number.

The Event ID will not populate in the Extension Event ID field on approval of the event. It populates only at the time the enrolment reaches 14 weeks of non-attendance after the event period end date and was extended. Therefore:

• if an enrolment never reaches 14 weeks of non-attendance after the event end date, then
• the ID will never be populated even if the service receives an approved Extend Enrolments event

Extend enrolment event details will not be available to customers on Centrelink online or the Express Plus mobile app.

Normally, absences before the child's first physical attendance or after the child's last physical attendance at their child care service are not payable.

However, changes have been made to this policy to support families affected by COVID-19.

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

More information about this new policy is available in Absences for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS).