Fees Policy

NQF

Aim

To ensure the service meets the requirements of Family Assistance Law.

To ensure the scheme and individual educators are aware of their obligations in relation to fees.

To ensure families are aware of the service fees, and their responsibilities in relation to payment.

Related Policies

Orientation for Children Policy

Privacy and Confidentiality Policy

Who is affected by this policy?

• Management
• Educators
• Families

Implementation

Fee Schedule

Fees are charged to families directly by My Home Your Home Family Day Care Pty Ltd. Educators do not charge fee to families. This is a requirement for Australian Government fee assistance.

My Home Your Home Family Day Care in the fee schedule table below. An administration levy of $1.75 per hour is charged to families, and is included in the educators full fee.

Family Day Care educators will have their fees set by My Home Your Home Family Day Care Pty Ltd based on qualifications, experience, environment, and services offered. The fees range within the ranges in the following fee schedule.

Families are to be provided four week’s notice of any changes to the service fee schedule. My Home Your Home Family Day Care will then communicate the changes to the families.

Click the link below to view our Service Fee Schedule.

Service Fee Schedule

Fee Increases

My Home Your Home Family Day Care will increase the Service Levy fee once a year (at the beginning of the calendar year in January). We also reserve the right to review fees July 1st. Families will be provided with an updated service fee schedule four weeks in advance of any changes.

Educators will give the service 4 week’s notice if they wish to increase fees charged to the families. The fee increase will be set in consultation with the service. If you will be providing additional services such as: food, nappies, sheets then we may approve a higher fee increase. Educators may change the fees no more than twice annually.

Public Holidays

Educators are not required to provide care on Public Holidays. If a child’s usual booked care falls on a public holiday, then normal fee applies.

Some educators may provide care on a public holiday. An educator may choose to charge their non-standard hourly or casual rate on a public holiday.

Child Absences

If a child is absent during a booked care period, the normal fee still applies. This includes sick days and holidays. Each child has 42 allowable absences each financial year before the Child Care Subsidy will no longer be paid unless sick days are supported by a doctor’s certificate.

A doctor’s certificate is to be emailed to head office to be processed for sick days after the 42 allowable absences have been used. Once all absences have been used and additional absences are not supported by a doctor’s certificate full fees are payable.

Educator Unavailability

Fees are not charged if the educator is unable to operate for the agreed booked hours of care (for example, due to illness or holidays).

Local Emergencies

Where a local emergency is declared it is possible that educator will need to close. For example, this may happen under the new catastrophic (code red) fire danger ratings system. Normal fees still apply even though the service is closed because of a local emergency. These are treated as additional absence days.

Regular Sessions of Care

Educators may choose to provide sessions of care, and a fee is payable for the session. For example, and educator may have a single session of 7:30am – 5:30pm, for which they charge 10 hours. Alternatively, they may have multiple sessions per day (for example, two four-hour sessions).

When providing sessions of care, and educator must be able to provide care for the whole session. For example, in a 10-hour session, the educator must be available to provide care for the full 10 hours if a family requires it. In the instance where the educator cannot provide care for the full 10 hours, the educator must reduce the length of the session reported on the time sheet to reflect the period care that was able to be provided.

Casual Sessions of Care

There are times when an educator may be able to offer a casual session of care. If a family chooses to book in for this session, the educator will send a temporary booking change request to the family for approval. Once this has been approved families are liable for fees incurred for the booked session as it is now considered a permanent booking for that period. In the event the child is absent, fees are still payable and an absence will be recorded.

Complying Written Arrangement (CWA)

A 'Complying Written Arrangement' with the service is an agreement to provide care in return for fees.

Families agree to pay for the contracted hours as set out in the Complying Written Arrangement (to be emailed once enrolment is processed) and families agree to pay for public holidays, sick days, and holiday days their child may take.

Families agree to give their educator 2 week’s notice should they wish to change the original contract of care and a new Complying Written Arrangement will be emailed to the family.

Enrolment Fee and Payment in Advance

Upon enrolment, the following fees are payable:

• An enrolment fee of $50 is required when lodging an enrolment form.
• Educators may require payment in advance to the value of two weeks full fees (before any government fee assistance is applied) for the agreed booked hours.
• The advance payment will be returned to families provided two week’s notice of cancellation of care is given and the 2 week notice period is carried out. Families must provide the service with two week’s notice if they enroll but cancel before their start date. If no formal notice has been given to the service, the advance payment is not refundable.

Payment of Fees

The following outlines the how fees can be paid:

• ‘Gap’ fees (the fee remaining to be paid after Child Care Fee Assistance payment has been applied) are to be paid directly to the service, this comes into effect on the 31-07-23. In accordance with new legislation that came into effect on 1 July 2023, all child care fees must now be paid electronically and we will no longer be able to accept payment in cash. This will ensure we remain compliant with Family Assistance Law and maintain our CCS approval.
• Until a child’s claim for Child Care Subsidy is approved full fees are payable to the service. Each child’s enrolment must be confirmed via Centrelink.
• Child Care Subsidy cannot be claimed until the child physically attends their first day of care. If the child is absent on their first contracted day of care, full fees are to be paid.
• As of 31 July 2023, My Home Your Home Family Day Care will be moving to centralised billing. This means that the Service will be responsible for invoicing and receipting payment for your child care fees. All child care fees that are incurred after this date will be payable directly to the Service and not your Educator. The service will then pass the gap fee onto your Educator.
• My Home Your Home Family Day Care will be providing you with the ability to pay your child care fees via direct debit. Fees will be debited using our third party payment gateway, redPAY.
• Fees will be debited the following week after the care has taken place. This ensures that fees debited are accurate.
• Fees are payable for every day that your child is enrolled at the service. This includes sick days and family holidays but excludes periods when the educator is unavailable to operate.
• Child Care Fee Assistance is available to all families who are Australian Residents. To find out their eligibility, families must contact the Family Assistance Office.
• Child Care Subsidies can be received as:
  • reduction of fees through the service.

Transaction fee/s shown in the below table will be passed onto families. These fees will be on charged to you when we debit funds from your nominated account and will appear on your statement of account.

Fee Reductions

In the instance of being notified of a fee reduction by the Department of Education and Training, the full fee reduction will be pass onto the family within 14 days.

Statements Of Entitlements

Fortnightly statements of entitlements will be provided to families detailing childcare usage, fees and CCS. Statements will be sent according to the preference selected in the Child Enrolment form (Email or post).

Canceling Care

Should you wish to end your child’s place at the service, or should your educator make the decision to terminate your child’s place, 2 weeks written notice is required from the ending/terminating party. If this does not occur, 2 weeks full fees will be required.

If you choose to terminate your child’s place without informing the service, after two weeks we will cancel your placement and full fees will be invoiced.

Overdue Fees

Families can make an appointment to speak with their educator or the service regarding payments if there is a need to do so. Failure to make any attempt to contribute to your child’s gap fee will result in suspension of your child’s place at the service. My Home Your Home Family Day Care reserve the right to cancel an enrolment with the service at any time if an agreement cannot be made. Families who get CCS must make a co-contribution to their child care fees. This is a requirement under Family Assistance Law.

You do this by paying the difference between the provider’s fee and the CCS amount.

Sources

Bryant, L. (2009). Managing a Child Care Service: A Hands-On Guide for Service Providers.

Sydney: Community Child Care Co-Operative.

Education and Care Services National Regulations 2017

Family Assistance Law

Child Care Provider Handbook August 2022

Review

The policy will be reviewed annually. Review will be conducted by:

• Management,
• Employees,
• Family Members
• Interested Parties

Last reviewed: 11th December 2024          

Date for next review: 11th December 2025