Child Care Management System

1
Child Care Management System
PSCQ is a project of the Health and Community
Services Workforce Council Inc.  The Australian
Government funds the Professional Support
Coordinator initiative as part of the Inclusion
and Professional Support Program.
2
Session 2

• At the end of this session participants will
  have knowledge of
• How the changes may affect your service/scheme
• Creating enrolments
• Claiming CCB payments
• Recording attendance and absences
• Organising billing cycles
• Claiming Enrolment advances
• How to finish off under COS
• Managing your cash flow

3
Changes from the current system

• Services will no longer have to
• Bulk listings
• Statement of Child Care Usage reports to FAO
• Backdating CCB entitlements
• Supplementary claims
• FAO call centre
• Calculating CCB from families
• Allowable and approved absences
• Reporting vacancies to the Hotline/DEEWR

4
Enrolments

• You must create an enrolment for each child in
  your service.
• Three types of enrolments
• Formal
• Informal
• AMEP/Other
• The types of enrolment relate to
• Who is responsible for the child's fees
• Information parents supply to the service (CRNs
  DOB)
• Multiple enrolments may need to be created for
  the same child in certain situations.
• CCMS Reference Manual page 25

5
Types of Enrolments

• What information do you need
• Formal Enrolment
• Childs DOB
• Childs CRN
• Parent/Guardian DOB
• Parent/Guardian CRN (for that child parent
  combination)
• Informal Enrolment
• No CRNs but
• Childs DOB and parent/Guardian DOB
• Can be formalised
• AMEP/Other
• Childs DOB and parent/Guardian DOB

6
Enrolment Scenario

• Maree and Andrew have shared care of their
  daughter Rebecca.
• Both Maree and Andrew use your service to
  provide child care for Rebecca at different times
  each week and each pays separately for the
  sessions of care used. Andrew has contacted the
  FAO and is eligible for CCB and has received a
  CRN for both himself and Rebecca. Maree has not
  contacted the FAO to test her eligibility for
  CCB.
• How many enrolments do you need to create
  for Rebecca?
• What type of enrolment needs to be created
  for Rebecca and Maree?
• What type of enrolment needs to be created
  for Rebecca and Andrew?

7
Enrolment Scenario 2

• Peta and her daughter Tara arrive at your
  service wishing to enroll.
• Peta wishes to have care for Tara every
  Monday, while she attends a language class funded
  by the AMEP, and on Tuesday when she works part
  time. Peta has not been to FAO.
• How many and what types of enrolments do you
  need to create for Tara?
• What information will you need from Peta?
• Tara has been attending your service for 3
  weeks now when Peta arrives with CRNs for both
  her and Tara and is eligible for fee reduction.
• What will you do ?
• Will you need to calculate back payments for
  fee reduction for the last 3 weeks?

8
Enrolment Information

• Remind parents that CCB will only be paid on a
  formal enrolment that has been confirmed
• Change enrolment forms to ask for birthdates of
  parent (the one that has the CRN)
• Collect new information from current families
• Enrolments are classified as parent/child
  combinations
• Enrolments for every child currently at the
  service prior to transition

9
Enrolment Advances

• A payment your service can elect to be paid when
  a formal enrolment is established.
• Available for all service types except occasional
  care
• Can only be paid when creating a formal enrolment
  or formalising and informal enrolment
• CCMS Reference Manual page 45

10
Enrolment Advances continued

• Where your service elects to receive Enrolment
  Advances for eligible formal enrolments the
  values for all Enrolment Advances for that day
  will be amalgamated and this bulk amount will be
  included in the payment due to your service for
  that day.
• Can be used to support your service's cash flow
  requirements prior to the payment of the first
  weeks CCB
• Enrolment advances will be recovered once an
  enrolment has ended or has been deemed exited.

11
Do the Math on Advanced Payments

• Enrolment advanced amounts
• 125 LDC, FDC,IHC and vacation care
• 34 Before and After School care
• Example
• If you are a 75 place LDC service with 180
  enrolments occupying the 50 places and 130 of
  these are formal enrolments then your enrolment
  advance would be 16,250.

12
Attendance Absence records

• Services must record details of the attendance
  (including any absences and fees charged) for all
  children at their service.
• Attendance records will be submitted over the
  internet to DEEWR
• Attendance records can be submitted individually
  or in bulk
• Attendance records can be submitted weekly or
  fortnightly
• CCMS Reference Manual pages 49 - 55

13
Attendance Absence records

• If a mistake is made then the attendance record
  must be cancelled and a new one created
• Attendance records must be submitted no later
  then14 days after the end of the week which the
  attendance relates to
• Your service will be required to report actual
  in and out times and attended hours for each
  child for a 4 week period during the year

14
Attendance Records

• When attendance records are processed the
  following information will be updated on your
  system
• CCB payment status
• CCB total fee reduction
• Any CCB adjustment
• CCB method (fee reduction or lump sum)
• CCB
• CCB ineligible and the reason
• Number of absences

15
Nominated hours

• Parents/guardians may nominate how they would
  like their CCB eligible hours to be split between
  two or more services during a CCB week.
• Parents to complete Nomination of eligible
  hours form (located on the DEEWR website)
• It would be useful to add this to your enrolment
  information to ensure families and your service
  are not disadvantaged.
• CCMS Reference Manual page 54

16
Absences

• Each child has 42 days per financial year this
  includes public holidays (no evidence is
  required)
• Additional absences may be claimed in certain
  circumstances
• FAO will maintain a count of absences for each
  child
• Services are responsible for keeping parents
  informed about absence days taken
• Absences are claimed by recording absent day/s on
  the childs attendance records
• CCMS Reference Manual pages 57 - 60

17
Additional Absences

• Available after the first 42 absences
• Only absences that the meet the additional
  absence reasons will attract CCB after the 42
  days
• If parents are claiming additional absences in
  exceptional circumstances they must meet certain
  criteria.

18
Absence Scenario

• Astrid normally attends your service on a
  Monday and Thursday. Astrids father, Giovanni,
  rings on a Friday morning advising that Astrid
  has the flu and that she wont be attending care
  the following week. Monday of that week is a
  public holiday. After checking Astrids
  enrolment you see that she has used 46 absences
  so far this year. Giovanni normally receives CCB
  fee reductions through your service.
• Can you record additional absences for both
  Monday and Thursday for Astrid?
• Giovanni provides you with suitable evidence
  of Astrids illness when he drops her off for
  care the following week.
• If you had already submitted the attendance for
  the previous week and charged Giovanni full fee,
  what action would you take?

19
Ending Enrolments
Ending Enrolments

• An enrolment must be ended when the arrangement
  to provide care ceases
• When care ceases an end date will need to be
  added to the childs enrolment

20
Deemed Exit of Enrolment
Deemed Exit for Enrolment

• A Deemed exit of an enrolment occurs where
  their has been no attendance received for a
  designated period.
• Deemed exit timeframes depend on
• Type of care
• Whether and enrolment advance was paid

21
Enrolment Advance Payment Recovery

• When an eligible formal enrolment has ended then
  Enrolment Advance amounts previously paid need to
  be recovered.
• The value of all enrolment advances due to be
  recovered for that day will be amalgamated and
  then deducted from any payment due to your
  service for that day

22
Billing Cycles

• How will you bill families?
• Will you bill in advance?
• Will you bill in arrears with a bond?

23
Finishing off COS

• You must keep old records for 3 years from the
  end of the financial year after a child leaves.
• Once you have transitioned to CCMS you will need
  to submit a final statement of usage to FAO via
  existing methods.
• Final usage statement needs to be submitted by
  the end of the quarter following the quarter to
  which the statement applies.

24
Example

• Jan Mar June
• Transition Date
  Statement of Child Care
• 
  usage due
  for the period
• 
  between Jan
  and your
• 
  transition
  date

25
Debts and Acquittals

• FAO will identify any over or under payment of
  CCB and pass this information on to DEEWR
• DEEWR will assume responsibility for recovering
  any debt or paying any money owing (if you had an
  underpayment)
• Debts will be recovered from future payments
• If you do not submit your final return to the
  Government they will class the last quarters
  advances as a debt and recover the entire amount.

26
Debts and Acquittals continued

• Debts
• Nonoffsetting debts recovered by lump sum
  payment
• Offsetting debts recovered through a reduction
  in payments due to your service under CCMS.

27
Recovery of Offsetting Debts

• Standard recovery period is 13 weeks
• Recovery will start 2 weeks following DEEWR
  receiving the over-advance advise from FAO.
• DEEWR will notify services of the debt and the
  payment plan before it starts.
• Installments will be automatically deducted from
  future payment to your service.
• You can request changes to the recovery period if
  you can demonstrate financial hardship

28
Managing your Cash Flow

• Some services may experience cash flow problems
• Just after they transition to CCMS
• At the beginning of each month when they use to
  get a large monthly CCB payment
• If parents are slow paying
• At any stage when is a problem with submitting
  CCMS data to DEEWR or there is any hold up in
  DEEWR payments

29
Example

• A Service normally gets a CCB payment of 40,000
  in the first month of the quarter, then 30,00 at
  the beginning of the next two months.
• Jan Feb
  Mar Apr
  May
• 40k 30k
  30k 7,700
• 
  Transition Day

30
Example continued

• At the beginning of May the service submits their
  final statement of usage for the previous quarter
  to FAO. DEEWR have been notified of an over
  payment of CCB.
• The Service receives notification from DEEWR
  that the debt will be recovered over the next 13
  weeks with a reduction in payment each week.

31
Payments

• Under CCMS all payments and recoveries that need
  to be made for/from your service will be totalled
  up and determine the amount of any payment due to
  your service.

32
Payments continued

• When calculating payments the following items
  will be considered.

33
Payment Example

• On Friday night your LDC service submits the
  attendance records for all 60 children in your
  care. On Friday the following events have
  occurred
• 10 children have formally enrolled and you have
  elected to receive the Enrolment Advance for all
  of them (10x 125)
• 15 children have ceased care at your service,
  your service received an Enrolment Advance for
  all of them.
• No attendance records have been cancelled
• Your service currently has a debt and on Monday
  DEEWR generates a debt recovery installment of
  100 for the current week.

34
Payments Continued

• The payment amount for your service is calculated
  as follows
• Enrolment Advances for 10 children
  1 250
• CCB Fee reduction for eligible children
  8 500
• Enrolment Advance recovery for 15 children -
  1 875
• Cancelled Attendance
  - 0
• Debt Recovery
  - 100
• Total Payment Amount
  7 775

35
Be Prepared Financially

• Identify when your cash flow gap might be and
  prepare your service financially
• Consider taking up the enrolment advance option
• Review payment timing for major expenses

36
Who to contact if there is a problem / enquiry

• For enquiries or problems regarding the following
  areas-
• CCB policy questions
• CCMS processes
• Other enquiries regarding SCCB for services,
  service approvals, data or information transfer
  errors and payment issues.
• Contact the CCMS Helpdesk
• 1300 667
  276 phone
• 1300 663
  429 fax
• 
  ccmshelpdesk_at_deewr.gov.au
• www.deewr.gov.au
  and follow the links
• Helpdesk hours
  800am 8.30pm AEST