Dear Families, As you would be aware, due to the impact of COVID-19 the Australian Government introduced the Early Childhood Education and Care Relief Package to support early learning services and allow them to remain operating whilst ensuring that, at a minimum, ‘essential workers’ were able to access quality education and care for their children during the pandemic. The package came into effect on Monday 6 April and during this time, families have not been charged any fees to access childcare. In effect families have received ‘free childcare’ during this time. As you may have seen in the media, the arrangements under this Relief Package are now scheduled to conclude at midnight 12 July 2020.
We are therefore getting ready for the return of the Child Care Subsidy (CCS). Over the past few months, we have experienced numerous changes in terms of child attendance. We may have changed the timing of care sessions for your child or perhaps your child has not attended our service since the health crisis began to unfold. To help us move beyond the current arrangements, we are asking all families to get in touch with your Centre Manager by Friday 19th June to discuss your ongoing attendance needs (i.e. number of days, hours, etc). We will then be able to confirm bookings and enrolments and calculate an estimation of the gap fees payable each fortnight – this will include the latest CPI increase to the Child Care Subsidy (CCS). In some cases, you may need to confirm this new enrolment through your MyGov account. Below is a statement to families from the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, which we urge you to act upon, in order to ensure that you continue to receive the CCS beyond 13 July. If you received Child Care Subsidy (CCS) for 2018-2019 you are required to confirm your income with Centrelink. This includes CCS paid directly to you and CCS paid on your behalf to your childcare provider. Most parents have already confirmed their income, but if you haven’t, do it now. If you don’t confirm your income by 30 June 2020, your CCS will stop on 13 July 2020. To confirm your income with Centrelink, you and your partner need to either:
lodge your tax returns with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
complete an ‘Advise non-lodgement of tax return’ in your Centrelink online account through myGov or your Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.
If you’ve already confirmed your family income for 2018-2019, there’s nothing else you need to do. From 13 July onwards, our service will reintroduce fees. As per our Fees Policy, fees are payable 2 weeks in advance of your child’s attendance. Education and Care Statements will be sent out from Monday 13th July 2020 **If you are set up on a fortnightly Direct Debit, please see you Centre Manager as soon as possible to ensure correct fortnight payments are deducted** To ensure a smooth transition back to CCS, please do not hesitate to speak with your Centre Manager personally to discuss any of the above information. We appreciate that the employment and income of some families has changed, and we encourage you to speak with our team to ensure that you are receiving all of the subsidies to which you are entitled, taking into considerations options such as the ‘relaxed’ Activity Test, as well as the Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) for Temporary Financial Hardship. You can contact your Centre Manager at the details below: Uralla: (02) 6778 3369 / uralla@tgschildcare.com.au Armidale: (02) 6772 7810 / armidale@tgschildcare.com.au Wauchope - Hastings St: (02) 6585 1033 / HastingsStreet@tgschildcare.com.au Wauchope - High St: (02) 6585 3331 / HighStreet@tgschildcare.com.au Wauchope - Riverbreeze: (02) 6585 2981 / riverbreeze@tgschildcare.com.au We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support during the past few difficult months. We are excited to return to the ‘new normal’ and look forward to focussing our attention on educating and caring for your children and as always, continuing Playing is Learning For Life! Kind regards, TG’s Child Care Management.