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From 1 July 2023, Section 201B (1) of the Administration Act will require that families using child care pay their CCS gap fee using Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). This means families will no longer be allowed to pay CCS gap fees by cash.
Read more about the forthcoming changes on the Department’s website here.
To comply with these changes, family day care services may choose to collect the EFT CCS gap fees centrally and then pass on payments to educators, or services may continue to allow educators to act as an agent on behalf of the provider and collect the CCS gap fee via EFT. Some services may decide to employ a mixture of both methods. Whatever method is used, services must have in place adequate systems of oversight to ensure the gap fee is being paid by EFT and accurate records are being kept.
It is important to note that services have always had an obligation to ensure the gap fee is being paid –this has not changed. Mandating the collection of CCS gap fees via EFT makes it easier for services to meet these obligations by allowing service staff and / or educators to efficiently track and reconcile relevant accounts and payments.
To support the family day care sector in preparing for the transition to EFT gap fee payments and collection, FDCA has been funded by the Australian Government Department of Education to develop the following suite of resources:
This factsheet informs families about the changes to CCS gap fee payments from 1 July and how these may affect them.
This factsheet provides educators with guidance on the required changes to the payment and collection of CCS gap fees via EFT, including their obligations when collecting fees on behalf of services and the importance of accurate recording keeping practices.
This guide draws on the insights and experiences of a variety of family day care services to provide good practice examples and general guidance on preparing for the new requirements and how the associated issues and challenges may be navigated.
This fact sheet addresses some misconceptions circulating in some parts of the sector surrounding the collection of CCS gap fees via EFT from 1 July 2023.
This factsheet explains the circumstances under which individuals or services may be excepted from paying the gap fee via EFT as required from 1 July under the Families Assistance Act.
This factsheet outlines the necessary information and documentation that may be required during an audit. It also explains the meaning of ‘all reasonable steps’ and offers best practice strategies to ensure effective oversight and compliance with EFT gap fee payments.
This fact sheet provides good practice tips to assist family day care educators in the transition to EFT gap fee payments.
This tool will assist educators to evaluate their readiness for the upcoming changes and identify areas that require action to ensure compliance. Please ensure that you press the 'submit form' button at the bottom of the tool to generate a report and relevant guidance which will be emailed to your nominated email address. This can be printed or downloaded for future reference.
Using this tool, services can assess their current EFT payment procedures and identify areas for action to ensure compliance with the forthcoming changes. Please ensure you press submit at the bottom of the tool to generate a report that you can download or print for future reference.
To learn more about the Child Care Subsidy, click here.
To learn more about gap fees, click here.
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