Priorities!

What's urgent? What needs to be done asap? What might you have missed? Here's the important stuff in a nutshell:

For the month of June 2024:

• Reminder to complete the  National Workforce Census. by 14 July 2024.  It is mandatory for all CCS approved providers and services to participate.   
• Membership Fees Increase by 4% beginning 1 July 2024.
• Latest Child Care Subsidy data now available. We’ve published data about the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) in the March quarter 2024. Each quarter we issue a summary report about CCS-approved care in Australia. The report includes data on child care usage, services, fees and subsidies in Australia. Go to the March quarter 2024 report.
• NSW President announces scholarships and assistance to get affordable housing and electric vehicles. In addition to the State of our Sector awards winners on 22 June 2024, ACA NSW President Lyn Connolly took the opportunity to make the following announcements for the 2024/2025 financial year: Firstly, ACA NSW strongly recommends that ACA NSW members read the ACA National Committee's advice also released today. ACA NSW members will need to firstly log in and use their username and password to access.
• The Inclusion Support Program (ISP) is receiving many incomplete applications. Here’s what you can do to ensure you submit your application correctly. ISP helps early childhood education and care (ECEC) services address barriers to inclusion. The program is receiving a high volume of incomplete applications, in particular for additional educators. This has a direct impact on processing timeframes. The Inclusion Development Fund Manager (IDFM) has developed a checklist for additional educator applications. Please use the checklist when submitting to ensure your application can be processed.
• Using electronic devices in early childhood settings. A new National Model Code released earlier this month outlines a set of recommended child-safe practices for using electronic devices in ECEC.
• ACECQA developed the code, in partnership with all governments, as part of a range of actions in response to last year’s child safety review
• Changes with New Financial Year (FY2024/2025) From 1 July 2024, the following changes take effect: the Awards' wage rate increase by 3.75% (log in to access the 2024/2025 wage summaries); The statutory minimum Superannuation Rate will be increased from 11% to 11.5%; and the individual income tax rates and threshold changes (aka Stage 3 Tax Cuts). For any further information/clarification, please contact the ACA NSW team via 1300 556 330 or nsw@childcarealliance.org.au.
• ACA NSW calls on the NSW Deputy Premier to intervene in excessive regulatory workload. Despite NSW occupying about a third of the national proportion of all services, the excessively high number of confirmed breaches by NSW-based early childhood education and care services dwarfs all confirmed breaches by all other states and territories combined across the last 4 years.

For the month of May 2024:

• Reminder to complete the National Workforce Census. by 14 July 2024.  It is mandatory for all CCS approved providers and services to participate.   
• The NSW Department of Education are offering grant writing workshops to assist in preparing your application for the Flexible Initiatives Trial. Register here.
• Annual Service Approval fees payable by providers will be issued on 31 May 2024 and must be paid by 1 July 2024. 
• The upgraded NQA IT System is now live but ECEC Services must register to access the new system
• From July 2024 notice periods for A&R will be reduced to 5 business days. 

For the month of April 2024:

• NSW Premier's ECE Scholarship will close applications on 3 May 2024
• ECEC Connect sessions are being held again in Merrylands and Wagga Wagga on 14 & 16 May respectively. Register now.
• A new Business Capability Development Program is open to small ECEC providers in the NSW areas of Campbelltown, Dubbo and Coffs Harbour. Applications close 24 May 2024.
• The NSW Department of Education now have an ECEC resource library available to access.
• “Let’s Count”, a Government funded maths program for 3-5 year olds has been relaunched and updated to EYLF 2.0, accessible & free for ECEC professionals.
• The Federal Department of Education has a short online course available to the ECEC sector to fully understand the notification requirements under Family Assistance Law. Register for Geccko here.

For the month of March 2024:

For the month of February 2024:

• The updated Approved Learning Frameworks came into effect at the beginning of February and all services are required to be operating in accordance with them or face a breach of the National Regulations
• Department of Education ECE Connect Webinars 2024 will run from 11-21 March and are now open for registration.
• NSW Disability and Inclusion Program funding allocation applications for Quarter 2 will cut off 8 March 2024.
• Applications for the Federal Government’s disadvantaged and vulnerable communities grant (part of the Community Child Care Fund CCCF) close on 8 March 2024
• Expressions of Interest are now open for ACECQA’s Quality Support Program, supporting services rated Working Towards National Quality Standard.
• Applications for the NSW Department of Education’s Health and Development Participation (HDP) Grant Program close 31 March 2024 via SmartyGrants.
• NSW Office of the Children's Guardian has released new eLearning modulesnew eLearning modules focusing on reducing and managing risk to children. 

For the month of January 2024:

• Changes to the Inclusion Support Program came into effect from 11 January 2024. new applications will only be approved to 30/6/24 and services will need to reapply if they require the subsidy from 1 July 2024. 
• From 1 February 2024, the updated Approved Learning Frameworks come into effect and all services are required to be operating in accordance with EYLF v2.0 and MTOP v2.0 or the approved provider will be in breach of the National Regulations. 
• All applications for Quarter 2 2024, Disability and Inclusion Program must be submitted by 8 March 2024.
• New Child Safe Standard resources are available, with the first e-learning module available through the NSW Office of the Children's Guardian. 
• Registrations are open for Geccko, the Federal Department of Education's free, self paced e-learning platform to help you better understand your obligations under Assistance Law.

For the month of November 2023:

• From 8 December 2024 (and not 8 December 2023) new Food Safety requirements come into effect for all ECEC services that provide meals as part of their service.
• Sleep and Rest changes came into effect 1 October 2023. Make sure you are across all the changes!
• Grandparent carers at your service may be entitled to ACCS 
• CCS Helpdesk will close for Christmas from 12.30pm 22 December and reopen 9am 2 January 2024.
• As we head into bushfire season, services should create/update their emergency management plan
• There is at least 36 hours per fortnight of CCS available to First Nations Children in your care.  
• ACA joined forces with CELA, CCC & the UWU to address the Federal Government to address the workforce crisis in Early Childhood Education
• Since July 2023 you can apply for National Law approval AND CCS at the same time via the NQAITS portal. 
• From 6 December 2023, new rules apply for employing staff on a fixed term contract (eg maternity leave). Regulatory changes came into effect on 1 October 2023 mostly focusing on sleep and rest. Make sure your policies and procedures are up to date and give effect to these changes!  Access our updated policies here by logging in with Username and Password. Services rated Working Towards have the opportunity to register for the Quality Support Program through ACECQA. 
• ECE Connect Webinars are running until 7 December on a number of topics. Register here