Further to the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW's recent updates on Universal Access funding allocation, it may appear that there are more long daycare services that can be eligible to receive funding under the NSW Department of Education’s Start Strong Long Day Care funding programme.
As previously mentioned, Start Strong funding is provided to support children in NSW to have access to 600 hours of quality early childhood education in the year before school.
Eligible children are those listed on the Australian Government’s Child Care Management System (CCMS) who are at least 4 years old on or before 30 June and not in compulsory schooling, and attending an early childhood education program.
The information used to determine your service's funding allocation will be extracted from the Australian Government’s Child Care Management System (CCMS). The extracts will be taken for the collection periods of August 2016 and 19 May 2017. Funding will be calculated based on your service's enrolment data from the August 2016 collection period. Funding for additional equity enrolments will be calculated based on the increase in enrolments from the August 2016 collection period to the 19 May 2017 collection period. So please ensure that information submitted in CCMS is accurate for these collection periods as only this data will be used. Please note that CCMS is managed by the Australian Government and the NSW Department of Education is not able to amend the data contained within CCMS, nor can we accept data directly from a Service Provider.
How much will eligible LDC service be paid?
|
Equity enrolments* for 4 and 5 year olds (amount per child) |
Non-Equity enrolments for 4 and 5 year olds (amount per child) |
|
|
Children enrolled for 600 hours or more |
$675 |
$450 |
|
Children enrolled for less than 600 hours |
$450 |
$300 |
|
Amount paid for every additional child enrolled for 600 hours or more at May 2017, when compared to August 2016 data |
$1,300 |
N/A |
* Children will be classified as equity enrolments under Start Strong if they are from a low income or Aboriginal family. Low income status is determined by the SEIFA band of the Service.
When will payments be made?
Initial payments are expected to be made by 30 June 2017. Payments for each additional equity enrolment are expected to be made in September 2017. Notifications regarding payments will be sent via email before 30 June 2017.
What documents should you receive and complete if eligible?
Apparently, there are up to three documents eligible Long Daycare services need to ensure are completed and submitted:
- Application for Direct EFT ECED 2017
- Confirmation by Approved Provider of agreement to Start Strong LDC funding arrangement 2017
- Transferring or Receiving a Service Form 2017
Who to contact within the NSW Early Childhood Education Directorate?
If you have any questions about Start Strong funding and the CCMS data extract, please contact the Programs & Strategic Projects team on 1300 755 426 or e-mail to ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au.