Annual Report 2003-04 I volume 1
Output Group 1.4 I Child care support
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- Outputs under Output Group 1.4
- Child care for eligible parents undergoing training
- Centre-based long day care
- Greater flexibility and choice in child care
- Flexible and innovative services
- Multifunctional services
- Outside school hours care and vacation care
- Other payments and services
- Key achievements included
- Financial and staffing resources summary
- Performance information Administered items
- Effectiveness-independence
- Price $1387.9 million Commentary
- Quality-access and choice
- Stronger Families and Communities Strategy
- Quality-customer satisfaction
- Price $7.4 million Commentary
- Purchasing, funding and relationship management
- Price $8.9 million Research and evaluation Quality-assurance
- Quantity Major pieces of research and evaluation completed
Output Group 1.4 I Child care supportContribution to Outcome 1Child care support contributes to Outcome 1: by helping families to participate in the economic and social life of the community through the provision of support for child care by helping families to balance their work and parenting roles through the provision of flexible child care services through quality child care, contributing to the development and education of children by providing a focus for early intervention and prevention initiatives for vulnerable families and children.
Strategiesmanage policy development and planning for the ongoing child care program, including administration of Child Care Benefit efficiently manage the Child Care Support Program, which provides considerable support for the availability and quality of child care work closely with Centrelink and the child care sector to ensure payments and procedures are administered effectively and in accordance with legislation communicate effectively with the child care sector and parents work with state and territory governments to develop and implement more consistent approaches to child care service regulations to facilitate equity and access to these services build and expand on established communication systems to provide information to families and consult with service providers provide ongoing information and training to support the administration and delivery of child care support, particularly Child Care Benefit continue to develop high-quality, timely data, consistent throughout states and territories and Australian Government agencies, for policy evaluation and future policy development develop and implement measures to improve the availability, affordability and flexibility of quality child care that meets the needs of families, particularly in rural and remote communities continue to implement quality assurance(QA) in long day care centres and family day care schemes, and introduce QA in outside school hours care. Outputs under Output Group 1.4Child Care BenefitChild Care Benefit (CCB) reduces the child care fees of eligible families using approved child care services or registered carers. Assistance provided is proportionally higher for lower-income families. Eligible families can have the benefit paid directly to the child care service to reduce their ongoing fees, or alternatively can receive the benefit as a lump-sum payment after the end of the financial year. Families using registered care (e.g. care provided by a relative, friend or neighbour registered as a carer with the Family Assistance Office) may be eligible for the minimum rate of CCB for up to 50 hours per week of work-related child care. Child care for eligible parents undergoing trainingJobs, Education and Training Child Care (JETCC) helps people who receive certain Centrelink payments to improve their employment prospects by participating in study, work or job search activities. Eligible parents can get help finding suitable and affordable child care, and may also obtain assistance with paying child care fees. JETCC creches also provide flexible child care for particularly vulnerable groups of parents in areas where no other suitable child care services are available. Support for child careCentre-based long day careCentre-based long day care services provide quality all-day or part-time care for children predominantly of working families. Some centres provide care for limited numbers of primary school children before and after school, and during school holidays. Family day careChild care is provided by a network of caregivers who provide care and developmental activities in their own homes for other people’s children. Greater flexibility and choice in child careThe ‘Choice and Flexibility in Child Care’ element of the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy helps families find the right mix between their work, community and parenting roles. Measures include: continuing to develop in-home care as an innovative form of care for families with no other formal child care options encouraging private providers to set up child care centres in rural or regional areas further development of quality assurance systems for family day care and outside school hours care. Flexible and innovative servicesFlexible child care can combine standard models of care with occasional care, mobile multipurpose centres, on-farm care, in-home care and/or overnight care. It can meet the needs of families living in rural and remote areas and Indigenous communities where people may have difficulty finding suitable child care. In-home careIn-home care is a child care service provided by an approved child care worker in the child’s own home. This type of care is for families who do not have access to a standard child care service or for whom an existing service cannot meet their needs. Multifunctional servicesMultifunctional services provide services in rural, remote or isolated communities that do not have a large enough population to support individual services. Indigenous child care servicesIndigenous child care services provide flexible and culturally appropriate child care services to meet the social and developmental needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Outside school hours care and vacation careThese types of care provide care for primary school children before and/or after school and during vacation time. Occasional care servicesOccasional care services provide short periods of care for children under school age. Registered careRegistered care is a form of care provided by a carer registered with the Family Assistance Office (FAO) for work-related purposes. These carers can be individuals such as grandparents, relatives, friends, or nannies. Other payments and servicesDisadvantaged Area Subsidy: Paid to eligible community-based long day care centres or outside school hours care services as recurrent grants to assist with general operational costs. Special Needs Subsidy Scheme: Assists approved child care services to create a nurturing environment that is inclusive of children with ongoing high support needs. This includes children with diagnosed disabilities, children undergoing continuing assessment for disabilities, or developmental delay, and refugee children who have been subject to torture and trauma. Special Services Program: Funds agencies and sections of the child care industry that target specific groups of children with additional needs. These include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, Australian South Sea Islander children, children with disabilities, children of parents with disabilities, or children living in rural and remote locations. Supplementary Services Program: Funds agencies to assist child care service staff to build skills and capacity, and provides resources and training to assist with the successful inclusion of children with additional needs into the service. Professional Support: Resource and advisory (R&A) services and in-service training (1ST) providers deliver professional support services to Australian Government-approved child care services. R&As and ISTs help child care services to maintain and improve quality, efficiency and effectiveness. This is done through the provision of practical and professional training, advice and resources that increase the skill level of carers and services. Disability Supplementary Services: An additional payment to family day carers and in-home carers who care for children with ongoing high support needs, including children with a disability. JET Child Care Special Fee Assistance: Assists eligible parents in meeting the costs of child care by paying most of the ‘gap fee’—the difference between the full child care fee and Child Care Benefit (CCB). JET Child Care Creches: Funding for creches, operated in conjunction with education and training activities for targeted vulnerable groups, where no other suitable child care services are available. Regional Travel Assistance: Available to support eligible family day care and in-home care service providers with the travel costs associated with supporting their network of rural and remote carers. Operational Subsidy: Paid to family day care and in-home care service providers. Performance summaryKey achievements included:FaCS finalised the redevelopment of the Child Care Support Broadband and developed a new funding model for the Child Care Support Program that included additional funding of $16.3 million over four years from the 2004-05 Budget. In December 2003, the Government announced 10 000 additional outside school hours care places and 2500 family day care places. These places were made available from 1 January 2004. In the 2004-05 Budget the Government announced 30 000 more outside school hours care places and 1500 family day care places to be available from 1 July 2004. More families received access to quality affordable child care. From the September quarter of 2002 to the September quarter of 2003 the number of children using Australian Government-approved child care increased from about 759 000 to 763 000. FaCS launched the Outside School Hours Care Quality Assurance (OSHCQA) system on 1 July 2003. The OSHCQA was developed in close collaboration with the child care sector, with 2620 services (96 per cent) having registered for quality assurance in 2003-04. FaCS launched the revised Family Day Care Quality Practices Guide in June 2004. The guide was revised in consultation with the sector and makes the family day care quality assurance system more consistent with the quality assurance systems for long day care and outside school hour’s care. FaCS finalised, printed and distributed the Australian Government report The Child Care Workforce Think Tank in December 2003. This represented a whole-of-sector approach to address critical factors affecting the future of the child care workforce. In-home care is continuing to be developed as an innovative form of care for families with no other formal child care options. The Government has provided 4360 places to the sector since 2000-01 and announced the continuation of the program for four more years as part of the ‘Choice and Flexibility in Child Care’ measure of the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy. In April 2004 the Government announced the Long Day Care Incentive Scheme as part of the ‘Choice and Flexibility in Child Care’ measure. Over the next four years this scheme aims to create 25 new long day care centres offering at least 1000 places in rural and urban fringe areas of high, unmet demand. The first funding round was announced in May 2004 and the assessment process is currently under way. The 2004 Census of Child Care Services is continuing. Just over 9000 services have been contacted and as at 30 June 2004 approximately 7000 services had provided information on service and staff characteristics and the families and children attending. FaCS expects data to be published in April 2005. The department completed production and distribution of a consolidated child care service handbook in September 2003. An online version of the handbook was also delivered.
Work is required to:progress the recommendations from the Child Care Workforce Think Tank. A joint workforce plan is being undertaken by state and territory governments and the Australian Government. Professional and sector support workshops are also being held. However, further action is required to progress workforce issues and ensure the attraction and retention of qualified child care workers. continue to support outside school hours care services with the introduction of quality assurance (QA) and to support family day care schemes with the introduction of the revised quality practices guide. This support is in recognition of the time it takes for child care services to progress through the QA cycle (two and a half years) and the significant staff turnover in the sector. progress the development of an Indigenous Child Care Strategy in consultation with key stakeholders further the implementation of the new Child Care Support Program, including: establishment of the new rural, remote and Indigenous child care services implementation of the new Inclusion and Professional Support Program development of guidelines for the new payment types transitional arrangements for current service providers moving to new payment types releasing 1000 additional in-home care places to the sector undertaking the first round of allocating funding under the Long Day Care Incentive Scheme developing and announcing a timetable for further funding rounds for the in-home care program and the Long Day Care Incentive Scheme continue to monitor the availability and affordability of child care develop with Centrelink options for the child care industry to conduct business with the FAO through an online channel. A scoping study identified a high level of industry interest in online service delivery. Design work will commence later in 2004 with full implementation by June 2007. finalise with Centrelink a detailed compliance strategy for CCB to ensure payments and procedures are administered effectively and in accordance with legislation. Financial and staffing resources summaryTable 18: Output Group 1.4—Child care support
a Final estimates have been used for special appropriations while additional estimates have been used for annual appropriations. b Budget prior to additional estimates. c FaCS includes the Social Security Appeals Tribunal.
Child Care BenefitEffectiveness-affordabilityChild care out-of-pocket costs as a proportion of weekly disposable income before and after child care subsidies For a low-income family (with an income of around $32 000) with one child in full-time care, government assistance covers around 65 per cent of the average fee in long day care centres and around 74 per cent of the average fee in family day care. For a middle-income family (earning around $45 000) with one child in full-time care, government assistance covers around 53 per cent of the average fee in long day care and around 60 per cent in family day care. Figure 8: Child care full-time gap fees as a proportion of weekly disposable income before and after Child Care Benefi t—one child, March 2004 Figure 9: Child care full-time gap fees as a proportion of weekly disposable income before and after Child Care Benefi t—two children, March 2004 Percentage of families receiving: maximum Child Care Benefit-37 per cent partial rate Child Care Benefit-46 per cent minimum rate Child Care Benefit-17 per cent Effectiveness-independencePercentage of Australian Government-funded child care that is used for: work-related purposes-90 per cent non-work related purposes-10 per cent
QuantityNumber of child care places available-517 654 (as at September 2003) Number of eligible approved services-9703 Number of calls to the Child Care Access Hotline 48 562 for the period between 1 July 2003 and 30 June 2004 Number of families using Australian Government-approved child care services and claiming Child Care Benefit as a fee reduction 525 000 families and 741 000 children (in the September 2003 quarter) Price$1387.9 million CommentaryThe number of children using child care has continued to increase. A record number of families now receive Child Care Benefit as a fee reduction. Between September 2002 and September 2003 this number increased by about 8000 families. The number of Australian Government-funded child care places increased by over 17 600 between September 2002 and September 2003. The announcement of additional 40 000 outside school hours care places and 4000 family day care places in December 2003 and in the 2004-05 Budget is expected to further increase the number of child care places to around 563 000 by 30 June 2005. Child care for eligible parents undergoing trainingEffectiveness-take-up/coverageNumber of parent’s assisted-10 299 Number of children in child care-13 403 Price$12.9 million Support for child careEffectiveness-targetingNumber of children with additional needs using Australian Government-approved child care services by target group Children with disabilities-17 000 Aboriginal, Torres Strait and Australian South Seas Islander children-13 500 Children from non-English speaking background-83 000 Total number of children with additional needs using Australian Government-approved child care services-112 600
17 000 children with disabilities were assisted into mainstream services. 2049 services were specifically targeted to rural and remote areas.
Quality-assurancePercentage of long day care centres accredited under the Quality Improvement and Accreditation System (QIAS)-95.5 per cent Percentage of long day care centres satisfactorily participating in Quality Improvement and Accreditation System-100 per cent Percentage of family day care services satisfactorily participating in Family Day Care Quality Assurance (FDCQA)-100 per cent QuantityNumber of Indigenous-specific services-263 Number of services specifically targeted to rural and remote areas-2049 Stronger Families and Communities StrategyQuality-assuranceDevelopment of a quality assurance system for the family day care and outside school hours care sectors Family Day Care Quality Practices Guide revised edition distributed before 1 July 2004. Outside School Hours Care Quality Assurance system introduced in July 2003.
QuantityNumber of child care places assisting families to fulfil work and family responsibilities through alternative child care arrangements as assessed by increases in the number of places for: in-home care-1321 Private Provider Incentive-101
CommentaryAt 30 June 2004, 4473 long day care centres were registered with the National Child Care Accreditation Council to participate in QIAS and 95.2 per cent were accredited. At 30 June 2004, 320 family day care schemes were registered with the National Child Care Accreditation Council to participate in the Family Day Care Quality Assurance system and 99.7 per cent were accredited. A national training program is being implemented, to support the introduction of the revised Family Day Care Quality Practices Guide, commencing in September 2004. The Outside School Hours Care Quality Assurance system was introduced in July 2003. At 30 June 2004, 2656 services were registered to participate in Outside School Hours Care Quality Assurance. Registration is the first step in a five-step accreditation process. The first OSHC accreditation cycle will be complete in 2005-06. A national training program to support services commenced on 1 November 2003. The department continues to refine the in-home care service delivery model in order to increase economic and social participation through access to appropriate child care. The new Stronger Families and Communities Strategy (announced in April 2004) and the Child Care Support Program (announced in June 2004) will provide increased support for the establishment of new long day care centres in rural, remote and urban fringe areas where there is high unmet demand for child care. The new funding models particularly focus on child care for children aged under 24 months. In 2003-04 it was estimated that there would be demand, nationally, for about 2500 in-home care places. This was tested in various states; however, as demand was not as high as anticipated, only 1321 places were allocated. Funding for the Private Provider Incentive program was due to lapse on 30 June 2004 and it was inappropriate to approve funding for additional centres where it was unlikely they could be established within the timeframe. However, in April 2004 the Government announced four additional years of funding for a revised incentive scheme for long day care providers. An additional funding round was advertised in 2004 and this is currently being finalised. Further funding rounds will occur over the next two years with a view to establishing up to 25 additional long day care centres with at least 1000 places available to Australian families. Total price$189.7 million — Support for Child Care $10.0 million — Support for Child Care SPP Departmental outputsCostRatio of departmental expense to administered expense For every dollar spent on administered items under Output Group 1.4, 7.8 cents were spent on departmental outputs. Policy adviceQuality-customer satisfactionMinisters and ministers’ offices satisfied with the quality of policy advice and department meets standards for policy advice Ministers and their offices did not provide feedback on individual output groups but did provide feedback on departmental performance as a whole. Information on ministers’ and their offices’ assessment can be found in Volume two, Part two, ‘Ministerial and parliamentary services’. QuantityNumber of items to ministers 377 ministerial submissions and other written briefings or advice prepared; 707 ministerial replies to correspondence completed. Price$7.4 million CommentaryThe ministerial correspondence completed figure provides details of correspondence finalised by Output Group 1.4. This figure does not include individual replies to campaign correspondence that may entail thousands of items, but may be recorded as a single item. Purchasing, funding and relationship managementQuality-assuranceDepartment ensures that service providers meet terms and conditions of funding In 2003-04 FaCS had separate service agreements with Centrelink, HIC and the Tax Office for the delivery of Child Care Benefit. As at June 2004 FaCS had 11 557 funding agreements with child care service providers, of which 99.99 per cent met the terms and conditions of funding. FaCS is working with the services that did not meet terms and conditions to assist them to meet funding requirements.
During 2003-04, all three service agreements with Centrelink, HIC and the Tax Office, and 99.99 per cent of FaCS funding agreements with child care service providers, met legislative, government policy and departmental requirements. FaCS is working with the services that did not meet terms and conditions to assist them to meet funding requirements. QuantityNumber of contracts or service agreements under management As at June 2004, FaCS had in place three service agreements and 11 557 funding agreements with child care providers under a range of child care support programs. Price$8.9 million Research and evaluationQuality-assuranceResearch and evaluation is of a high standard (timely, fulfils terms of reference, complete, methodologically sound) and contributes to policy understanding and development) FaCS’ agreements with Centrelink, HIC and the Tax Office provide for regular performance and management information reports to FaCS. These reports allow FaCS to evaluate both the quality of service provided and the level of compliance with the agreements. QuantityMajor pieces of research and evaluation completed-4 (in progress) Price$4.7 million Service deliveryQuality-assuranceService providers deliver services to the standards agreed with FaCS Services were delivered as agreed. Quality-customer rights and obligationsControl of incorrect payment and fraud: savings in administered items arising from compliance activities Review mechanisms common across most payment types for detection and control of incorrect payment and fraud are described in Volume two, Part two, ‘Right payments to the right people’. In 2003-04, the Integrated Review System indicated that a total of 6452 child care service operator reviews were completed. Child Care Benefit is paid on an ongoing advance/acquit basis. No debts or overpayments are raised as part of this ongoing process. Performance outcomes for debt recovery and prosecution activity are reported in Volume two, Part two, ’Right payments to the right people’.
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