Every fortnight, a childcare centre will give a family a 'Statement of Entitlement'.
A Statement of Entitlement is a document that outlines:
Details of the care provided to the child (inc. sign-in/out times)
Child Care Subsidy (CCS) details
Gap Fee Amounts (i.e. the fee a family pays after CCS is deducted from the bill)
By outlining all of these elements, families can have a clear understanding of what they've been invoiced with and why.
What Providers Should Do
Statements of Entitlement can only be issued after care is provided, and can't have any estimates in. This means that, if a service bills in advance and estimates CCS, they should not issue a Statement of Entitlement until they receive payment advice from CCS (i.e. after CCS payments are processed).
Providers will then communicate this payment advice to the family via the Statement of Entitlement.
A full list of details required in a Statement of Entitlement are:
The Statement: Name of the primary carer and child; Enrolment ID; Date of issue and start and end dates of the statement period.
The Service: Name of the provider and business; Service's ABN; Service/Provider ID; For FDC/In-Home Care, the name and ID of each educator who provided care and session details.
Sessions of Care: Total hours of care (inc. sign-in/out times); Total hours of physical attendance; The sum of allowable absences and additional absences.
Fees: Hourly fees; Daily and weekly total fees (inc. fee reductions applied)
Fee Reduction Amounts: Total of hours for which the fees were reduced; Total of the fee reduction amounts; Amounts of fee reduction for each session of care.
Actual Attendance Times: Session reports to record actual attendance times (except for absences).
It is a requirement under Family Assistance Law to provide a Statement of Entitlement. However, families can also access a Statement of Entitlement via CentreLink.
To make issuing Statements of Entitlement easier, most software providers - like OWNA - automate the process to include all of the information needed. This kind of software is called a Child Care Management System (CCMS).
Are you looking for a CCMS to help you automate your Childcare Management, and give you more time to focus on the things that matter?