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Preschool Plus Fee Relief

Preschool Plus Fee Relief funding supports program affordability for eligible families by providing a reduction in their out-of-pocket costs.

It is an allowable third-party payment under Australian Government funding rules for the Child Care Subsidy (CCS). This means that Preschool Plus Fee Relief does not impact a family’s CCS entitlement, and that long day care Services must apply the Preschool Plus Fee Relief to eligible family’s fees after CCS has been applied.

Partner Services must apply Preschool Plus Fee Relief to the families' fees in a timely and regular way, to ensure that fees are not a barrier to participation for eligible children enrolled in the Preschool Plus program.

Charging of fees for children enrolled in Preschool Plus

Fees for families engaged in the Preschool Plus program cannot be set at a higher rate than for other families. ​

Services may continue to operate any local fee relief programs in conjunction with the Preschool Plus Fee Relief program.

Eligibility

Eligibility for Preschool Plus Fee Relief is dependent on:

  • having a place and maintaining eligibility in the Preschool Plus program,
  • being eligible for CCS and having a family income that is below the income cap (80% CCS subsidy rate), and
  • not having out-of-pocket costs already covered by the Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) or other funding.

Family income will be assessed periodically (quarterly) throughout the year.

If a child is eligible for both Aboriginal Fee Relief and Preschool Plus Fee Relief as a Preschool Plus enrolment, the OECD will provide the Partner Service with whichever fee relief is the higher value. They cannot receive both.

The OECD provides a calculator to assist Services to provide accurate information to families and to the OECD for purposes of funding.

Partnership Plan inclusion

Not applicable.

Transparency of Preschool Plus Fee Relief

Services must demonstrate and communicate with families the fee reduction due to the Preschool Plus Fee Relief. This should be done verbally as well as via fee statements.

Verbally, the service should tell the family how much Preschool Plus Fee Relief (as a dollar figure) they will receive off their invoices in the upcoming quarter and share that this may be subject to change in future quarters depending on their circumstances.

Fee statements/invoices to families generated by the services’ software should display this information:

  • daily fee
  • CCS deduction
  • fee relief / additional Preschool Plus subsidy payment from the SA Government
  • out-of-pocket fee to be paid by the family
  • any other standard information already contained.

Services’ software should be able to produce invoices/statements with the above information. A manual process will be required for services that do not use software.

Spending rules

Allowable expenditure

Preschool Plus Fee Relief must be spent reducing the out-of-pocket fees for families with eligible children in the Preschool Plus program, in line with the outlined fee relief approach for each family. Services can apply for a funding adjustment during the quarter by contacting OECD.PreschoolFunding@sa.gov.au if, at any point during the year:

  • a child in a 4-day program loses CCS eligibility for the fourth day due to the activity test
  • a child loses access to ACCS; or
  • a Service has a new child enrolled in the Preschool Plus program after the reference period.

If the opposite to the above scenarios occurs and a Service is overpaid, they will need to offset any under-payments with over-payments, and only seek an adjustment within the quarter if there is a net under-payment.

Funding restrictions​

Preschool Plus fee relief cannot be used: ​

  • to offset higher long day care fees for participating Preschool Plus children
  • to offset the fees of non-Preschool Plus children enrolled in the service
  • to provide cash directly to families.

Discretionary use of funding​

If a Service is over-paid for a given quarter, they can use this funding to support quality and participation initiatives for Preschool Plus children.

There is no other discretionary use of funding for this Funded Program Stream. All funding must be spent in accordance with the above.

Cessation of Preschool Plus Fee Relief

If a Preschool Plus enrolment ceases, Preschool Plus Fee Relief will also cease.

Preschool Plus Fee Relief is complementary to the CCS/3 Day Guarantee. If a child is not eligible for CCS or ceases to be paid CCS due to allowable absences rules being breached, the Preschool Plus Fee Relief will not be expanded to cover the 3 Day Guarantee.

Program reporting

Partner Services will need to retain evidence to demonstrate compliance with spending rules which may include copies of family and child-level invoices/statements.

Preschool Plus Fee Relief funding will also need to be accounted for in the service-level annual financial acquittal.