What is Sessional Care?
posted : 24/Jul/2018
The new Child Care Subsidy (CCS) is here and AppleBerries have introduced SESSIONAL CARE to help you make the most of your childcare subsidy.
What is Sessionial Care? Childcare providers typically offer one block of care that runs from the centre opening time to the centre closing time. Sessional care gives you the option of choosing a smaller block of time which stretches your subsidy further.
One of the factors that will determine your subsidy under the new system is an activity test. This activity test will determine the maximum number of subsidised hours each child is allowed.
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Step
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Hours of Activity per fortnight
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Maximum number of hours of subsidy per child per fortnight
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1
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8 – 16 hours
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36 hours
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2
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16 – 48 hours
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72 hours
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3
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48+ hours
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100 hours
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Low income families that do not meet the activity test will receive 24 hours of subsidised care per fortnight, and 36 hours if they are in an approved Kindergarten program.
Remember that activity is not just hours of paid work, you can (and should) include things such as:
- Unpaid work in a family business
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- Actively looking for work
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- Training courses to improve your employment prospects or skills
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- Driving from the childcare centre to work
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Because your number of subsidised hours are now capped (from July 2), we have introduced sessional care.
AppleBerries now offer a 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11 hour session as well as our traditional full day care. The cost of each session will be the same to you but opting for a shorter session may help you maximise your subsidy allowance.
Take the following example:
Jennifer works 2 days per week – 30 hours per fortnight. Her child attends AppleBerries for 4 days a week – 8 days per fortnight. She normally drops her child off just after 8am and picks them up around 4:30pm.
Under the new CCS system, Jennifer is entitled to 72 hours of subsidised care for her child. With the traditional 12-hour days offered, this will mean Jennifer has 6 days of subsidised care, and she will be required to pay full fees for the additional two days of care per fortnight.
AppleBerries now offers Jennifer a 9-hour session. Her entitlement to 72 hours of subsidised care has not changed, but it will now cover all 8 days that her child attends AppleBerries. In this case Jennifer is in a far better financial position by moving to the 9-hour sessions.
To find out if you can benefit from AppleBerries sessional care have a chat to your Centre Director and she can walk you through your options.
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