In The Current Situation, if I Have Decided to Keep My Child at Home and Not to Send to Child Care. Will I Still Get CCS?

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  o53djz7qTPY4der on 24/03/2020 - 08:09

  I am in the same boat. Seriously considering taking my child out.

  I think it would be better to just give notice of withdrawal. Deal with the finding daycare situation in due course when things return to normal. This is not a 2-3 week thing, this could be months. Do you really want to be paying the gap (at the minimum) for months? Mine is $70 per day - I'd rather not.

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  TheBilly on 24/03/2020 - 08:13

  What happens if you just don't pay and cancel your enrollment? For some reason I feel like this falls in the category of gym memberships, lock in contracts that they wave over your head, but with little ramifications if you don't fulfill.

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    o53djz7qTPY4der on 24/03/2020 - 08:25

    I think the fear is, "will we get them back into childcare at a later date". Likely unfounded as daycare will see a huge drop in enrollments in the coming weeks/months with people being out of work.

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      TheBilly on 24/03/2020 - 09:09

      I agree that is unfounded. Would rather have that cash in my pocket right now given the climate.

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  jimbobaus on 24/03/2020 - 08:41

  In states where schools are open they did state that Centrelink would withdraw payments relating to children if they did not attend school
  however on Sunday evening ScoMo stated that school attendance is at parents discretion until end of current term , this is essentially a change of position from the government which means you should not be penalised if you chose to keep them home.

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    HighAndDry on 24/03/2020 - 11:12

    Was that really a big worry in the first place? In the current climate, "my kid had a sniffle" would've sufficed to take them out anyway, surely?

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  [Deactivated] on 24/03/2020 - 09:17

  Aren't you allowed about 40 days off before the government stops paying ccs

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  LuffyTuffyFluffy on 24/03/2020 - 09:34

  +1

  You are allowed to exhaust 42 days of absences for any reason per financial year. They have lax the rules, that beyond the allocated days it can be be negotiated between yourself the service provider - medical cert may be required.

  https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/subjects/af…

  Anectodally, I have heard some service providers may consider marking attendance even tho the child is absent. This means you just need to continue to pay the gap fee only, and hold on to the CC place. (While some may debate the ethics, remember we are currently dealing with exceptional circumstances so I think some discretion should be applied.)

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    serpserpserp on 24/03/2020 - 10:07

    This is the answer OP needs.

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  Baa on 24/03/2020 - 10:03

  My schedule is varied so days when I can do school drop off and pick up I swing by and sign my girls in then out. I mainly do this as I have exhausted my 42 days.

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  tsunamisurfer on 24/03/2020 - 12:04

  +1

  Of course you shouldn't get CCS.

  Taxpayers are subsidising your childcare so you can continue to go to work.

  Now that you are electing not to use childcare, why should taxpayers pay?

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  C0mbat on 24/03/2020 - 20:23

  Our position is worse. We don't get the subsidy as we're not permanent residents. My wife is pregnant and most of the advice we've been given is to not send our boy. So we're paying for fees on one side but also not earning an income on the other side as my wife has to take time off to look after him. How does that benefit people at a time like this?!

  Our daycare withdrawal notice is 4 weeks plus we paid a bond if $700 so I'm not sure whether we could withdraw him now and stop paying. It's obviously exceptional circumstances but they are obviously trying to protect revenue. One benefit is that we send him to a council daycare but it doesn't seem to guarantee any form of a relaxed stance on withdrawals.

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  Ricketytruck on 31/03/2020 - 18:45

  You still get ccs for the first 42 days of absences. I believe they’ve increased it to 60 due to covid. You could cancel and then re enroll just have to keep in mind the child must attend for at least one hour on the last day to access CCS in the cancellation period. FWIW we were between two centres so have cancelled one and am considering applying for ACCS if my job goes under.