Are you opening a new child care service? Have you thought about the Child Care Benefit (CCB) and Child Care Rebate (CCR)? Currently all parents are entitled to CCR, this can be paid directly to the parent instead of the service (as can CCB however not many parents request lump sum payments of CCB). These schemes are definitely something every child care service should be a part of. In this blog I’ll explain what the benefits of being an approved CCB service are, what you need to do to become eligible and what other government funding opportunities are available to you.
The Department of Education now has an online process that details the steps on how to apply for CCB approval. It includes:
According to The Department, new child care services may be eligible for funding under the Child Care Services Support Programme. This is made up of two programmes:
Community Support Programme (CSP)
This programme financially assists child care providers to establish or maintain sustainable services in parts of Australia where they might not have been viable or able to meet the unique requirements of the community, such as in disadvantaged or regional and remote areas.
Inclusion and Professional Support Programme (IPSP)
The purpose of this programme is to maintain high-quality, inclusive education and care for all kids including those with ongoing high-support needs within eligible child care and early learning settings. The programme achieves this by providing professional development to early childhood educators as well as advice and access to additional resources and inclusion support. The programme increases the knowledge and skills of early childhood educators and the capacity of the services available.
As you can see there’s a lot of support out there for new service providers, so be sure to explore every opportunity there is to get the best start for your service.
To keep up-to-date on important information for new child care operators subscribe to our blog, SmartReads. SmartReads also covers the latest trends and news in the child care sector as well as important topics that child care services face on a daily basis such as chasing payments. We also invite you to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest child care sector news.