Fees policy
Our Service sets fees in accordance with its annual budget to manage the income required to develop and maintain a quality service for children and families. We strive to ensure that our Service is affordable and accessible to families in our community. The Approved Provider ratifies the budget annually, or as necessary, and monitors it carefully throughout the year.
PROCEDURES:
(a) Enrolment & Administration
Fees will include $10 yearly administration fee and a week’s fees in advance, which will be payable when enrolling your child and re-booking for each year.
No enrolments will be accepted before payment and all relevant forms have been submitted and processed.
(b) Membership
The Service is an Incorporated Association and as such, families enrolling their child in the Service are bound by the rules of the P & C Association for the period of the child’s enrolment.
As a member of the Incorporated Association, one representative of the child’s family is entitled to voting rights at any General Meeting held by the Service and may be nominated (with consent) for a position on the Management Committee at the Annual General Meeting.
(c) Child Care Subsidy
Families may be eligible to access support through childcare subsidy. Information will be made available to parents through the parent handbook and on the web site about how they can apply for subsidies.
More information is available at www.humanservice.gov.au.
Full fees will be payable while account holders wait for rebates to be generated via the Child Care Management System. Fees will be recalculated when this happens, by the program and any additional money credited to the account.
(d) Absences
Fees are payable for family holidays, camp days and sick days, if those days fall on a day that the child is already booked to attend, unless the booking is casual and the service is given adequate notice.
Permanent bookings are for whole terms. Should bookings be cancelled, 2 weeks’ notice should be given, or two weeks fees will be charged to the account holder.
Information about approved and allowable absences in conjunction with the CCMS can be found at www.humanservices.gov.au .
(e) Service closure
No fee is charged while the Service is closed, for example over the Christmas/New Year period or student free days or other days where the school is not open.
(f) Payment of Fees
Fees must be paid in full, once invoiced, within the stated due date. Families will be provided with a statement of fees charged by the Service (Regulation 168). Payments via bank transfer will be recorded on the next invoice before new fees are generated, while receipts will be sent via email or given to account holders when they pay by cash. Accounts must remain one week in credit.
Failure to pay fees will result in the suspension and/or cancellation of the place on offer to the family.
(g) Debt recovery
Invoices will be issued each week and fees generated one week in advance. The total calculated fees must be paid by the due date stated on the invoice. If any account is in arrears, the place will be cancelled and opened for families on waiting lists. You may re-book once the account is in credit again and if there is a vacancy. At any point where the service has suspended or cancelled bookings, all bookings for the term will be treated as casual and charged at the higher rate.
(h) Late collection fee
The Service operates Before School Care from 7.30 am- school assembly time and 3.00 pm – 6.00 pm after school. Should children be present after the closing time, charges at $2.00 per minute will apply with an extra fee of $50 when we are not notified.
The hours and days of operation of the Service will be displayed within the Service and children should only attend during those hours (Regulation 173).
Families who are continually late collecting their children may jeopardise their child’s place at the Service.
(i) Methods of Payment
Fees can be paid by:
- Cash
- Direct deposit into the Service’s account. (Any payments made should be notified to avoid late fees for slow transfers from other banks).
(j) Confidentiality
All information in relation to fees will be kept in strict confidence. Members of Staff, Management or the Approved Provider will not discuss individual names and details openly. Information will only be available to the nominated persons required to act, for example, to initiate debt recovery.
Families may access their own account records at a time convenient to both parties, or information regarding accounts will be available in either electronic or printed version to families upon request.
(k) Increase of fees
The fees are set by the Approved Provider to meet the budget for each financial year. There will be ongoing monitoring of the budget and, should it be necessary to amend fees, families will be given a minimum of fourteen calendar days notice of any fee increase (Regulation 172).
(l) Acknowledgement of responsibility to pay fees
Families are required to read and sign the enrolment form, which includes the fees schedule, as acceptance of the Services terms and conditions.
CONSIDERATIONS:
Education and Care Services National Regulations | National Quality Standard | Other Service policies/documentation | Other |
168, 172, 173 | 7.3 | Enrolment Form Enrolment & Orientation Policy Delivery & Collection of Children Policy Confidentiality Policy Governance & Management Policy Parent Handbook Child Care Management System | Assessment of financial situation from Bookkeeper. Retention of quality staff. |
Endorsed
On 29/08/2017
Review: End of financial year or as necessary.
