Child Care Benefit (Allocation of Child Care Places) Guidelines 2017 (Cth)

Child Care Benefit (Allocation of Child Care Places) Guidelines 2017

I, Simon Birmingham, Minister for Education and Training, make this instrument under section 206 of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999.

Dated 18 September 2017

Simon Birmingham

Minister for Education and Training

Contents

Part 1—Preliminary   1

1  Name........................................................................................................................................ 1

2  Commencement and repeal....................................................................................................... 1

3  Authority.................................................................................................................................. 1

4  Meaning of child care place...................................................................................................... 1

Part 2—Allocation of child care places  2

5  Application of this Part............................................................................................................. 2

6  Secretary to determine number of child care places in an area etc............................................. 2

7  Matters relevant to allocation of child care places to an approved child care service................. 2

Part 3—Reduction of allocation of child care places  3

8  Application of this Part............................................................................................................. 3

9  Child care places not provided by a service.............................................................................. 3

10  Notices proposing to reduce allocation of child care places.................................................... 3

Part 4—Saving of existing child care place determinations and allocations           3

11  Saving of existing child care place determinations and allocations......................................... 3

Part 1—Preliminary

1  Name

This instrument is the Child Care Benefit (Allocation of Child Care Places) Guidelines 2017.

2  Commencement and repeal

(1)  Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.

Commencement information
Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Provisions	Commencement	Date/Details
1.  The whole of this instrument	1 October 2017.	1 October 2017

Note:          This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.

(2)  Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.

(3) This instrument is repealed immediately after the commencement of Schedule 1 to the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Jobs for Families Child Care Package) Act 2017.

Note: Schedule 1 to the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Jobs for Families Child Care Package) Act 2017 commences on 2 July 2018, see section 2 of that Act.

3  Authority

This instrument is made under the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999.

4  Meaning of child care place

(1)  In this instrument, a child care place for an approved child care service is:

(a)  for an approved in-home care service—a place for which in-home care can be provided by the service for 35 hours per week; and

(b)  for an approved occasional care service—a place for which occasional care can be provided by the service for 40 hours per week.

(2)  The hours in a child care place at an approved child care service can be used to provide care to one child, or to more than one child in succession.

Part 2—Allocation of child care places

5  Application of this Part

(1)  This Part applies for the purposes of the Secretary allocating child care places to an approved child care service that is an approved in-home care service or an approved occasional care service.

(2)  This Part applies for the purposes of the Secretary allocating child care places to an approved child care service under subsections 207(1) and (2) of the Family Assistance Administration Act.

Note:          Subsection 207(1) of the Family Assistance Administration Act provides for the Secretary to make an initial allocation of child care places to an approved child care service, and subsection 207(2) provides for the Secretary to allocate additional child care places to a service on application by the service.

6  Secretary to determine number of child care places in an area etc.

(1)  Before the Secretary allocates a child care place to an approved child care service, the Secretary must determine in writing:

(a)  the areas of Australia in which child care places may be allocated; and

(b)  the number of child care places that may be allocated to approved in-home care services and approved occasional care services, respectively, located in each of those areas.

(2)  A determination under subsection (1) may divide the number of child care places that may be allocated in an area or to a kind of service into numbers of places that may be allocated to children in particular age groups.

(3)  In making a determination under subsection (1), the Secretary must take into account the relative needs of different areas of Australia for child care places of the relevant kind.

(4)  Also, in making a determination under subsection (1) in relation to child care places for approved occasional care services, the Secretary must take into account the relative need for that kind of care of people who have recognised work, training or study commitments.

7  Matters relevant to allocation of child care places to an approved child care service

(1)  In allocating child care places to an approved child care service under subsection 207(1) or (2) of the Family Assistance Administration Act, the Secretary must take into account:

(a)  the determination under subsection 6(1); and

(b)  the need for the relevant kind of care of the persons who are using or likely to use the service, relative to the need of the persons who are using or likely to use another service of the relevant kind located in the area; and

(c)  the service’s ability to provide child care that best meets the needs of:

(i)  in the case of an approved occasional care service—persons who have recognised work, training or study commitments; or

(ii)  in the case of an approved in-home care service—children to whom paragraph 10(1B)(a) of the Child Care Benefit (Eligibility of Child Care Services for Approval and Continued Approval) Rules 2017 applies; and

(d)  the service’s compliance, and history of compliance, with conditions for continued approval of the service; and

(e)  any other matter the Secretary considers relevant.

(2)  The Secretary must not allocate child care places, or child care places of a particular kind, to an approved child care service under subsection 207(1) or (2) of the Family Assistance Administration Act so as to exceed the number of places, or places of that kind, determined under subsection 6(1) by more than 15 per cent.

Part 3—Reduction of allocation of child care places

8  Application of this Part

This Part applies for the purposes of reducing, under section 207A of the Family Assistance Administration Act, the number of child care places allocated to an approved child care service that is an approved in-home care service.

9  Child care places not provided by a service

For subsection 207A(1) of the Family Assistance Administration Act, the Secretary may consider that a child care place is not provided by an approved child care service if the place has been unoccupied continuously for at least 6 months immediately prior to the Secretary giving the service a notice under subsection 207A(2) of the Act.

10  Notices proposing to reduce allocation of child care places

(1) A notice given by the Secretary to an approved child care service under subsection 207A(2) of the Act must provide that service may make written submissions within a period of at least 28 days from the day the service is given the notice.

(2) The notice may be given to the service in any of the ways set out in section 224A of the Act. If so, the notice is taken, for the purpose of the family assistance law, to have been given to the service.

Part 4—Saving of existing child care place determinations and allocations

11  Saving of existing child care place determinations and allocations

(1)  For the purposes of this instrument, the Secretary is taken to have made determinations under subsection 6(1) immediately after the commencement of this instrument that are the same as determinations made under subsection 7(1) of the Child Care Benefit (Allocation of Child Care Places) Determination 2000 that were in force immediately before the repeal of that instrument.

Note:          The Child Care Benefit (Allocation of Child Care Places) Determination 2000 is repealed on 1 October 2017 under Part 4 of Chapter 3 of the Legislation Act 2003 (sunsetting of legislative instruments).

(2)  Notwithstanding the repeal of the Child Care Benefit (Allocation of Child Care Places) Determination 2000, an approved child care service to which the Secretary had allocated child care places under section 207 of the Family Assistance Administration Act immediately before that repeal continues to have those child care places allocated.