EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Child Care Benefit (Hours of Eligibility Rules) Amendment Determination 2008 (No. 1)
Summary
This Determination is made under section 57B of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 (the Family Assistance Act).
This Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
The purpose of this Determination is to amend the Child Care Benefit (Hours of Eligibility Rules) Determination 2000 (the Hours of Eligibility Determination) which includes among others, rules relating to the making of the Secretary’s determination under section 57 that an approved child care service is a sole provider in an area of the kind of care the service provides. If such a determination is made, a weekly limit of hours of care for which CCB eligibility arises is 50 hours (the basic weekly limit of hours is 24).
The number of FTB children using the service is relevant to the making of the sole provider determination.
The Hours of Eligibility Determination is amended as a consequence of the introduction of the ‘regular care child’ concept into the family assistance law by the Child Support Legislation Amendment (Reform of the Child Support Scheme – New Formula and Other Measures) Act 2006 (the Amending Act) with effect from 1 July 2008. ‘Family assistance law’ is defined in section 3 of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance)(Administration) Act 1999 as including, among others, that Act and the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 (Family Assistance Act).
As a result of the amendments, the number of both FTB children and regular care children is relevant to the making of the sole provider determination. The amendments made by this Determination commence on 1 July 2008.
The Hours of Eligibility Determination is also amended to correct the obsolete references to ‘the Minister’ in subsection 7(3) and replace them with the references to ‘the Secretary’, to make that Determination consistent with a sole provider determination under section 57 of the Family Assistance Act, to which subsection 7(3) refers. This amendment will commence on the day after the registration of this determination.
Background
Currently, to be eligible for CCB for a child, the child must be an ‘FTB child’ of the individual or the individual’s partner.
The ‘FTB child’ is currently defined in sections 22 to 29 of the Family Assistance Act. If a child is in the care of more than one individual, the child is not an FTB child of an individual if the child is in the individual’s care for less than 10% of the time.
Amendments that were made to the family assistance law by the Amending Act have altered, from 1 July 2008, the concept of an ‘FTB child’ relevant to eligibility for family assistance including for family tax benefit (FTB) and CCB.
As a result of the changes made by the Amending Act, a child in respect of whom an individual has at least 35% of care is an FTB child of that individual (subsection 22(7) of the Family Assistance Act, as amended refers) and a child in respect of whom an individual has 14% to 34% of care is a ‘regular care child’ of the individual (subsection 3(1) of the Family Assistance Act, as amended refers).
Amendments were made by the Amending Act to the CCB eligibility provisions so that, from 1 July 2008, eligibility for CCB arises for both categories of children, FTB children and regular care children.
The Hours of Eligibility Determination includes references to an FTB child only. As a consequence of the changes to the CCB eligibility provisions, amendments to the Exemption from Immunisation Requirements Determination are made to ensure that a ‘regular care child’ is afforded under that Determination the same treatment as an ‘FTB child.’
Consultation
The amendments made by this Determination in respect of regular care children were not consulted given that they are consequential on the amendments made by the Amending Act (as announced in the 2006-2007 Budget) and which commenced on 1 July 2008.
Regulatory Impact Analysis
This instrument does not require a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) and /or a Business Cost Calculator Figure. This instrument is not regulatory in nature, will not impact on business activity, and will have no, or minimal, compliance costs or competition impact. It is not expected that any compliance costs will be incurred by business as a result of this instrument.
Explanation of Amendments
Name of the Determination
Section 1 states the name of this Determination.
Commencement
Section 2 states that this Determination commences:
a) on the day after this Determination is registered in respect of the amendments made in sections 1, 2 and 3 and in Schedule 1;
b) on 1 July 2008 in respect of the amendments made in section 4 and Schedule 2.
Section 4 and Schedule 2 to the determination do not disadvantage the rights and liabilities of persons for the purposes of subsection 12(2) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003. The delay in registering this determination was due to an administrative oversight by the Department.
Amendment of the Child Care Benefit (Hours of Eligibility Rules) Determination 2000
Section 3 states that Schedule 1 amends the Hours of Eligibility Determination.
Explanation of item 1 in Schedule 1
Item 1 – Subsection 7(3)
Subsection 7(3) specifies the matters which, under section 57B of the Family Assistance Act, the Secretary must take into account while considering whether an approved child care service would be likely to close if the Secretary would not make a determination of sole provider in respect of the service. Item 1 amends subsection 7(3) to substitute incorrect references to the ‘Minister’ with references to the ‘Secretary,’ to reflect the fact that it is the Secretary not the Minister who must take the matters specified in that subsection into account.
Explanation of the items in Schedule 2
Paragraphs 7(3)(a) and (b) provide that when making a determination of sole provider under section 57 of the Family Assistance Act, the Secretary must take into account the number of children using the service who are FTB children of persons who are eligible for the CCB and who satisfy the work/training/study test and who are FTB children of CCB eligible persons who do not satisfy the work/training/study test.
Item 1 substitutes new paragraphs 7(3)(a) and (b) to add the requirement that the Secretary must take into account also the number of children who are ‘regular care children’ of persons who are eligible for CCB who satisfy the work/training/study test, and of the persons who do not satisfy that test.
Item 2 inserts a note at the end of subsection 7(3) advising the reader that the term satisfies the ‘work/training/study test’ has the meaning given by subsection 14(1) of the Family Assistance Act.