Reporting Absences for CCB - CareforKids.com.au®

Reporting Absences for CCB
Update from the CCMS Helpdesk

With the start of the new financial year in July, the absence count for all children has been reset to zero, so this is a good time to remind you about the treatment of absences for Child Care Benefit (CCB) purposes.

Background
Child care services usually charge fees for booked sessions of care, whether or not the child attends the session. CCB can also be paid for a reasonable number of absences.

There are some basic requirements that always apply to absences. CCB is only paid if the absence is on a day:

the child would normally attend care, and
you have charged a fee, and
the service is operating and care is available if required (apart from public holidays).

Initial 42 days
CCB is paid for a child's first 42 absences each financial year. There are no restrictions on the reasons for these initial absences and there is no requirement for supporting documentation.

Additional Absences
If a child uses all 42 initial absence days, they can have access to more absence days only if they are taken for certain reasons. For some of these reasons you need supporting documentation, such as a doctor's certificate in the case of illness.

Documentation is required for:

Illness of the child* or a member of their household
Outbreak of infectious disease for which the child is not immunised
Parent's rostered days off or rotating shifts*
Shared care arrangements*

Documentation is not required for:

Temporary school closure or pupil-free day
Period of local emergency
Attendance at preschool
Exceptional circumstances

Exceptional circumstances
The term 'exceptional circumstances' is easily misunderstood. It refers to the situation where a child has already used at least 31 of their initial 42 absences for the reasons shown in the table with a star (*).

If you have the required evidence for those original absences, you can approve up to 20 more absences as 'exceptional circumstance additional absence days'. These extra days can be used for a break in care and no further documentation is needed from the family.

Public holidays
Initial absences can be used for public holidays if you have charged a fee, even though the service is closed. If a child's 42 initial absence days have all been used and the child qualifies for an additional absence (see above), it can be used on a public holiday. A public holiday is not an additional absence reason.

Additional info

Absence rules apply to all service types except Occasional Care. Absences are counted across all services used by the child. FDC Scheme is considered 'open' if they have an alternative carer available.
Only one absence is counted if a child is absent from more than one session on a single day (e.g. before and after school care).
You can't report absences if you close for a staff training day or child-free day at your service.
You can't report absences before a child attends care at your service.
You can't report absences after a child's last day of attendance at your service.

Unused initial absences can't be carried over from one financial year to the next.