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| Occasional child care
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| Where have all the OCC centres gone?
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One of the types of child care that is often overlooked in general discussions, has not been mentioned in the budget and is getting harder to access, is occasional care.
Occasional Child Care (OCC) is an invaluable source of care for many mothers who want a break to get necessary chores done, go to appointments, volunteer or who have ad hoc work commitments, but sadly it's getting harder and harder to find occasional child care centres in many areas.
For those who haven't come across this type of child care OCC is a centre-based form of child care. Designed to serve the needs of the general community and to provide flexible child care for pre-school children, which allows parents to meet their work-related and non-work related commitments.
Families can access OCC regularly on a sessional basis, or on an irregular, ad hoc basis including at short notice and for immediate emergency care cover. They must simply be registered in advance if they want to drop their child at the centre.
OCC services do not offer full-time, all day care except in extenuating circumstances. They are there to provide families with the flexibility to leave children in an early childhood learning environment on days and hours that best meet their needs.
As not all OCC centres are funded by the state or Federal government, many centres rely on local funding and operate on a community level.
Occasional Child Care helps mums to get the odd day or just a few hours of time without the kids to go to medical or dental appointments, meetings or just to get chores done without the kids.
But it's also becoming more and more of a lifeline for the increasing numbers of parents who work from home, part time or in casual jobs with irregular hours, when child care can be very difficult to organize with most long day centres needing parents to sign up on an annual basis and stick to certain set days.
In terms of fees, Occasional Child Care centres are currently benchmarked with Long Day Care centres and fees are generally paid on an hourly rate due to the type of care provided.
Occasional child care is a valuable service for families, especially for working parents on rosters, shift work and casual work. Occasional Child Care provides access and flexibility for students either for long or short-term courses and has proven to fill the gap for families' needs in the community.
While Occasional Care wasn't formally mentioned in the recent budget and outline of the Child Care Assistance Package, Occasional Care does fall under the same subsidy outlines as Long Day Care.
Branch Manager, Jeff Willing at the Department of Social Services acknowledged the important role Occasional Care plays in many parts of the country.
"Occasional Care provides a vital service for many families who need emergency or late-notice care, particularly those in regional areas where occasional care is often needed to fit with seasonal work. It is important that the needs of families in different locations are understood and that the child care system is responsive to those needs", he said.
With regards to the new Child Care Subsidy and where Occasional Care sits within the new system, Mr. Willing said: "When the Child Care Subsidy commences, the hourly fee caps will be $11.55 for centre-based care, $10.70 for family day care, and $10.10 for out of school hours (OOSH) care. The hourly fee cap for centre-based long day care will also apply to Occasional Care services".
For more information about child care centres that offer Occasional Care in your area - go to CareforKids.com.au®.
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