Important Information
Child care services approved before 31 March 2008 transferring to the Child Care Management System may be eligible to receive additional financial assistance to support their transition to the Child Care Management System. All Approved CCB Operators should have received an offer for initial Transition Payment of $1,000 for each service, capped at $15,000 per operator by 30 June 2008. If you haven't received the offer by this date, please contact the CCMS Helpdesk on 1300 667 276.
Approved Operators of Long Day Care and Family Day Care services can apply for Additional Assistance funding from 21 January 2008. Payments will be made to successful applicants from February 2008 and up to six months after transition to CCMS.
Approved Operators of OSHC, IHC and OCC services can apply for Additional Assistance funding from 1 June 2008. Payments will be made to successful applicants from 1 July 2008 and up to six months after transition to CCMS.
Electronic applications
An electronic Application Form is available by contacting the CCMS Helpdesk on 1300 667 276. A CCMS Helpdesk Operator will register your application and complete the application form online for you. You will then be emailed a copy of the completed Application Form for checking and signature.
If you have any technical issues with receiving the completed application form electronically or are experiencing problems submitting, please phone the CCMS Helpdesk on 1300 667 276
Please note that during the application period there will be short, scheduled outages to the online application process. Notification of these system outages will be on the DEEWR website (www.deewr.gov.au)
Paper-based Applications
A paper Application Form can be requested by phoning the CCMS Help Desk on 1300 667 276. A CCMS Helpdesk Operator will register your application and complete the application form online for you. You will then by mailed a copy of the completed application form for checking and signature. Do not send any additional documents with your application as they will not be considered.
Please send all applications to:
Attention: CCMS Helpdesk
Child Care Management System Taskforce
Child Care Policy & Payments Branch
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
PO Box 9880
Canberra ACT 2601
Questions and Answers
A questions and answers facility about the Transition Payments is available. You can email questions to the CCMS mailbox at ccmshelpdesk@deewr.gov.au or call the CCMS Help Desk on 1300 667 276 between 8am and 8pm EST Monday to Friday. DEEWR will respond within three working days.
Responses to questions that may benefit a larger number of organisations will be added to the CCMS website.
Further information
For further information about CCMS Transition Payments, email the CCMS mailbox at ccmshelpdesk@deewr.gov.au or phone the CCMS Help Desk on 1300 667 276.
A TTY service for people who have a hearing or speech impairment is available on toll free 1800 260 402. A TTY phone is required for this service.
What is the CCMS Transition Payment?
Transition Payments are financial assistance provided by the Australian Government to help child care services transition to the new CCMS system. The payment is not intended to fully reimburse a service for all costs incurred. This assistance will help services by contributing to costs associated with activities such as acquiring or upgrading their hardware and/or software or connecting to the internet.
There are two components to the Transition Payment Model;
1) A set payment available to all services. This money should be used by the service to support their transition to CCMS. All operators will receive this funding from September 2007 onwards.
2)Additional assistance to services with additional transition costs. Additional funding will be available to assist services that may experience significant costs that won't be covered by the above funding.
NOTE - These guidelines relate specifically to the Additional Assistance.
How much funding assistance will services receive?
In addition to the $1000 (GST excl) set payment already received by services, some services will be eligible to receive up to $2,100 (GST excl) in additional assistance.
The maximum amount that an organisation can be paid under the additional assistance is $31,500 (GST excl). Applications received from CCB Operators in excess of this amount will be rejected.
Application from CCB Operators will be assessed against criteria. Not all Operators will receive funding, or will receive the amount applied for.
Funding recipients will have an obligation to spend this money on costs associated with their transition and be able to provide evidence of expenditure of funds if requested by DEEWR.
Funding recipients that receive Transition Payments on behalf of services that fail to transition to CCMS will have to repay the assistance.
Eligibility criteria
All of the following criteria must be met;
- You are a CCB Approved Operator
- You are applying for assistance for an eligible service approved before 31 March 2008
- Your services are transitioning to CCMS
- You complete an application form
- You execute a funding agreement provided by the department upon assessment of your application.
If you operate multiple services, you should apply for assistance for all of your services in the one application. For example, if you operate an OSHC service in addition to your LDC or FDC service, you should also apply for any assistance needed for the OSHC service in this application.
Eligible items for Transition Payments - Additional Assistance
As the purpose of additional assistance is to help those services most in need, there will only be specific circumstances under which Additional Assistance applications will be accepted. The following items will be covered;
- an essential computer upgrade to support the new CCMS software;
- purchase of a computer and software for the first time;
- costs associated with establishing an internet connection;
- any training costs associated with the transition to CCMS; and
- additional transition costs where a service is classified as remote.
Additional assistance will not be provided for the following:
- any non-essential computer upgrades;
- any on-going costs such as monthly broadband fees;
- any ongoing resource or administration costs; and
- other costs not directly related to transition to CCMS.
The following table indicates the maximum amount that will be provided to eligible items. The "other" component has been included to cover unforseen costs that may be experienced by services.
|
Item |
Max amount |
|
Computer |
$ 1,000 |
|
Internet connectivity |
$ 300 |
|
CCMS software |
$ 800 |
|
Other (including costs specifically related to the services operating in a remote area) |
$ 1,000 |
|
Total amount of assistance available per service (includes initial payment of $1,000) |
$3,100 |
Note: services will already have received the $1000 in their initial funding - any amount applied for in the additional assistance will need to have this deducted from it.
Applying for computer equipment
For the purposes of these guidelines a 'computer' includes a CPU*, monitor, keyboard, mouse, backup and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) type hardware and operating system, plus software products to help protect your system such as anti-virus and firewall software. Additional items, including printers, scanners and other software such MS Office, MYOB or other specialised software (other than CCMS registered software) IS NOT eligible. However we will consider well supported cases for specialised software, for example specialised software for the visually impaired. Services should apply for this assistance in-line with the "other" provisions. See below for funding for registered CCMS software products.
*The CPU includes all of the items typically found inside a PC box, such as the main processing chip (eg Pentium Core 2), motherboard, hard drive and CD/DVD drive
Note: Funding will only be provided for essential purchases or upgrades. Services that already have a computer compatible with Registered CCMS software will not receive additional funding for the purchase or upgrade of a computer.
Internet connectivity
Services will be eligible to receive additional assistance to help cover initial set up costs associated with internet connectivity. Initial set-up costs include any networking products used to connect to the internet (such as a modem) and any connection costs. Additional Assistance will not be provided for ongoing internet costs.
Registered CCMS Software Products
Services may be eligible to receive additional funding for CCMS registered software they are required to purchase to operate under CCMS. Services that are currently using a software package, but are required to purchase an upgraded package will be able to receive up to $500 towards this upgrade. Services that are required to purchase new software to operate under CCMS will be eligible to receive up to $800 in additional assistance.
Other
It is recognised that there may be other costs associated with the transition to CCMS that may need to be considered for funding. Services are able to apply for assistance to support these items under "other". Services must ensure items applied for under "other" are not included in the 'items not eligible list' and are directly related to their transition to CCMS.
Note: Special consideration may be given to services operating in remote areas that experience increased costs related to their transition to CCMS.
If you are unsure if an item would be eligible, please send your query to the CCMS Helpdesk (ccmshelpdesk@deewr.gov.au) or contact the CCMS Helpdesk on 1300 667 276.
Successful and unsuccessful applications for Transition Payments - Additional Assistance
Successful applicants will be sent a letter of offer and will be asked to sign a Funding Agreement, the legal agreement between your organisation and the Department. Funded organisations are responsible for ensuring the terms and conditions of the Funding Agreement are met. Once it has been returned and accepted by the
Department, the funds will be made available. The funds must be paid to the organisation that applied under CCMS Transition Payments - Additional Assistance. DEEWR is unable to make payments to third parties.
Please note that we may require you to provide proof of purchase and to allow the Commonwealth's auditors to look at your records.
All unsuccessful organisations that apply for Transition Payments - Additional Assistance by the due date will be advised in writing and given the opportunity to seek feedback on their application.
CCMS Transition Payments - Additional formal terms, conditions and responsibilities
Applicants: You must provide all information requested and ensure the information is complete and accurate so your application can be assessed. DEEWR will not follow up information that is incomplete, not legible or incorrect. Keep a copy of your Application Form and any supporting papers such as quotes for your own
records. If you submit more than one application, only one will be considered for funding. We cannot send out or accept applications by fax.
Department: DEEWR will answer requests for assistance about questions on the Application Form or content in the Application Guidelines, but will not accept or answer queries about the status of applications.
DEEWR reserves the right to amend these Application Guidelines by whatever means it may determine in its absolute discretion and will provide reasonable notice of these amendments. DEEWR also reserves the right to mark any application ineligible if it has concerns about the genuineness of the information provided or where it is thought that the application has not been submitted in the spirit of the program.
Late applications: DEEWR may reject any application lodged after the closing date (six months after transition of the service). If an application is late, DEEWR may determine that there were exceptional circumstances beyond the applicant's control that meant the deadline could not be met. The applicant will need to supply documentary evidence to support this.
Any decision by DEEWR to accept or not accept a late application will be final.
Complaints handling for the CCMS Transition Payments selection process: Complaints will be dealt with under the DEEWR Complaints Management Scheme. The Complaints Management Scheme ensures that any problems that you
have with DEEWR’s services, decisions or policies are taken seriously and dealt with promptly.
For the CCMS Transition Payments - Additional Assistance selection process the initial contact person is:
Branch Manager
Child Care Policy and Payments
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
PO Box 9880
Canberra ACT 2601
If you still feel this has not been successful, and your issue or complaint has not been resolved satisfactorily then you will need to contact the DEEWR Contact Centre on 1300 363 079. They will work with you to satisfactorily resolve the complaint or suggest further action if appropriate. If you are dissatisfied at any time with our handling of your complaint, you can also contact the Commonwealth Ombudsman.