Important reminders from DESE as end of financial year approaches

The Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) has issued important reminders for early childhood education and care (ECEC) services in relation to service closures, the entering of addresses into the CCSS, the completion of the workforce census, financial help for very remote teachers, and assistance with recruitment. 

 

Closure or sale of service

 

The first of the Department’s reminders relates to the closure or sale of a service. 

 

“All providers must notify us when they decide to sell, close their service, or change business structure,” the Department said.

 

“If you intend to permanently close your service, sell it to another provider or change the legal entity of your organisation (e.g. from a partnership to a company), you must tell us 42 days before the proposed date that this will happen.”

 

To notify the Department, providers can use the Notification of intention of closure, sale or transfer of ownership form. Services who fail to notify could lose the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) payments for children attending.

 

Those services who have to temporarily close for any reason or for any period must also notify DESE using child care software or the Provider Entry Point (PEP).

 

The notifications made to the Department are additional to those which must be given to the relevant regulatory authority.

 

Entering addresses in the CCSS

 

The second reminder from DESE relates to changes in the way addresses are entered into the Child Care Subsidy System (CCSS) or into relevant third-party software.

 

From 15 July addresses will be validated against Australia Post standards, and it will be mandatory for providers to enter address information into the address fields.

 

No specific action is required by providers, and the relevant software provider can support with any questions. 

 

Workforce census reminder

 

DESE also reminded services to complete the National Workforce Census as a requirement under Family Assistance Law.

 

For those services who have yet to do so, a registration must be undertaken to complete the census. The log in code to register can be found in an invitation email from the Social Research Centre. 

 

For more information contact the National Workforce Census Helpline on 1800 800 996 or email [email protected] 

 

Recruitment support 

 

The Relocation Assistance to Take Up a Job program can help services to recruit staff, helping those employers who are having difficulties finding suitable employees in their area.

 

Available vacancies must be for ongoing positions, including traineeships and apprenticeships.

 

Participants who take up ongoing work may be eligible for help with moving costs.

 

Local employment service providers or disability employment service providers can provide further assistance, while further information is available on the Relocation Assistance to Take up a Job webpage.

 

Financial help for very remote teachers

 

Centre Based Day Care Services (CBDCs) in very remote Australia may be entitled to additional support to attract and retain teachers with Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debts.

 

This may include waiving indexation on accumulated HELP debts, and reductions in accumulated HELP debts. 

 

Early childhood teachers at very remote CBDC services may be eligible for this initiative. To determine eligibility for support, see here. Applications for indexation waivers are open, with more information available here.