Department of Ed declares CCS period of emergency for Broome and East Kimberly

The Federal Department of Education has declared a Child Care Subsidy (CCS) period of emergency for families and services in the Shire of Broome (WA), the Shire of Derby-East Kimberley (WA) and the Victoria Daly Regional Council area (NT) for the period 6-17 January 2023 to provide support during the flooding. 

• Services can continue to get CCS if they close as a direct result of the emergency.
• Services can waive gap fees if a child doesn’t attend, or their service is closed, during the emergency.
• Children will get unlimited allowable absences for the duration of the period of emergency.

• Families may be able to access additional absences, if they’ve exhausted their allowable absences, after the emergency.
• Families experiencing temporary financial hardship due to an emergency that happened in the last 6 months may be eligible for Additional CCS. Families should apply through their Centrelink online account.
• The Community Child Care Fund special circumstances grant helps services stay open when something unexpected happens, such as an emergency. Affected services should apply after an event has occurred and they have accessed other disaster support.