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Hoping someone can help me out with some info or point me in the right direction...
Last year at the Pregnancy, Baby, and Child Expo, DH and I were told that as I do Shift Work, we are entitled to a higher CCB or some sort of extra payment if we hire a private nanny. Does anyone know anything about this or can shed some light on this for me?
TIA
MG
Hi there
My partner is a shift worker and I've never heard that we're entitled to a higher CCB.
Mind you, I'm new to all this ... we're about to start using care next month.
However, you might like to know that if one of you is a shiftworker, you are eligible for a program called in-home care. It's not widely publicised - I only found out by accident when ringing around childcare centres.
Basically it's a Commonwealth Government program that is provided, in our case, by our local childcare centre.
We are getting a carer into our home for 3 part-days one week and two fullish days the next. We just have to let them know a few weeks in advance what hours we will require each day. There's a 3-hour minimum but no minimum over the week.
The rate is $20 per hour but FACS have told me I will get $10 back with the new 50% rebate (or benefit, I get confused with the new terminology) so in effect it's $10 per hour which will be reimbursed quarterly. For us, that's not much more expensive than 5 days of childcare in a centre because we can't pay for part-days in a centre.
So, like using a nanny, except that we don't have to pay an agency fee or don't have to do police checks ourselves if we employed one privately. Plus, if our carer is sick the centre will obviously cover her with a different carer.
That's really helpful Fiona! That kind of rings a bell... I'm relatively new at this too - DD started last July. What kind of centre is the one you spoke to? Is it Council Run or one of the Private ones? We currently use ABC. Also, are you still able to put your little one in at the centre? Our DD LOVES the other kids so don't want her to lose that interaction completely...
Hi Mother Goose
The one I'm going through is a private childcare centre BUT the way I think it works is that the government has the cash for this program then if providers are interested in running it they would have to apply to the government for accreditation/funding to offer it to parents. So, if that's the case it could be run by private or council childcare centres if they've been approved to offer it.
But they can't just decide to offer it; they would have had to have applied in advance. So if your ABC isn't already offering the service, it can't just decide it wants to.
Does that make any sense at all?
I think the best thing to do is phone Family Assistance on 136 150 and ask who your local providers are. I tried getting some info from the web yesterday but ended up getting frustrated because lots of pages came up blank/expired so it's probably quicker to make a phone call.
I'm lucky that our program is run by our closest childcare centre so the one I'm most likely to use when DD is older too. So at some stage I'll cut down on the in-home care and get her to gradually go to the centre. I may even get the in-home carer to take DD to the centre for a few hours for a few days over a few weeks to gradually acclimatise though I'm not sure if they would charge me two fees - one for the carer and one for being in the centre!
MG - for CCB purposes, there is a slight increase to the payment if you use inhome care - FDC etc - for this year the basic rate for CCB in a child care centre is 3.37per hour, for FDC it's about 80c more - and then you get your percentage of that rebated as CCB. so yeah, technically you get a bit more - but it's for a carer looking after your child in THEIR home. i believe an "approved" nanny service would also attract this same rate - but their rates can vary significantly.
i wouldn't call FAO, as to be entirely honest, there is nothing that we're made aware of re care in your own home! the only thing you might be able to get there is a child care availability hotline phone number - and from that, THEY might be able to point you in the right direction...
hope that helps
BG
Thanks ladies! I'll keep investigating... I don't think my centre offers that service then...