Funding settings for services affected by Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle

  

Emergency closure funding

 
Licensed early childhood services who have been affected by the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle and are still unable to open, are now required to contact their local Te Mahau office to gain approval to claim emergency closure funding.
 

Absence funding

 
Early learning services in the Hawke’s Bay/Tairāwhiti region affected by Cyclone Gabrielle may continue to claim absence funding for children not in attendance if the service is open as normal.
 

Services should mark the child as absent, and funding can be claimed for the booked hours of permanently enrolled children who are marked as absent. Funding may not be claimed for casually enrolled children who do not attend.
 

EC12 absence exemption: Frequent absence and continuous absence rules

 
Services in Hawke’s Bay/Tairāwhiti region affected by Cyclone Gabrielle can continue to automatically apply an absence exemption for permanently enrolled children who are no longer eligible for funding due to breaking the frequent absence or continuous absence rules. This can only be applied for children whose attendance is directly impacted by the Cyclone. This exemption can continue to be applied directly in your student management system up until 28 April.
 

When an absence exemption is applied, the frequent absence and three-week continuous absence rules are suspended. While the absence exemption is in place, funding can be claimed as normal for the booked hours of children with a permanent enrolment. Funding must not be claimed for children who have permanently left your service.
 

Dual enrolments

 
For services in the Hawke’s Bay/Tairāwhiti region there may still be situations where a child needs to attend a service other than their enrolled service.
 
If the services are not operated by the same service provider, then both services can continue to claim funding for that child.
If a child needs to attend a different service operated by the same service provider, both services can continue to claim funding for that child up until 28 April. Enrolment and attendance records should be maintained at both services.
 

For any children temporarily attending a service, their enrolment agreement should contain a note explaining the temporary enrolment, for example, “[Child’s name] is attending this service due to the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle. [Child’s name] is also enrolled at [service name(s)] in the cyclone affected region”. If the child permanently enrols in the new service, the child’s enrolment should be updated to reflect the change.
 
Funding should not be claimed if a child has permanently left your service.
 

Childcare assistance increases from 1 April

 
From 1 April, income thresholds and hourly rates for childcare subsidy and the out of school care and recreation (OSCAR) subsidy will increase.
 

The annual general adjustment on 1 April will adjust the thresholds and rates. The income thresholds will further increase following an additional policy change.
 

The parents of around 10,000 children will newly qualify for childcare assistance (approximately 7,400 additional children for the childcare subsidy and 2,900 children for the OSCAR Subsidy).
 

The confirmed income thresholds and hourly rates from 1 April, along with more information about these changes, can be found on the Work and Income website:
 

Childcare assistance available to more people – Work and Income