CCMS Christmas Fact Sheet 2014 December 2014 Christmas and New Year Period 2014/2015 Public Holidays & Christmas Shutdown Christmas/New Year period. The processing results will be available through your software; however the national public holidays will cause some delays in processing payments. The Christmas/New Year public holiday dates in all Australian States and Territories for this year are: Payment Processing Thursday 25 December 2014 Friday 26 December 2014 Thursday 1 January 2015 The CCMS Helpdesk will be closed from 12:30 PM (AEDT) on Wednesday 24 December 2014 and will reopen at 9 AM (AEDT) on Friday 2 January 2015. Please note that while the CCMS Helpdesk is closed, we will be unavailable to take calls and return e-mails. Should you require assistance during this period, please refer to the Child Care Service Handbook and other information available at www.education.gov.au. Payment Processing Dates Submitting Data Data submitted to the CCMS will be processed without interruption throughout the 1 The last child care payment processing day prior to the Christmas/New Year shutdown period will be Wednesday 24 December 2014. To ensure you receive payments relating to all periods up to week ending 14 December 2014 into your bank account before the break, you will need to submit your data to the CCMS for processing before 6 PM (AEDT) on Wednesday 17 December 2014. Payments resulting from that processing will be processed on Thursday 18 December and should reach your bank account within two business days. Payments relating to data submitted for processing after 6 pm (AEDT) on Wednesday 17 December 2014 will continue to be processed up to and including Wednesday 24 December 2014. The public holidays may result in some payments not reaching your bank account for several extra days. Please Note: Normal payment processing will resume from Friday 2 January 2015. Reporting Absence Days Services that are closed Individual services may make a business decision to charge families over a Christmas closedown period. Families are not entitled to Child Care Benefit for the days when the service is closed. The only exception is that a service can report absences for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day public holidays if: the family has been charged a fee for those days; and the public holiday falls on a day that the child would normally be in care. The table below shows the CCB treatment of absences for each day. Day Date Status Can CCB be paid for an initial absence on this day? Wednesday 24 December 2014 Open for normal business Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Thursday 25 December 2014 Closed for public holiday Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Friday 26 December 2014 Closed for public holiday Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Saturday 27 December 2014 Closed No Sunday 28 December 2014 Closed No Monday 29 December 2014 Closed No Tuesday 30 December 2014 Closed No Wednesday 31 December 2014 Closed No Thursday 1 January 2015 Closed for public holiday Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Friday 2 January 2015 Open for normal business Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged 2 Services that are open If your service remains open and providing care throughout the Christmas/New Year period and only closes for the public holidays, you should report Attendance and Absence details as usual. This table shows the CCB treatment of absences for each day. Day Date Status Can CCB be paid for an initial absence on this day? Wednesday 24 December 2014 Open for normal business Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Thursday 25 December 2014 Closed for public holiday Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Friday 26 December 2014 Closed for public holiday Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Saturday 27 December 2014 Open Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Sunday 28 December 2014 Open Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Monday 29 December 2014 Open Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Tuesday 30 December 2014 Open Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Wednesday 31 December 2014 Open Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Thursday 1 January 2015 Closed for public holiday Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged Friday 2 January 2015 Open for normal business Yes, if the child would normally have attended on this day and if fees are charged 3 Additional Absences A public holiday is not an Additional Absence reason. A child is only eligible for Additional Absences on public holidays if all of the following conditions apply: the 42 Initial Absence days have been used; it is a day the child normally attends care; you have charged a fee; one of the Additional Absence reasons applies (e.g. sickness); and there is written evidence to support the Additional Absence reason (e.g. a medical certificate) You cannot report Initial or Additional Absences for other days when the service is closed that are not public holidays (e.g. 27-31 December). Reporting Attendance and Service Closure Reporting Attendances Under no circumstances can you report Attendances for children on days that your service is closed. You can only report Attendances for sessions of care that are actually attended by the child. You may be able to report Absences according to the tables above. Services closing early on 24 December 2014 You can only report a child care session on an attendance record where your service is open and available to provide care (unless it is a public holiday). If you are closing your centre early on 24 December you need to report a shorter session to the CCMS. Therefore you must only report your hours of operation (hours you are open and providing care). Temporary Service Closures Each service has an obligation under family assistance law to operate a minimum number of weeks per year. If your service closes temporarily at any stage throughout the year, including during the Christmas/New Year period, you are required to notify CCMS in advance through your software product. If you are unsure of how to do this, please refer to your software product reference material or contact your software provider. 4
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