$350 Family Day Care Capability Grant for family day care carers

The Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth, The Hon Kate Ellis MP, announced on 3 June 2010 at a carer’s home in Queanbeyan, NSW, that the Federal Government would provide a total of $4.5 million in grant funding to family day care carers across Australia.

These one-off grants of $350 will be made available to around 12,500 primary family day care carers across Australia to build their capability to provide high quality care. Carers can use the grant to purchase educational equipment and toys, or undertake professional development or training activities. There are certain items that the payment cannot be used for.

The Minister’s media release stated that the Australian Government is pleased to partner with Family Day Care Australia, the peak body for family day care, to deliver this grant. Family Day Care Australia is uniquely placed to deliver the payments to carers on the Government’s behalf.

In early July, letters advising the terms and conditions of the grant were distributed to all eligible carers, together with a declaration and invoice/tax invoice template. Carers were advised of the importance of signing and returning the declaration and invoice included with the letter as the grant payment cannot be made without it. Carers registered for GST need to return a tax invoice and they will receive $385, and carers not registered for GST need to return a standard invoice and they will receive $350.

The grant payments will be made by cheque and will begin to be distributed on 23 August 2010. It will be a big task to distribute 12,500 payments, so the patience of individual carers is very much appreciated. All payments are planned to be distributed by the end of October.

The Family Day Care Capability Grant builds on the broader objectives of the early childhood education and care agenda of strengthening the profile of the family day care workforce. It also ties into the family day care sector’s Five Year Plan – Working for a Stronger Future by supporting Key Result Area 1 (Operating Framework), Key Result Area 2 (Workforce) and contributing to Key Result Area 6 (Image and Profile).

On your behalf, Family Day Care Australia will continue to negotiate and work with the Australian Government for assistance to the family day care sector for the implementation of the National Quality Framework. In this context we will ensure that the issues and challenges of the transition to the new framework continue to be raised, and that quality outcomes for children within sustainable family day care services remain at the forefront of our negotiations.

Please look out for further e-messages, e-newsletters and JiGSAW magazine, and check out the website for more information about the roll out of the Family Day Care One-Off Capability Grants through Family Day Care Australia.

Capability Grant Funding Contacts
Project Officer: Melanie Ryan
Grant Hotline: 1300 392 311
Fax: 02 4320 1198
Email: fdcgrant@fdca.com.au