Gowrie NSW Fee Policy

Policy Statement 

Gowrie NSW is committed to providing high quality education and care for all families and children and as such, must effectively manage resources to ensure they can reinvest into its programs and people. The organisation sets its fees to reflect the cost of providing high quality care. In order to remain financially sustainable, fees need to be collected from families on time.

Scope of this policy 

This policy applies to the entirety of Gowrie NSW's Services, including Education and Care Centres, Outside School Hours Care services, and Preschools and includes families and their children, and children of Gowrie NSW staff.

Family Responsibilities

All Gowrie NSW early and middle education and care services are approved for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) purposes. It is the responsibility of the family to submit all necessary documentation to the centre to ensure CCS can be claimed.

Families must also confirm their CCS enrolment through MyGov. Where CCS has not been confirmed or where the eligibility criteria have changed for the family, full fees will be charged.

Families eligible for the childcare subsidy (CCS) must attend on their first booked session of care at Gowrie NSW for CCS to be applicable to the bookings. Should the family not attend on their first day, CCS will not apply until the child’s first actual day of attendance. Full fees will be payable by the family.

Upon ending care with Gowrie NSW, families eligible for CCS must attend their last booked session of care for CCS to be applied. Should families not attend on their last booked day of care, cessation of care rules will apply so no CCS is paid from the last actual day of attendance to the last booked session of care. Full fees will be payable by the family.

Payment Policy 

Gowrie NSW fees are payable by direct debit from bank or credit card (Visa or Mastercard only, AMEX is not accepted) accounts or by a Centrepay deduction. Fees are paid up to 2 weeks in advance at the start of the debit period. Gowrie NSW does not accept cash payments. Upon enrolment with Gowrie NSW, a Direct Debit Request Authorisation Form is required to be completed, signed, and returned to the centre to secure the booking.

Fees are:  

• payable for all booked care days where the centre is open for operation. This includes days for which the child is absent for any reason including requirements to isolate where the child will be absent from the centre 

• charged in accordance with the fee schedule 

• charged for statutory public holidays (families can use their allowable absences on these days) 

• not charged when programs and centres are closed (excluding closures for statutory public holidays) 

• subject to revision as advised by Gowrie NSW 

• payable up to 2 weeks in advance via direct debit 

Should families require care days in addition to booked days, casual care can be requested at the centre. Gowrie NSW does not allow swap days or make up days.

Family fee accounts are to be paid in advance. Continuation of a child’s place at any centre is contingent upon the family’s account being up to date.

Families eligible for CCS can claim up to 42 absence days for each child in the financial year. These can be for any reason and do not require proof.

Families can also claim additional absence days if they reach their allowable absence limit. Families may get additional absences if any of these apply:

• the child is ill 

• the child’s carer or their partner or another person the child lives with, is ill 

• the child is attending preschool 

• alternative arrangements have been made for the child on a pupil-free day 

• the child hasn’t been immunised against an infectious disease and the absence occurs during an immunisation grace period 

• the child is spending time with a person other than their usual carer as required by a court order or parenting plan 

• the child’s childcare service is closed as a direct result of a local emergency 

• the child cannot attend because of a local emergency 

• the child’s carer chooses not to send the child due to a local emergency. 
• Families will need to provide supporting documents in such events, or full fees may apply. 

Fee amendments

Families will be notified at least 14 days prior to any fee changes that will affect the fees charged or the way fees are collected. (CCS revisions excluded). 

Invoices

Families will be issued an invoice for fees payable on Fridays. The invoice is issued the week before the direct debit is collected, and contains the period in advance fees, as well as any previous outstanding balances. This may include Childcare Subsidy rollbacks, and any additional bookings or payments within the period. Should families book additional sessions of care after the invoice has been issued, these charges will be reflected in the next invoice. It is the family’s responsibility to review the invoice before the direct debit is collected, and advise the centre of any discrepancies.

Enrolment Fee

An enrolment fee is charged when enrolling with Gowrie NSW. The enrolment fee will be specified to the family at this time and is payable via direct debit on the first invoice issued to the family. The enrolment fee is non-refundable.

Administration Levy

An annual administration levy is charged to returning families at the beginning of each calendar year and is added to family fee invoices and payable via direct debit. The administration levy covers account service and bank processing charges and is non-refundable.

Bonds 

All families (including third party agencies and staff) with children enrolled in a Gowrie NSW centre may be required to pay a bond in advance to secure their enrolment.

Gowrie NSW reserves the right to offer the place to another family if the bond payment is not received prior to the commencement date.

Bonds are payable by direct debit, from bank or credit card accounts. Cash payments are not accepted.

The bond cannot be used to offset overdue fees. unless the child/ren has ceased enrolment.

Where a bond is paid and the family withdraws their enrolment before commencement date, Gowrie NSW has the right to keep the bond.

Bond refunds are processed after CCS is finalised and processed (not less than) 4 weeks after the child/ren leaves the centre.

Casual bookings 

A casual booking is a non-recurring booking; a one-off booking for an extra day/s.

Casual bookings can be provided to families where there are available places and sufficient staff to accommodate the additional booking(s).

Gowrie NSW reserves the right to revoke a casual booking where there is insufficient staffing to accommodate the additional booking.

Families must ensure that all payments are current with no overdue amounts on their bookings account to be eligible to make a casual booking.

Families will be charged the casual booking fee for casually booked days. Where a family no longer requires the casual booking, they may cancel the booking at no charge at least 24 hours before the casually booked day. Cancellations within 24 hours or on the day will incur a charge of the full casual day fee.

Late Collection of Child Fee

Families are responsible for collecting their children prior to the centre’s closing time. A late collection fee of $30 for any late collection after the service’s closing time plus an additional $1 per minute after 15 minutes has elapsed, will be applied to the family’s account.

Failure to notify service of absence fee

A $5.00 fee per child will be charged to the family’s account should they not inform the service of their child’s absence for any given day they are booked.

Overdue accounts 

Families will be notified by the centre if their account falls in arrears. If payment is more than one (1) week overdue:  

• families are notified in writing  

• Gowrie NSW reserves the right to suspend/cancel enrolment of a child’s place at a centre.  

Where the family is experiencing financial hardship, a payment plan may be entered at the discretion of the centre. All agreed payment plans must be paid by direct debit or Centrepay deduction. When a payment plan is defaulted by the non-payment of agreed instalments, Gowrie NSW reserves the right to suspend care for the child. The child/ren will be unable to attend the centre until the account is paid in accordance with the fee policy.  

Notice Periods

Families enrolled into Gowrie NSW’s Early Education and Care centres and preschools are required to provide four (4) weeks’ notice in writing to the centre to end care for their child/children. *conditions apply as per section - Enrolments for December and January Days

Families enrolled into Gowrie NSW’s Outside School Hours Care services are required to provide two (2) weeks’ notice in writing to the service to end care for their child/ren..

The notice period starts from the date the family notifies the centre in writing. The termination notice period does not include close down periods.

Any unpaid fees owing after care has ceased, may be deducted from that family’s bond.

Upon ending care with Gowrie NSW, families eligible for CCS must attend their last booked session of care for CCS to be applied. Should families not attend on their last booked day of care, cessation of care rules will apply where no CCS is paid from the last actual day of attendance to the last booked session of care. Full fees will be payable by the family.

Enrolments for December and January Days

Confirmed enrolments for December and January are not subject to change in the months of December (of the current year) and January (of the new year). This applies to families who are either: 

• existing families who have re-enrolled with Gowrie NSW and have bookings confirmed for the upcoming January OR 

• families enrolled to commence with Gowrie NSW to start in January of the new year 

Families can request changes to enrolment pattern(s), including a reduction of days or cancellation of care up to 30th November of the current year, and from 1st February (of the new year). Standard reduction of days’ notice periods cannot be applied through December (of the current year) and January (of the new year) but will apply to all other months.

Reducing days 

Families are required to provide at least two (2) weeks’ notice in writing to request to a reduction the number of days for which they are enrolled. The notice period starts from the date Gowrie NSW is notified in writing. Requests to reduce enrolled days are subject to approval by the Centre Director / Program Manager of the service. Gowrie NSW Early Education and Care centres and preschools have a minimum two (2) day bookings per week per child policy and families cannot reduce their child/ren’s bookings to one (1) day per week.

Waitlist Registration Fee

Families wishing to register their child to the centre waitlist can do so by selecting the centre from the list via the Gowrie NSW website. A $10.00 waitlist registration fee is payable via the online payment portal to register for the waitlist. 

References

Relevant Legislation/Regulations  

• Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010  

• Education and Care Services National Regulations, regulations 168 (2)(n) and 172(2)  

• Schedule 1: National Quality Standard, quality area 7, standard 7.3 and element 7.3.5  
• A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 (or equivalent)