Child Care Centre – Assistance Programs
Australian state and federal governments give utmost importance to education/ early childcare and provide numerous grants for the same in various categories. In this section we will discuss about the various grants available for child care centres and their respective eligibility criteria.
This state funded grants allows SMEs in the childcare sector to claim up to $20,000 to provide more affordable, more accessible and more flexible child care system. The grant’s main aim is to support eligible child care services in disadvantaged and vulnerable communities and to also support the longer-term sustainability of eligible child care services.
There are three categories eligible under this funding Sustainability support, Community support and Capital support. To be eligible for this grant, the applicant must:
- be a Child Care Subsidy (CCS) approved operator
- serve child care in a CCCF priority area
- have 50% or more of children attending their service (residing in a CCCF priority area)
- have 50% or more of the educators delivering care in a CCCF priority area
One of the grants funded by the Federal Government aims at supporting children, especially belonging to the backward and disadvantaged communities, under the category of special circumstances funding. This funding is available to the childcare centres whose services are affected by unforeseen conditions and are no longer able to provide a child with full service.
Federal grants are also available to the SMEs facing financial problems and sustainability issues in the field of childcare. Such childcare centres are also eligible to apply for a free business review and expert advice to improve their services attain sustainability. Most of these grants are available to the facilities located in the regional areas and disadvantaged communities to reduce the barriers and provide them with access to quality childcare centres.
Childcare grants provided under this program should be used to:
- Support childcare without any barriers, especially in regional areas and disadvantaged communities
- Provide sustainability support to children
- Provide capital support to promote childcare centres in the places having high demand
Funding of $110 million in grants is available for businesses supporting childcare services from last year and the government is committed to add an extra $4 million every year starting 2019.
Education, whether it is early, secondary or tertiary, is also of equal importance to the Australian Government. This is the reason why Department of Education, in accordance with the Australian Government policies, has designed various programs that offer grants to organisations or individuals that support early childcare along with childhood education, school education, and higher education. Some of these grants are also available for those who provide vocational education and training.
Apart from the Federal Government supported grants, there are quite a few states that provide funding to the organisations or individuals that support child care centres locally. To know more about these grants, please speak to one of our advisors at the number mentioned below.
