Fee Relief Payment amount is automatically pre-filled by ECCMS based on the total Fee Relief payments made to the service during the relevant reporting period.

Note: The 2023 Start Strong for Community Preschools and Mobile Preschool Funding Program financial accountability statement captures Fee Relief payments made to services for the 2023 calendar year.

Reserved Fee Relief Funds (quarantined funds) are funds that were not allocated to an enrolment e.g. The service had fewer children enrolled than funding was provided for, or for enrolled children where families have claimed fee relief elsewhere. Services are required to reserve these fee relief funds until a new eligible enrolment claims fee relief at the service. The amount in this section is manually entered by the service.

In reference to the Start Strong 2023 implementation support project delivered by Community Connection Solutions Australia (CCSA), these funds should be recorded in a liability account until they are used towards a new eligible enrolment.

Note: Only enter the reserved (quarantined) fee relief amount, where funds were not allocated to an enrolment because the service had fewer children enrolled than funding was provided for, or for enrolled children where families have claimed fee relief elsewhere.

Total Adjusted Income is an automatic calculation. It is the amount of the total Fee Relief Payments, less any Reserved Fee Relief Funds (not allocated to an enrolment) noted above.

Total Adjusted Income is the amount of fee relief funds the service had available to use, for which the service should show expenditure.

Note: If a service had more enrolments claiming fee relief than the service was funded for, a negative figure should be entered next to the ‘Reserved Fee Relief Funds. This negative figure will be the difference of the amount paid by the department for fee relief and the total of fee relief passed on to families.

Services may be eligible for a funding top up in 2024 to address a 2023 fee relief accrued deficit because of providing fee relief to more enrolments than the service was initially funded for in 2023. Refer to Deficit fee relief funds under Fee Relief Payment in relevant Program Guidelines.

If your service has already received an adjustment payment for the 2023 Fee Relief Payment shortfall, do not enter a negative figure in the Reserved Fee Relief funds section.

Our service received funds for 50 children under Start Strong for Community Preschools fee relief funding. The total enrolments claiming fee relief at our service was 60 children.

How do I show this on the financial accountability statement?

Calculate the difference between the amount paid by the department, and the amount the service passed on to families. This figure should be displayed as a negative in the ‘Reserved Fee Relief Funds’ section. This amount will be considered in the next Fee Relief Payment adjustment from the department.

How do we cover the cost of the additional families claiming fee relief at our service?

Services should cover the cost of additional families claiming fee relief from their retained profits. The preschool funding team is available to provide support, advice, or answer any questions relating to the Start Strong Program.

All services can access support by contacting the funding team on 1800 619 113 or ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au.

When will our service be reimbursed by the department for the additional enrolments claiming fee relief at our service?

Services may be eligible for a funding top up in 2024 to address a 2023 fee relief accrued deficit because of providing fee relief to more enrolments than the service was initially funded for in 2023. Refer to Deficit fee relief funds under Fee Relief Payment in relevant Program Guidelines.

The service will need to clearly show the breakdown of actual expenditure of the Total Adjusted Income amount for the reporting period. This is the amount of actual fee reduction provided to children’s daily fees up to 600 hours.

The amount entered in Part 1 – Fee Relief Payment Expenditure item iii) # above will be automatically deducted from Part 2 – Program Payment DoE Funds column operating expenses. This is because the service will be acquitting that amount already under Part 1 – Fee Relief Payment expenditure.

Only record amounts where Fee Relief Payment has been used to cover costs. Services should only record amounts where fee relief funds were actually used to cover the costs of what families would have normally been required to pay e.g. where fee relief funds were used to cover the cost of enrolment fees, administration fees, resources, excursions.

If families actually paid additional fees such as enrolment ‘gap’ fees, administration, 4^th and 5^th day fees, resources, excursions etc., do not record that amount in Part 1 – Fee Relief Payment.

Actual ‘gap’ payments paid by families are recorded in the Income section in Part 2 – Program Payment.

Simple rule: If families actually paid ‘gap’ fees, include this in Part 2 Program Payment section. If Fee Relief Payment funding was used to cover fees, and families did not pay, include the amount in Part 1 Fee Relief Payment section.

A separate statement that reconciles with the Fee Relief Income and Liability accounts should be attached to this financial accountability statement.

For the 2023 reporting period, this statement can be a simple spreadsheet high-level summary, or a high-level summary extract of fee relief income and expenditure from the service’s software system. Services also have the option of using the section of their audited/non-audited financial income and expenditure statements from their accountant or bookkeeper that shows the Fee Relief in their Income and Liability accounts.

Note: For future supporting statements, services will be required to supply an extract summary from their financial software.

Services were required to complete a mandatory fee relief data collection in early 2024. The fee relief data collection required services to outline their fee relief usage throughout 2023 and identify an amount of reserved fee relief funds or deficit if any.

More information on the spending rules for Fee Relief Payment can be found under Program Requirements of the relevant program guidelines.

Can I use any surplus from fee relief for operational expenses after I have applied the funding to level 1 ‘reduce the daily fees as much as possible for 600 hours per year for eligible children accessing fee relief at the service?

No, services must first apply the funding in the order noted in Fee Relief Payment spending rules in the 2023 Start Strong for Community Preschool program guidelines i.e. if there is any surplus after applying the funding to level 1 ‘reduce the daily fees as much as possible for 600 hours per year for eligible children accessing fee relief at the service’, you must firstly apply this surplus to level 2 ‘reduce the cost of additional charges to families accessing fee relief at the service’.

If there is any surplus after applying against level 2, then any surplus funds can be applied against one or all of the options at level 3 which includes reducing the operating expense of the service per the Program Payment spending rules.

Note: The amount entered in Expenditure item iii) # will be automatically deducted from the operating expenses noted in Part 2 Program Payment.

Services must confirm that:

• fee relief in the form of a reduction to fees has been passed on to families
• signed fee relief declaration forms have been received for each child enrolled at the service where families have not claimed the fee relief at another service. This is applicable to Start Strong for Community Preschools program only.

For more information, please see Fee Relief Payment Spending Rules of the relevant program guidelines.

Note: Declaration forms related to fee relief funding are different to consent forms.

This column includes the Start Strong for Community Preschools/Mobile Preschools Contracts/Mobile Preschool Funding Program funding provided by the department during the reporting period, which is automatically prefilled.

Note: No values are required for the greyed-out cells.

The final surplus noted in DoE Funds column on the previous year's financial accountability statement will be automatically carried forward to this current year’s financial accountability statement.

This column should only include funds received from sources other than the department.

Don’t include any other department grant funding amounts e.g. Free Relief Payments, Disability and Inclusion Program, Community Grants etc.

These grants will be acquitted on their own financial accountability statement.

Enter income received from families paying to use the early childhood education and care service. This is not Fee Relief Payment funding. It is the fee amount families actually paid after applying fee relief funds.

Simple rule: If families actually paid ‘gap’ fees, include in Part 2 Program Payment section. If Fee Relief Payment funding was used to cover fees, and families did not pay, include the amount in Part 1 Fee Relief Payment section. Do not include initial daily fee amount prior to applying fee relief funds. If there was a balance ‘gap’ fee families actually paid after applying fee relief funds, include that amount only.

Note: Do not include other grant program funding e.g. Fee Relief Payment, Start Strong Free Preschool Disability and Inclusion Program, Quality and Participation or any other department grant funding under this section. These grants will be acquitted on their own financial accountability statement.

Enter any grant income received from other sources not provided by the Department of Education Early Childhood funding. This may include specific assistance funding from other NSW Government departments, local councils, commonwealth funding and local community associations etc e.g. landcare projects, water tanks, etc.

Enter profit/gain from the sale of an asset that was purchased with department funding.

Enter other income as reported in your audited/non-audited financial income and expenditure statements that is not acquitted elsewhere e.g. traineeship grants, paid parental leave payments or for older accountabilities, the JobKeeper and JobSeeker, Cashflow Boost payments.

Note: Do not include Fee Relief Payment funding or any other department grant funding under this section. These grants will be acquitted on their own financial accountability statement.

Surplus funds in the DoE column on the previous year's financial accountability statement will be automatically transferred to the current year financial accountability statement.

Surplus funds noted in the Non-DoE column on the previous year's financial accountability statement should be manually entered on this current year financial accountability statement. Please don't enter a deficit amount.

Note: This is not the surplus amount noted on your audited/non-audited financial income and expenditure statements from your accountant/bookkeeper. The surplus noted on your audited/non-audited financial income and expenditure statements is a combination of all your income and expenditure.

If you received funding for the Disability and Inclusion Program or the Start Strong Pathways Program, remember to first deduct wages paid to staff under these grants, from the total wages line-item on your audited/non-audited financial income and expenditure statements from your accountant/bookkeeper.

Do this before you enter the wages amounts into each wages line items on the financial accountability statement.

Service delivery staff: Enter expenditure for staff directly involved in service delivery.

Administration and management staff: Enter expenditure for employees not directly involved with the service provision, such as administration, management, accounting, and co-ordination staff.

Use the guidance notes above to apportion the wages across the DoE Funds and Non-DoE Funds columns for both service delivery and administration and management staff.

Note: The total wages line item on your audited/non-audited financial income and expenditure statements is a total of all wages paid using all sources of income.

It is not correct to transpose the total wages line-item amount on your financial statements unless Start Strong for Community Preschools, Mobile Preschool Contracts or Mobile Preschool Funding Program grant funding is the only grant income your service received from the department.

Traineeship and Paid Parental Leave Wages: If the service received Traineeship grants (through Training Services NSW) or Paid Parental Leave payments (through the Commonwealth Government)or previously JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments that were related to previous funding periods, the wages expenditure of these amounts should be noted against wages expenditure line items for service delivery staff or administration / management staff in the ‘Non-DoE Funds’ column. This is because these funds were received from other sources and not the NSW Department of Education Early Childhood funding grants.

Traineeship wages paid using the Grow Your Own funding grant should not be recorded on the Start Strong for Community Preschools/Mobile Preschool Funding Program financial accountability statement. Record these wages amounts on the Grow Your Own (ECEC) program financial accountability statement.

Use the guidance note above (if required) to apportion the operating costs across the DoE Funds and Non-DoE Funds columns. Enter day-to-day operational expenses, not directly involved with the service provision.

Note: Do not include Fee Relief Payment, Free Preschool or any other DoE grant expenditure under this section. These grant amounts have their own financial accountability statement.

Depreciation is a non-cash expense which represents the decline in value of an asset over an asset’s estimated useful life. To the extent that the asset is being utilised for direct service delivery of department funded services and the asset is reflected on the Balance Sheet, the service can claim depreciation expenses as expenditure against department annual funding.

Only enter assets or capital items purchased using Start Strong for Community Preschool / Mobile Preschool Funding Program funding programs into the DoE funds column.

Enter the loss incurred from the sale of an asset that was purchased with department funding.

Enter other expenses reported in the financial statements that have not been reported elsewhere. These could be financing expenses, compliance costs, legal and consultancy fees, etc. For mobile preschool operators, these could be vehicle costs, including usage and maintenance and leasing arrangements.

Note: The amount entered in Part 1 Fee Relief Payment Expenditure item iii) # will be automatically deducted from the DoE Funds column operating expenses. This is because the service will be acquitting that amount already under Part 1 Fee Relief Payment expenditure.

It is expected that services will expend the full amount of department grant funds (DoE Funds) first, then cover any expenses over and above the department funding amount from other sources of funding (Non-DoE Funds) and any retained profits.

If a service has used all department funding, the DoE Funds column total at this section should be $0.00 showing all department grant funds have been expended.

Note: There should not be a deficit noted in the DoE Funds column if a surplus is noted in the Non-DoE Funds column. Services would have used their Non-DoE Funds to cover the deficit noted in the DoE Funds column.

It is acceptable for the service to have surplus funds in the Non-DoE column after all DoE grant funds have been expended (showing $0.00 balance).

A deficit in both DoE Funds and Non-DoE Funds columns is acceptable if a service used all DoE Funds income as well as their Non-DoE Funds income and were required to use any retained profits to meet the shortfall to keep operating.

Any Balance in the DoE Funds column will carry over to Part 3 – DoE Funding Surplus Overview and Declaration section. This is applicable to Start Strong for Community Preschools only. See further information below.

Add any additional notes on how the funds were spent.

Suggestion: Add a note if any fee relief surplus funds were applied to your program operational expenses.

How do I know how much of the surplus I can keep?

The service will firstly need to calculate 10% of the annual Start Strong for Community Preschools Program Funding.

See the examples below:

1. The service will calculate the 10% of the annual Start Strong for Community Preschools Program funding e.g. $380,000 x 10% = $38,000. This is calculated using the annual program funding (total of Fee Relief Payment plus Program Payment).
2. ECCMS will calculate the surplus amount into a percentage e.g. $27,000 ÷ $380,000 x 100 = 7.1%,

If the surplus is up to 10% or $30,000 (whichever is greater) of the annual program funding, the service should select Option A.

If the surplus threshold is greater than 10% or $30,000 (whichever is greater) of the annual program funding, the service should select Option B.

Service can choose to keep the amount below 10% of program funding or $30,000 (whichever is greater).

As $27,000 is less than $38,000 (10% of the annual program funding), the service can opt to keep the surplus to carry over to the next funding period.

Service can choose to keep $38,000 (up to 10% of program funding).

Additionally, where the service has an operational need to retain the surplus, they can apply to the department to keep the surplus amount which is greater than 10% or $30,000 (whichever is higher).

The service is first required to complete the Surplus Application Form and then select the confirmation box (the top box at Option B) on the financial accountability statement.

When completing the Surplus Application Form the service can choose to keep the additional $4,000 which is the amount above the $38,000 (higher than 10% or $30,000).

Further information on the management of surplus funds can be found in the Management of Surplus Funds section below.

Fee Relief Payment amount is automatically pre-filled by ECCMS based on the total Fee Relief payments made to the service during the relevant reporting period.

Note: The 2023 Start Strong for Long Day Care financial accountability statement captures Fee Relief payments made to the service for the 2023 calendar year.

Fee Relief Payment from transferred service is applicable only to services that received Fee Relief Payment funds from a transferring (out) service during the 2023 calendar year. If this does not apply to you, please leave this line blank on the financial accountability statement.

Unexpended Fee Relief Funds (reserved or quarantined funds) are funds that were not allocated to an enrolment e.g. the service had fewer children enrolled than funding was provided for, or for enrolled children where families have claimed fee relief elsewhere. Services are required to retain these fee relief funds until a new eligible enrolment claims fee relief at the service. The amount in this section is manually entered by the service.

In reference to the Start Strong 2023 implementation support project delivered by Community Connection Solutions Australia (CCSA), these funds should be recorded in a liability account until they are used towards a new eligible enrolment.

Note: Only enter the unexpended (reserved or quarantined) fee relief amount, where funds were not allocated to an enrolment. This amount is not the unspent funds from Fee Relief payments after applying fee relief as a weekly deduction to reduce session or gap fees, additional charges, or operating expenses, and should not be included in the ‘Funding Used to Reduce Fees/Expenditure’ section below. This unexpended (reserved or quarantined) fee relief amount must be shown separately as noted above.

Total Adjusted Income is an automatic calculation. It is the amount of the total Fee Relief Payments, less any Unexpended Fee Relief (reserved or quarantined Fee Relief Funds not allocated to an enrolment) noted above.

Total Adjusted Income is the amount of fee relief funds the service had available to use.

The service should show how this funding was used to reduce session or gap fees, additional charges, or operating expenses by entering a breakdown in the ‘Funding Used to Reduce Fees/Expenditure’ section below.

Note: If a service had more enrolments claiming fee relief than the service was funded for, and the service was required to use their own retained profits to temporarily cover the cost of fee relief to reduce session fees, gap fees and additional charges, a negative figure should be entered next to the ‘Unexpended (reserved or quarantined) Fee Relief Funds’ section. This negative figure will be the difference of the amount paid by the department for fee relief and the total of fee relief used to reduce session fees or gap fees for families across the service’s total number of operating weeks for the 2023 calendar year.

Services may be eligible for additional funding in 2024 to address a fee relief related deficit accrued because of providing fee relief to more enrolments than the service was initially funded for in 2023. Refer to Fee Relief Funding Adjustments section in the 2023 Start Strong for Long Day Care program guidelines and Fee relief funding adjustments flowchart for services (PDF 192 KB).

If your service has already received an adjustment payment for the 2023 Fee Relief Payment shortfall do not enter a negative figure in the Unexpended (reserved or quarantined) Fee Relief Funds section.

Our service received funds for 50 children under 2023 Start Strong for Long Day Care fee relief funding. The total enrolments claiming fee relief at our service was 60 children.

How do I show this on the financial accountability statement?

Calculate the difference between the amount paid by the department, and the amount by which the service reduced costs to families for children enrolled at the service where families have elected to claim fee relief. This figure should be displayed as a negative in the ‘Unexpended Fee Relief Funds’ section.

When will our service be reimbursed by the department for the additional enrolments claiming fee relief at our service?

Services may be eligible for Fee Relief Adjustment Payment where there was a fee relief related deficit accrued because of providing fee relief to more enrolments than the service was initially funded for in 2023. Refer to Fee Relief Funding Adjustments section in the 2023 Start Strong for Long Day Care program guidelines and Fee relief funding adjustments flowchart for services (PDF 192 KB).

Where required, prior to the adjustment, Program Payment funds may also be used as an interim measure to provide fee relief to the families of eligible children.

The department will use data from the January to June 2023 data submission (submitted Jul-Aug 2023) and July to December 2023 (submitted from Mar 2024) periods to calculate any adjustment.

The 2023 Start Strong for Long Day Care Fee Relief data submission for the period 1 July to 31 December 2023 was open in March 2024.

Note: Initial Fee Relief Payment adjustments were paid to services in September 2023.

The service will need to clearly show the breakdown of how this funding was used to reduce session or gap fees, additional charges, or operating expenses by entering a breakdown in the Funding Used to Reduce Fees/Expenditure’ section below.

The amount entered in Item ii) # above will be automatically deducted from Part 2 – Program Payment expenditure. This is because the service will be acquitting that amount already under Part 1 – Fee Relief Payment expenditure.

Add any additional notes on how the funds were spent.

Suggestion: Add a note if any fee relief surplus funds were used in line with Program Payment spending rules to reduce your program operational expenses.

Services must confirm:

• fee relief in the form of a reduction to fees has been passed on to families
• signed fee relief declaration forms have been received for each child enrolled at the service where families have not claimed the fee relief at another service
• fee relief data has been submitted to the department through the ECCMS system.

Note: Amounts noted on the financial accountability statement should clearly agree with the figures reported in the department’s data capture submission and the service’s financial accounting records.

For more information, please see Fee Relief Payment Spending Rules of the relevant program guidelines.

Note: Fee Relief Declaration forms are different to the Start Strong child consent forms.

Can I use any surplus from Fee Relief Payment for operational expenses after I have applied the funding to level 1 ‘as a weekly reduction to a family’s gap fees across the total service operating weeks for the calendar year’?

No, services must first apply the funding in the order noted in Section 4.1.2 Fee Relief Payment Spending Rules i.e. if there is any surplus after applying the funding to level 1 ‘as a weekly reduction to a family’s gap fees across the total service operating weeks for the calendar year for eligible children accessing fee relief at the service’, you then apply this surplus to level 2 ‘to cover any additional charges imposed on the eligible children, such as levies.

If there is any surplus after applying against level 2, then the approved provider may plan for and then use any remaining funds from Term 4 for operational expenses in line with the 2023 Start Strong for Long Day Care Program Payment Spending rules:’.

For more information, see the 2023 Start Strong for Long Day Care FAQs.

Program Payment is automatically pre-filled by ECCMS based on the total payments made to the service for the 2023 calendar year under this program.

Program Payment from transferred service is applicable only to services that received Program Payment funds from a transferring (out) service during the 2023 calendar year period. If this does not apply to you, please leave this line blank on the financial accountability statement.

Add any additional notes on how the funds were spent.

3 Year Old Trial Payment is automatically pre-filled by ECCMS based on the total of 3 Year Old Trial Payment made to the service for the 2023 calendar year period under this program.

3 Year Old Trial Payment from transferred service is applicable only to services that received 3 Year Old Trial Payment funds from a transferring (out) service during the 2023 calendar year period. If this does not apply to you, please leave this line blank on the financial accountability statement.

Add any additional notes on how the funds were spent.

The Quality and Participation program financial accountability statement includes check boxes at the end of the document. The check boxes are for those services that received funding under the old Quality Learning Environments or Community Grants streams 1 or 2 programs, where the service received a spend extension for either one of the old programs and submitted their financial accountability statement with a $0.00 expenditure noted.

Ticking the relevant year and program checkbox will confirm that funds have now been spent.

Services are not required to ‘re-submit’ any previously submitted Quality Learning Environments or Community Grants streams 1 or 2 program financial accountability statement that had a $0.00 expenditure noted.

Services that have not submitted the old Quality Learning Environments or Community Grants financial accountability statements to date should still submit the financial accountability statement via ECCMS noting the full expenditure. The checkboxes are relative only to services that have previously submitted these financial accountability statements with a $0 expenditure balance.

We have not spent our Quality and Participation grant funding as yet. We expect to spend it before the spend due date of 30 June 2024. I have received the email notification from ECCMS to advise the financial accountability statement is ready to complete. Should I complete the financial accountability statement now, or wait until the funding has been spent before 30 June 2024?

As per program guidelines, services have until 30 June 2024 to spend Quality and Participation Program funding and Additional Transport Initiatives funding.

Services that have not spent their allocated funding at the time of the financial accountability release should not submit their financial accountability statement until funding has been spent by 30 June 2024.

We do not anticipate we will spend the funds until after 30 June 2024, what should we do?

The department must be notified of exceptional circumstances whereby approved funding cannot be expended by 30 June 2024. Notification should include an explanation for why funding has not been expended and a timeline for spending the outstanding funds. Decisions regarding unspent funds will be made by the department on a case by case basis. Decisions will be confirmed by the department in writing.

Please do not submit your financial accountability statement until funds have been fully spent.

Why are there check boxes on the bottom of the financial accountability statement?

The check boxes are for those services that received funding under the old Quality Learning Environments or Community Grants streams 1 or 2 programs, where the service received a spend extension for either one of the old programs and submitted their financial accountability statement with $0.00 expenditure noted.

Ticking the relevant year and program checkbox will confirm that funds have now been spent.

Do I still need to re-submit a Quality Learning Environments or Community Grants accountability statement again to add the expenditure amount if I have previously submitted with a $0.00 expenditure noted?

No, services are not required to ‘re-submit’ any previously submitted Quality Learning Environments or Community Grants streams 1 or 2 program financial accountability statement that had a $0.00 expenditure noted.

We received funding under the old Quality Learning Environments or Community Grants but have not submitted the financial accountability statements for the two programs as yet. Should we just tick the boxes on the Quality and Participation financial accountability statement?

No, services that have not submitted the old Quality Learning Environments or Community Grants financial accountability statements to date should still submit the financial accountability statement via ECCMS noting the full expenditure. The checkboxes are relative only to services who have previously submitted these financial accountability statements with a $0 expenditure balance.