Hello everyone, good morning.

My name is Emma.

I am a Senior Programs Officer in the Long Day Care Funding team.

Thank you all for joining the ECE Connect online session on the Start Strong for Long Day Care program.

We can see that the numbers are rising, so we'll just give it a couple of minutes for services to join, work through any technical issues, and then we will get started.

While we are waiting for the others to join, we would love to hear from you and learn which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander country you are on today.

It would be great if you could write your response in the question and answer or the Q&A chat section.

You'll be able to see the Q&A button at the bottom of your screen.

Great, thank you.

Let's jump to the next slide.

Today I am joining from the lands of the Burramattagal people and acknowledge all the various Aboriginal lands you are joining us from today.

I recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the ongoing custodians of the lands and waterways where we work and live.

I pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging as ongoing teachers of knowledge, song lines and stories.

I also acknowledge and pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues joining us today.

We all strive to ensure every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child in NSW achieves their potential through education.

Before we start the session, I would like to go over a few housekeeping items.

This presentation will be recorded and published on the Department of Education website by the end of April.

The published recording will include captions and a transcript.

The microphone, camera and chat functions are disabled during the presentation.

You may ask questions via the Q&A function.

However, we ask that you engage with the presentation as most of your questions are likely to be covered in today's session.

We have a team that will be able to respond directly to as many of your questions as possible.

We are unable to answer service specific questions in the Q&A function today.

We can only answer general questions about the program. Though you're welcome to contact the department using the contact details at the end of the session.

At the end of the session, our speakers will answer some of your questions live.

The Q&A function and the Q&A portion of the session will not be recorded.

We value your input and feedback.

We'll be using Menti during the session to hear from you directly.

Menti allows live collection of information for us all to see.

You can use a mobile phone to participate and we will also put the Menti links in the Q&A function.

Following the session, an information package will be sent to participants.

This will be available separate to the session recording by the end of April.

It will be informed by the questions answered and unanswered and your engagement in the Menti activities.

Once the presentation is finished, a survey will appear.

Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts on today's session so we can continue to develop content that is beneficial to the sector's needs.

For those who've just joined, my name is Emma and I'm a Senior Programs Officer in the Long Day Care Funding team.

My fellow speakers will introduce themselves throughout the session.

Today you will also hear from Virginia, Em and Ivana.

Firstly, I'd like to introduce you to Peter Harvey, the Director of Sector Programs.

Thanks, Emma and fantastic to be here.

A really beautiful acknowledgement of country there.

So thank you for that and for facilitating today's session.

As Emma mentioned, I'm Peter Harvey, I'm the Director of Sector Programs, which means a fair bit to people inside the building and probably not a lot to everyone out there in the real world.

I have the pleasure of delivering the Start Strong for Long Day Care program as well as the kind of complementary program for community preschools with all of the team that you'll see today and many more behind the scenes.

Really, I just wanted to say, one, thank you for joining us today, but two, thank you for all the work that you do with children every single day to give them the best start in life.

This is so important.

As you know, and as we know, because the research is really clear in this space, it tells us that 90% of a child brain development happens before they turn 5.

And we know children who participate in quality preschool education programs for at least 600 hours in the year before school arrive at school better equipped with the social, cognitive and emotional skills that they need to learn and to thrive.

And that's exactly what we're trying to do with our Start Strong for Long Day Care program.

And great to see how you're implementing that in quality preschool in your services.

And the Long Day Care team today have been listening to all of your feedback during 2024 and have made some significant improvements to processes and the way that we communicate so that we can better support you.

Today's session is going to cover the most common questions that we've received over the last 12 to 18 months that we think you want to know about and particularly focused around fee relief rules and spending rules as well.

We're always keen to hear more. Em mentioned for a bit of a survey at the end.

Do tell us what you found useful.

Tell us what you want to hear about in the future and we're always happy to learn.

Back to you Em. Fantastic, thank you, Peter.

In today's session, we will cover elements of the 2024 and 2025 Start Strong for Long Day Care program.

We will cover the topics that providers and services most commonly ask us about.

In Topic 1, we provide a program overview and highlight improvements we have made.

In Topic 2, we talk about fee relief funding, including spending rules and calculations, and reserved and surplus fee relief funds.

In Topic 3, we cover program funding, including spending rules and unexpended program funds.

In Topic 4, we speak of how you can prepare for the upcoming 2024 Start Strong for Long Day Care financial accountability statement process.

And in the final portion of the session, it will be a question and answer where the speakers will answer common questions posted in the Q&A function.

First, let's provide a brief overview of the 4 funding streams for the Start Strong for Long Day Care program.

Let's jump to the next slide.

Again, thank you.

The Start Strong for Long Day Care program provides funding to deliver affordable, quality preschool education to children aged 3 and above who are enrolled in an eligible long day care service in NSW.

There are 4 streams of funding.

The funding rates have increased for all funding streams in 2025.

You can see the increase in the annual rate per enrolment from 2024 in the light blue boxes to 2025 in the dark blue.

The 4YO+ Fee Relief Payment and 3YO Fee Relief Trial Payment enable services to improve affordability for the families of eligible children by reducing the cost of early childhood education.

The 4YO+ Fee Relief Payment is calculated as an annual flat rate allocation of $2,174 per eligible enrolment and the 3YO Fee Relief Trial Payment is calculated as an annual flat rate allocation of $515 per eligible enrolment.

The annual rate varies per enrolment.

Loadings are provided for Equity Enrolments.

These are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and/or if the service is located in a geographic area with a high level of disadvantage as determined by the Australian Government.

Approved providers will receive one amount of loading per equity enrolment.

The 4YO+ Program Payment is also scaled for hours of enrolment.

Children who are enrolled for 600 hours or more per year will receive a higher rate of funding.

See Section 4 of the 2025 program guidelines for the full breakdown of funding rates and calculations.

Later in the session, in Topics 2 and 3, we will explore the fee relief and program funding spending rules in more detail.

The 3YO Program Trial Payment has been extended to December 2025.

Let's jump to the next slide again please.

Fantastic, thank you.

Funding allocation emails were sent to providers of eligible services from February 2025.

Instalment 1, which is 50% of the annual allocation, will be paid to the provider from the 28th of March 2025, though please allow 10 business days for the funds to appear in your account.

The remaining 50% will be paid in Instalment 2 from July 2025.

Now let's go over 2 common questions about your funding and payments and let's jump to the next slide.

Perfect, thank you.

How can I check what funding my service is eligible for?

Eligible funding mounts, a breakdown of loadings, and funded fee relief enrolments are all outlined in your funding allocation email.

This email was sent to the approved provider in November 2024 and again in February 2025.

To find the email in your inbox, you can search for the subject line 2025 Start Strong for Long Day Care Funding Allocation or search for the sender ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au

If you cannot find your funding allocation email in your inbox, please first check your spam and junk mailboxes before emailing the department.

Another question we receive is I have received a payment, how can I check what the payment is for?

There are 3 places you can identify what the payment is for.

The first is check your payment advice that is sent from the department via email for each payment made.

The reference number column will indicate what funding stream the payment is for and the details column will indicate what service the payment is for.

You can check your payments in the Early Childhood Contract Management System known as ECCMS.

You can also check your instalment amounts in the funding allocation email sent to the provider.

At the end of this email, there are also step by step instructions on how to read your payment advice and how to log into ECCMS to check your payments.

The Long Day Care Funding team strive for continuous improvement in our processes and program.

Since mid 2024 we have improved the way we communicate to you.

Our email updates are clear and timely.

We heard from providers that information and calls to action can get lost within long emails.

That is why we now include the key messages at the top.

Each email update now begins with a blue box that provides an in short summary of the email and the next steps.

We also include all critical information within the email so that you don't have to navigate through hyperlinks and web pages to piece together information.

Our responses to your email inquiries are within 5 business days.

In 2024, the Long Day Care Funding team responded to over 9,000 email inquiries.

For 90% of emails, we responded within 5 business days and we're looking to lift this response rate in 2025.

The process for submitting fee relief data has been simplified to make it easier for services to report their fee relief spending and receive a 2024 fee relief top up if needed.

What we heard from providers and services in 2023 was that the fee relief data submission process was complex and a significant administrative burden.

In 2024, this process is now voluntary.

You only need to submit fee relief data if your service’s fee relief funding in 2024 was not enough to cover all eligible children.

If you receive sufficient fee relief funding, no action is required of you.

You only need to complete a single submission for the full 2024 reporting period.

A Fee Relief Data submission guide and manual template were available to support services as soon as the process opened.

The 2024 Fee Relief Data submission was open from the 31st of January 2025 to the 21st of March 2025.

Providers will receive outcomes and payments from the 31st of March 2025.

In 2025, we're looking to improve this process further based on learnings from 2023 and 2024.

For more information, More information, sorry, on the 2025 fee relief funding top up process will be available later in 2025.

The Start Strong for Long Day Care program guidelines include key updates to support services.

The service eligibility criteria is expanded to include occasional and mobile education and care services.

This means these services are eligible for all f4 funding streams.

We've improved processes to identify eligible new services in 2025.

We've updated information for transferred services to support transferring and receiving approved providers.

We've improved the flow and readability of the program guidelines and we've updated resources including regularly updated 2025 FAQs, a new 2025 Declaration and Consent form, case studies for calculating fee relief and updated ECCMS Service Provider Guide which details how to update your contact details, how to change your bank account details and much more.

If you have a question about the Start Strong for Long Day Care program, we can better support you initially via email than over the phone.

When you contact us via phone, you'll first speak to an Information and Enquiries Officer from the NSW ECEC Regulatory Authority, who can provide general information only.

They may then triage your call to a Funding Officer from the Long Day Care Funding team who can also only provide general advice over the phone.

When you contact us via email, your email is triaged according to the topic.

It is directed to the subject matter expert in the Long Day Care Funding team who can then provide general and service specific advice in their response.

Now we will move on to Topic 2 where Virginia will talk about fee relief funding.

V you're on mute just to start. We can't hear you yet.

Apologies.

Great.

There you are.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Virginia and I'm a Senior Programs Officer in the Long Day Care Funding team.

I'll be providing a very brief overview of the fee relief funding streams of the Start Strong for Long Day Care program.

Under 2025 Start Strong for Long Day Care program fee relief is available for families with eligible children.

The funding is designed to help families reduce their out of pocket expenses for early childhood education and care.

So who is eligible?

In 2025, the annual fee relief allocation for 4 year old plus children is $2,174 per eligible child.

In 2025, the annual fee relief allocation for 3 year old children is $515 per eligible child.

So how do you apply fee relief for eligible children?

Fee relief must be applied weekly as a direct reduction to a family session fee or gap fee after the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) has been applied.

This ensures that families experience ongoing, consistent financial support throughout the service’s operating weeks.

A key change to note is that from 2024 onwards, fee relief funds cannot be used for expenses covered under program payment spending rules.

This includes items such as salaries and wages for ECTs and educators, education and functional resources or other program related costs.

This ensures that fee relief is only used to reduce costs for families, making early childhood education more accessible and affordable.

So now let's go through a practical case study to understand how 3 year old fee relief is applied.

Imagine a child is enrolled at your service with the following details.

They were born in September 2021.

Their daily session fee is $115.

They are enrolled for 2 days per week.

They receive no Child Care Subsidy (CCS), they have no additional fees, and the service operates for 50 weeks per calendar year.

Let's go through the steps to determine eligibility and amount to be applied.

So Step 1, confirm the child's eligibility.

First, we check if the child qualifies for 3 year old fee relief in 2025.

As the child's birthday falls between the 1st of August 2021 and the 31st of July 2022, they're eligible for 3 year old fee relief.

Step 2, check for a signed fee relief declaration and consent form.

Check that a fee relief declaration and consent form has been signed requesting the service applies fee relief funds to their child's enrolment.

Step 3, calculate weekly fee relief allocation.

The total fee relief available for this child in 2025 is $515.

Since the service operates for 50 weeks, we divide the total by 50, which is $10.30 per week of 3 year old fee relief.

This means that the family is entitled to receive $10.30 per week in fee relief.

Step 4., calculate the weekly fee before fee relief.

As the child attends 2 days a week and the session fee is $115 per day, The total weekly fee is $230.

The family's total weekly fee is $230 before any fee relief is applied.

Step 5, apply the fee relief to the weekly fee.

Now we subtract the weekly fee relief $10.30 from the total weekly fee relief of $230, which is $219.70.

So after applying 3 year old fee relief, the family's remaining out of pocket cost is $219.70 per week.

In the next slides we will look at some common questions as they relate to the case study.

What if the child does not attend?

The weekly fee relief, 3 year old fee relief, does not change.

Fee relief is based on enrolment, not attendance.

What happens if a child reduces their enrolment to just one day a week?

The weekly 3 year old fee relief does not change.

The number of hours or days enrolled does not impact the weekly fee relief amount.

The reduction is applied consistently each week across the service’s operating weeks.

Importantly, providers cannot impose minimum enrolment requirements.

Families will be eligible for weekly fee relief regardless of how many days their child attends.

So our next question, what happens when the child turns 4 after the 31st of July 2025?

The weekly 3 year old fee relief does not change.

A child receives one fixed rate of fee relief for the entire 2025 calendar year based on their birthdate.

If a child is eligible for 3 year old fee relief, they will continue to receive it for the whole year as they turn 4 after the 31st of July 2025 cut off date.

What if a child turns 4 before the 31st of July 2025?

The child is eligible for 4 year old plus fee relief from their first day of enrolment in 2025 and will continue receiving it for the entire calendar year.

For example, if the child turns 4 on the 30th of March and their first day of attendance is the 1st of January, they are entitled to be paid the 4 year old plus fee relief rate from the 1st of January.

Similarly, what if a 2 year old turns 3 before the 31st of July 2025?

The child is eligible for 3 year old fee relief from their first day of enrolment in 2025 and will receive it for the full calendar year.

For example, if the child turns 3 on the 31st of July and their first day of attendance is the 1st of January, they are entitled to be paid the 3 year old fee relief rate from the 1st of January.

This means a child's fee relief payment category is paid from the start of date of their enrolment in 2025, provided they turned 3 or 4 on or before the 31st of July 2025.

Now let's go over 2 important scenarios regarding fee relief allocation.

How do we apply fee relief for children with separated parents?

The service should work with both parents to split the single allocation of fee relief.

This should be clearly reflected in each parent's invoice insurance, ensuring transparency and accuracy in billing.

Next question. Are currently enrolled children who will be attending school in 2025 eligible for Start Strong fee relief?

Yes, as long as the child meets the eligibility criteria and the family completes a fee relief declaration and consent form for 2025, they can receive fee relief.

However, once the child leaves to attend school, any remaining fee relief funding becomes Reserved Funds, which means it cannot be used unless another eligible child takes the place.

Well, what if I don't have enough fee relief funding?

In cases where the initial fee relief payment allocation is not enough to cover the number of eligible children accessing fee relief, then 4YO+ Program Payments may be used as an interim measure to provide 4YO+ fee relief.

Similarly, 3YO Program Trial Payments funds may be used as an interim measure to provide 3YO fee relief.

This ensures that all eligible families continue to receive support while funding adjustments are managed.

It is important to note that 4YO+ fee relief program payments cannot be used to provide 4 year old, 3 year old.

Sorry, my apologies.

It is important to note 4YO+ Fee Relief Payments cannot be used to provide 3YO fee relief and vice versa.

And 3YO Program Trial Payments cannot be used to provide 4YO+ fee relief and vice versa.

Top up funding for 2024 was determined through the voluntary fear relief data submission which opened in January 2025 with outcomes and payments progressed from the 31st of March 2025.

The 2025 fee relief funding top up process is currently under review with further updates expected in late 2025.

So some more questions, can I use fee relief for one service and apply to children enrolled at another service?

No, funding is not transferrable across services.

This means that you are unable to use funding provided for one service in another service.

I have too much fee relief, can I use this on education resources and staff salaries?

No. Surplus or Reserved fee relief funds cannot be used on program payment spending rules.

Surplus or Reserved fee relief payments may need to be returned to the department.

And finally, for this section, what services should do if they have not expended all their fee relief funds?

There are 2 categories of remaining funds, Reserved fee relief funds and Surplus fee relief funds.

I'm now going to hand over to my colleague Ivana to talk about these 2 categories.

Thanks V.

Hi everyone, My name is Ivana and I'm a Programs Officer in the Long Day Care Funding team.

Now let's take a closer look at the Reserved fee relief funds, what they are and how they should be managed.

Reserved fee relief funds are remaining funds when a service's current enrolments are lower than the number of funded places.

This can happen in situations such as a child leaves the service and creates a vacancy, a family chooses not to receive fee relief from the service, or an enrolment place remains vacant for an extended, typically 12 weeks or more.

In these cases, the unused fee relief funds must be retained and cannot be used until another eligible child is enrolled and nominates to receive fee relief from the service.

Additionally, services may be required to return any unallocated funds to the department as part of the program’s compliance requirement.

Next slide please.

Thank you.

To understand Reserved fee relief funds, let's walk through a case study.

In 2025, a service received 4YO+ fee relief funding for 30 enrolments, but due to changes in enrolment, some funds became Reserved fee relief funds.

We'll have a look at 3 different scenarios.

So Scenario 1 they're lower enrolments than funded.

So the service currently has 28 enrolled children eligible for 4YO+ fee relief. Funding for the 2 vacant enrolment places becomes reserved., so that's 2 * $2,174 which totals $4,384.

This funding cannot be used until the vacant enrolment places are filled.

Then we have Scenario 2. A family does not nominate to receive fee relief funding.

So one eligible child chooses to claim fee relief from a different service.

Funding for one vacant enrolment place then becomes reserved, so that is the total of $2,174.

Again, this funding cannot be used until a new eligible enrolment is added.

And then we have Scenario 3, a child leaves the service. So one eligible child leaves and the enrolment place remains vacant for the rest of the year.

The reserved amount in this case is calculated as the weekly fee relief rate, then multiplied by the remaining operating weeks in the year.

This funding also remains reserved until the place is filled.

In all these scenarios, the provider must retain these funds and may be required to return them to the department if they remain unallocated.

Now let's have a look at a common question regarding Reserved fee relief funds.

What if a vacant enrolment place is filled within 12 weeks?

If an eligible child fills the vacant enrolment place part way through an extended period of approximately 12 weeks or more, the Reserved fee relief funds for the weeks before the child's enrolment began will be considered Surplus fee relief funds.

For example, if a child enrols from week 5 onwards, the fee relief funds for the first 4 weeks when no child was enrolled become Surplus funds.

Now, let's further explore Surplus fee relief funds, what they are and how they can be used.

Surplus fee relief funds occur when a family's gap fees have been reduced to zero in a regular billing period, leaving remaining fee relief funds that cannot be applied to the child's fees.

So what can services do with these Surplus funds?

They must be used in the following order.

Firstly, they can cover additional charges for the eligible child, such as levies.

Then, they may be used to reduce fees for other eligible children at the services discretion.

This could mean prioritising families with the greatest need in line with the Section 3.3 of the Priority of Access guidelines.

Then, you may further reduce fees for children already receiving fe relief or children whose families did not nominate the service for fee relief.

However, any remaining Surplus funds must be retained and services may be required to return them to the department if they are not utilised.

To better understand how Surplus fee relief funds work, let's go through a case study.

In 2025, a family sends their 5 year old child to a service where the daily session fee is $137.

After applying the Child Care Subsidy, the family's daily gap fee is $13, meaning they pay $26 per week for 2 days of enrolment.

The service operates for 52 weeks per year and also has additional charges such as levies.

Let's break down how fee relief is applied in this scenario.

Step 1, calculate the weekly fee relief allocation.

So the child is eligible for $2,174 in fee relief, which is spread over 52 weeks, providing $41.81 per week.

Step 2, apply fee relief to the weekly gap fee.

So the weekly gap fee in this scenario is $26 minus the $41.81 of the weekly fee relief then equals negative $15.81.

So that means the fee is reduced to 0.

And since the fee is fully covered, the $15.81 remains as Surplus funds.

Step 3, use Surplus fee relief funds. So we have the $15.81 in Surplus funds.

This is first used to cover additional charges such as levies.

Any remaining surplus funds may be used to reduce fees for children from families with the greatest need in line with Section 3.3 of the Priority of Access guidelines

Services must ensure proper use of surplus funds, keeping records and complying with funding requirements.

Now let's go over a couple common questions about surplus fee relief funds.

So the first question is, do we apply fee relief if the Additional Child Care Subsidy covers all the child's fees to4 0?

No, in this case the full weekly fee relief entitlement is considered Surplus fee relief funds since no further reduction to fees is needed. Question 2, I have retained Reserved and Surplus fee relief funds, what should I do?

Providers must report on Reserved and Surplus fee relief funds in the financial accountability statement, which is issued in May each year.

The Department will review the financial accountability to ensure compliance.

If there are unexpended funds, the Department may send a request seeking their return.

We will now move on to Topic 3, where Em will talk about program funding. Over to you Em.

Thanks Ivana.

Hi everybody, My name's Em and I am a Program officer in the Long Day Care Funding team.

Together, let's explore program funding in more detail.

Services can use the program funding in a number of ways to improve the quality of the preschool program they provide and to support the capability uplift of early childhood teachers and educators.

To help your service to use its program funding in meaningful ways, Section 6 Spending Rules and Activities of the program guidelines provides examples of how a service can spend both 4YO+ Program funding and 3YO Program Trial funding.

Section 6 has a comprehensive list of suggestions to help improve your service’s quality and to meet the spending rules, but you may have additional purchases or activities that do not appear in our list of examples.

You can progress with your proposed activity if you're confident that it complies with the spending rules.

Similarly, 3YO Program Trial Payment funds may also be used as an interim measure to provide fee relief to families of eligible children aged at least 3 years old and not yet f4 years old on or before 31 July in 2025.

And again, this is where the initial 3YO Fee Relief Payment allocation does not cover the number of eligible children accessing fee relief.

Now, let's take a look at some specific questions about the spending rules.

Firstly, if I have leftover program funding from 2024, can I spend that in 2025?

No 2024 program payment funds do need to be expended during the 2024 calendar year unless otherwise agreed to by the Department.

Under the Terms and Conditions, providers may be required to return any unexpended funds to the Department.

We will discuss Unexpended funds further into the session when we have a look at financial accountabilities and reporting.

Let's take a look at another common question about the spending rules.

I received my program funding in March 2025., can I use this program payment funding for purchases that I made earlier in the year?

Yes, program payment funding may be applied to expenses incurred earlier in the 2025 calendar year.

The expense must align with Section 6 Spending Rules and Activities of the program guidelines.

The approved provider must maintain records or documents as evidence of expenditure and provide it to the Department if requested for the purposes of reporting or funding compliance reviews.

We do want to hear more about your real life examples of how program payment funding is used to promote quality uplift in your service.

We do want to celebrate your stories.

We'd love it if you could share your stories with us by emailing ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au

You might like to include photos, learning stories, feedback from families and your communities.

Examples could be used by us as showcases during our regular sector updates, emails from ECE funding and case studies for our 2026 program guidelines.

Now move on to Topic 4, where we'll welcome Ivana back to talk about financial accountability statements.

Thanks Em.

I'm very excited about all the stories and potential photos.

Let's now look forward to an upcoming program requirement, the 2024 financial accountability.

Next slide please.

Thank you.

Firstly, what is the financial accountability statement?

Providers funded under the 2024 Start Strong for Long Day Care must submit a financial accountability statement for each individual service that received funding.

The financial accountability statement is the way you tell the department how Start Strong for Long Day Care funding has been spent.

In the statement, you provide details on how the funding in each payment stream was expended, including details of any Unexpended funds.

Why are we completing a financial accountability statement?

This is a mandatory requirement under the Terms and Conditions of your funding.

The purpose of the financial accountability is to provide assurance that public funds have been expended for their intended purpose.

Where there are Unexpended funds, Reserved funds, or Surplus funds, an invoice may be raised by the department requesting repayment of those funds.

The financial accountability statement is not used to determine fee relief funding top ups.

Fee relief funding top ups are managed separately through the fee relief data submission process.

This 2024 fee relief data submission was open to providers in February 2025.

Now let's have a look at how you complete these statements.

Financial accountability statements are submitted in the Early Childhood Contract Management System or as we call it, ECCMS.

The financial accountability statement must be submitted by an ECCMS user with SP-Admin access level.

A user that who has SP-User access level or FS-User access level may enter information in draft only, but only an SP-Admin has the authority to click Submit.

When a financial accountability statement is added in ECCMS and available for you to complete, an email notification will be sent to the main email address of the provider that is listed in ECCMS.

Now let's have a look at the timing for this process as well.

The financial accountability statements for 2024 Start Strong for Long Day Care funding will be released in May 2025.

Providers will have between 4 to 6 weeks to complete.

There are resources available that can help you with this process.

Let's have a look at where you can access them.

There is a webpage called Financial Accountability - Information for Services.

This is currently being updated for 2024 and will be available prior to the release of the financial accountability.

This page provides information including frequently asked questions and important resources for services to assist with completing the financial accountability statements through ECCMS.

There is also a Financial Accountability Return Guide available each year.

This is currently also being updated for 2024 and will be available prior to the release.

This is a step by step guide that walks you through each line item in the financial accountability.

It will contain an example of a completed accountability statement with pop ups for instructions and also short instructional videos to walk you through the process.

There are also a couple email addresses you can utilise to get in contact with us about this process.

For help with completing the financial accountability statement, please email us at ECEAudit.funding@det.nsw.edu.au

And for help with the Start Strong for Long Day Care spending rules and fee relief funding top ups, please email us at ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au

There are certain things you can do in preparation for the release of the 2024 financial accountability statements in ECCMS.

Firstly, you can prepare by extracting your funding and expenditure reports from your software system and/or you can contact your accountant for help with this process.

There are of course also the resources available that we mentioned in the previous slide, such as the FAQs and the guide, which you can read through for guidance.

Another important item on your To Do List in ECCMS is completing all your outstanding financial accountability statements from the previous years.

If you have not done so already. Reminder here that this is a mandatory requirement.

The department will review that 2023 Start Strong for long Day Care financial accountability statements and contact any services that may need to return Unexpended funds.

Another useful thing to do in preparation is to check that your SP-Admin has access to ECCMS. If they're experiencing login issues, please contact ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au for help.

Next, you can check the Main Details tab under your Service Provider menu and make sure your contact details are up to date.

Another thing you can do in ECCMS is under the Funding Specification menu after clicking on the Start Strong for Long Day Care service row, you can check the funding you have received if you navigate to the Payments tab.

Alternatively, you would be able to find this information in any past Payment Advice emails as well.

We heard from you and wanted to address a common question we receive about financial accountability statements.

What is a manual financial accountability statement?

A manual financial accountability statement differs from the financial accountability process in ECCMS as it is only available for services in exceptional circumstances such as transferred or ceased services.

This manual statement is a PDF document sent by the department via email and is a way to report on how funding was expanded outside of the ECCMS process.

The providers who received this PDF document must complete it and submit it via return email.

Now back to Emma. Thank you.

Thank you, Ivana.

In 2025, we look forward to continuing our partnership with you.

We are continuing our commitment to provide clear and timely updates, to respond to your emails within 5 business days, improve processes and update FAQs with commonly asked questions.

Together, we can make a positive difference for young children by uplifting the quality of preschool programs and supporting the growth and development of early childhood teachers and educators.

As a reminder, here are some resources and key contacts for you after the session.

Just on the next slide, we have those available for you.

Our recording will now end here and the presentation will be sent to you by the end of April.

Now let's have a look and talk through some of your questions.

These questions along with the frequently asked questions will be sent out to you in an information package by the end of April.

The team have identified common themes in the questions you have asked in the Q&A function and we have 3 questions that we will answer live now.

We will answer here in a general capacity, but please contact us by email if you require more specific information.

If we could jump to the next slide. The first question that we commonly have seen in the Q&A function is, can a family change which service they nominate to receive fee relief from and what is the process for a family changing this nominated service?

Yes, a family can change their nominated service at any time.

At each service their child is enrolled, the parent, carer, or guardian must complete a new declaration and consent form to confirm their change in nominated service.

Service providers are required to retain all completed declaration and consent forms for compliance purposes.

More about this is in our 2025 Frequently Asked Questions page.

I'll hand over to V, who will be able to answer another question for us.

Thanks, Em, I really appreciate it.

You'll note that we're using quite shortened names for each other. That's part of the fact that our teams worked together for a long time. So I'm also known as V, which is why they're saying V.

So one of the questions is, and it's a really good question as well, if you know a child is eligible but the parents have not returned the form, are you able to backdate the payments once you receive the consent form. Tt's at the discretion of the service whether to backdate fee relief by applying a credit to the family's account.

If a service has sufficient fee relief funding, it is strongly encouraged to backdate funding to the beginning of the child's enrolment in 2025 by applying a credit to the family's account.

However, services should record why a family was delayed in completing a fee relief declaration and consent form.

And services are really best place to find out the why that this is not happening.

So yes, it is at the discretion of the service, but we really do actively encourage you to provide backdated fee relief if you have sufficient fee relief funds.

Em before you answer the next question, I've just had an added question that I've been asked to respond to as well.

We're getting quite a lot of questions regarding when will the webinar be shared.

It'll be shared at the end of April 2025.

Now over to Em to answer the last question.

Thank you, V.

Final question for today.

How long do we have to hold onto funds that need to be returned to the department?

You need to hold on to these funds until notified by the department.

These funds are identified in the annual financial accountability statement processed that's released in May each year.

We will shortly be issuing return of fund letters for the 2023 year.

The 2024 financial accountabilities will be released in May 2025 and you can find more information about this in Section 17 of the program guidelines.

Well, thank you all for participating in today's session.

Your questions and contributions help us to make the program more successful.

As a reminder, the presentation and information package will be sent out to participants by the end of April 2025.

On the screen, you'll see a QR code to a Microsoft Forms survey.

Please do take a few minutes to share your thoughts on today's session.

Your input helps us to continue creating and developing content that's beneficial to the sector's needs.

We will close the presentation here.

We hope you have a fantastic rest of the day.

Thank you all very much for joining.

[End of transcript]

Services are not required to apply for this program. The department will conduct relevant checks to identify and confirm the eligibility of services. Eligible services will be contacted by the department to confirm funding arrangements.

In 2025, families may save up to $2,174 per year in fee relief for children aged 4 and above, and up to $515 per year in fee relief for children aged 3.

The fee relief declaration and consent form (PDF 120 KB) and template letter (PDF 299.2 KB) for 2025 Start Strong for LDC are available and can be provided to the families of eligible children aged 3 and above.

Families must complete a fee relief declaration and consent form (PDF 120 KB) to access fee relief. This form will help the family inform your service whether they would like to receive fee relief from you and provides consent for their child’s data to be shared as outlined in the privacy note.

Families will need to complete a form for each service their child is enrolled. Fee relief declaration and consent forms should be completed prior to children attending your service in 2025. This will ensure fee relief is provided to families from the first week your service operates in 2025.

To assist services to communicate the fee relief declaration and consent form to families, a template letter (PDF 93 KB) that services can download and place on their letterhead is available. This letter explains the process to access fee relief and how and why the declaration form must be filled out.

Services will be required to provide data to the NSW government about children who are accessing fee relief. A document outlining these requirements will be released soon and shared with third-party-software providers.