Summary

Amends the:

to: amend the requirement on child care providers for the issuing of Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) certificates by removing the 50 per cent limit on the number of children that a provider can self-certify for ACCS; enable the minister to prescribe circumstances in which a third party may contribute to meeting the cost of an individual’s child care fees without affecting that individual’s child care subsidies (CCS); enable the minister to prescribe specific circumstances in which CCS can be paid where the child is absent at the start or end of an enrolment; and include the In Home Care rate alongside the rates for other care types, and the capacity for the minister to specify eligibility criteria and care requirements that must be met for access to Commonwealth-subsidised In Home Care places; and to: increase the number of weeks at which enrolments automatically cease due to non-attendance from 8 to 14 weeks; clarify that certain decisions must first be subject to internal review before application is made to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal; simplify the process for making claims for CCS; ensure that where an approved provider of child care service is suspended or cancelled, access to CCS is automatically suspended or cancelled; and enable child care providers to request voluntary suspension of their approval in appropriate circumstances. Also makes refinements, corrections and consequential amendments to both Acts.