You can advise of absences through any of:
a) through My Family Lounge (app or online) – this is our preferred method of contact
b) text to the service mobile number
c) phone message to the service
d) phone message to the Enrolments team (02 6147 3318)

See the service page for contact details: WCS Out of School Hours Care services

All families are able to claim subsidy for up to 42 absences per child per financial year without explanation. Once the child’s 42 absences are reached you will then need to provide supporting documentation in order to claim subsidy for ‘additional allowable absences’. Details of what absences are considered allowable can be found on the Department of Education’s website (Family Assistance Guide – Additional Absences).

If you wish to cease your booking entirely, please contact the Enrolments team (enrolments@wcs.org.au) and ensure you provide at least 14 days’ notice. Cancellations, both permanent and casual, are not accepted over the phone or by service educators. 

If you can’t access the casual calendar to make casual bookings for the service you need, please contact the Enrolments team (enrolments@wcs.org.au ) to activate this function. A direct debit form and bond payment must be made prior to activation. 

A change of booking request can be made via My Family Lounge. Please select ‘edit’ under ‘Current Bookings’ to request a booking change. 14 days’ notice is required when reducing days. 

Please select ‘view enrolment’ via My Family Lounge to update your details, please ensure you click ‘save & submit’ to ensure this change is updated in our database. 

It is preferable to use a personal email address as your point of contact and My Family Lounge username. 

No, Woden Community Service do not offer make up days or swapped days. You are welcome to make additional casual bookings as required. 

You can add contacts via My Family Lounge. To ensure these contacts have access to the online sign in/out system, Kiosk, please email enrolments@wcs.org.au. 

The school holiday activity program will be available on the WCS website by the end of week 6 of each school term.

For any further information regarding the activity program, please contact the OSHC Coordinator: (02) 6147 3318 or email oshc@wcs.org.au.

Holiday Program bookings open in week 7 of each school term. You can make bookings via the casual booking calendar within My Family Lounge. 

There are multiple reasons you may not be receiving Child Care Subsidy (CCS) payments for your fees. For more information see: Child Care Subsidy – Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Government (dese.gov.au)

• CCS enrolment confirmation incomplete in My Gov.
  All enrolments submitted by a provider must be confirmed by the parent/guardian eligible for subsidy before subsidy can be paid. Please log into your My Gov/Centrelink account to ensure that all CCS enrolments for your child/ren have been confirmed. Please note that the Child Care Subsidy System will automatically cease any confirmed enrolment after a non-attendance period of 14 weeks. 
• Not yet assessed for CCS
  Please contact Centrelink directly to follow up on your claim 
• Over 42 absences
  Absences in excess of 42 allowable days (within financial year) require supporting documentation in order to receive subsidy. Further information is available on the Department of Education website. (see link above) 
• No or incorrect (Customer Reference Number) CRNs provided 
  Please log on to My Family Lounge to check the CRNs provided for both the claiming parent/guardian and each child. In accordance with Government legislation, providers are not permitted to resubmit session reports for incorrect CRNs. Please ensure that the parent/guardian listed as Primary Contact 1 is the same parent/guardian claiming CCS. 
• Immunisation not up to date
  Please contact Centrelink to ensure your immunisation records are up to date. 
• Cessation of care applied to account
  Through the Child Care Subsidy System, cessation of care is applied to all fees where there is no attendance on the last day/s of a CCS enrolment. This also applies to absences at the beginning of a CCS enrolment. 

All back payments of Child Care Subsidy (CCS) are processed by Centrelink through the Child Care Subsidy System. These payments can be made either to the provider or directly to the family. All CCS payment decisions are made by Centrelink and providers are unable to alter this in any way. 

The Child Care Subsidy is paid directly to providers, reducing out of pocket expenses to families. 

As your CCS amount is calculated based on an estimated income amount, Centrelink will withhold 5% of your subsidy as a buffer. This 5% is then either paid back to the family, or kept by Centrelink once incomes are confirmed at tax time. You can choose to opt out or increase the withholding (either by contacting Centrelink or logging onto the Centrelink website). However, it is important to note that, if your income is more than the estimated amount, you may be required to pay back some CCS. 

Currently CCS is paid based on the session of care hours: i.e if your child attends for 2 hours, but our sessions are 3 hours long it will use 3 hours of your subsidy allowance. Please note that 100 hours per fortnight is the maximum number of hours any subsidy will be applied. 

Absences in excess of 42 allowable days (within financial year) require supporting documentation in order to receive subsidy. Further information is available on the Department of Education website (Child Care Subsidy – Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Australian Government (dese.gov.au)). Please note, these absences are per child regardless of providers used or shared care arrangements. 

The Child Care Subsidy is calculated over a fortnight, this being week 1. The weeks noted (i.e week 1, week 2) on the Centrelink website refer to this CCS fortnightly pattern, and not ACT school terms.

Rates of CCS are determined by the Department of Human Services. To discuss your CCS percentage or special circumstances (eg. financial hardship) please contact Centrelink.

There is  an annual subsidy cap for families with an estimated combined income of $186,958 or more. This cap is $10,190 per financial year per child, regardless of what provider they use.

The Hourly fee cap is determined by Services Australia in line with the Family assistance Law and increases each financial year. Up to date caps can be found here: https://guides.dss.gov.au/family-assistance-guide/3/5/3

The Child Care Subsidy System will automatically cease any confirmed enrolment after a non-attendance period of 8 weeks.

If your account has been activated in multiple centres (e.g. to allow you to book at various holiday programs) then you may begin to receive duplicate statements. These statements are almost identical, except for the service name. Under the transactions page (usually page 4 onwards) you should be able to see that the dates and names of services are identical.

Decline fees are usually processed one week after the attempted debit/charge. This means that if your payment declines in week 1 but is successfully processed in week 2, you may still receive a decline fee for the declined payment in week 1 along with your week 2 payment.

Woden Community Service process statements fortnightly in advance. This means that your payment for the first week of each school term will be processed within the school holiday period.

Through the Child Care Subsidy System cessation of care is applied to all fees where there is no attendance on the last day/s of a CCS enrolment. This also applies to absences at the beginning of a CCS enrolment.

Bank account or credit card details can be updated via the My Family Lounge App or via your child/rens online enrolment form. For instructions on how to do so on the app please see: How to update direct debit details. If you are unable to update your details online please contact the childcare accounts team on (02) 6147 3315 or childcareaccounts@wcs.org.au.

Late fees are $20 per 15 minutes or part thereof. Eg. each child collected 15 minutes late would be charged $20, child collected 17 minutes late would be charged $40.

All absences are charged for including those due to illness, family holidays and public holidays. Woden Community Service child care services run on a not-for-profit basis and rely on fees to meet operating overheads. Fees are maintained at a competitive rate while ensuring high quality programs for your children. Public holidays are included within the 42 allowable absences. No OSHC fees are charged for public holidays within a school holiday program. Woden Community Service does not currently charge for absences during our Christmas shutdown period.