Why can’t I create a formal enrolment?
When creating a formal enrolment it is important to check you have entered the following details correctly into your software:
- child’s date of birth
- child’s Customer Reference Number (CRN)
- parent/guardian’s date of birth
- parent/guardian’s Customer Reference Number.
All four pieces of information must match the family data held by the FAO.
Check the:
- parent/guardian included in the enrolment has been assessed as eligible for CCB by the FAO. A parent may have a CRN for other family assistance payments without taking the step of being assessed for Child Care Benefit (CCB) eligibility. If the parent/guardian has not been assessed, they will need to contact the Family Assistance Office (FAO) on 13 61 50.
- parent/guardian included in the enrolment is the one who has been assessed as eligible for CCB. For example, sometimes you may have the father’s CRN and date of birth but the mother is the one who is assessed for CCB eligibility or vice versa.
- dates of birth given to you are the same as the dates of birth given to the FAO. If a parent confirms they have provided you with the correct dates of birth, ask the parent to contact FAO on 13 61 50 to confirm they also have the correct date of birth.
- error message returned by the CCMS, as this will indicate whether the child or parent details are incorrect. For example, “child details not found” or “parent details not found”.
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Tim and his son Mark arrive at your service wishing to enrol. You have an available session for Mark every Monday and Tuesday. Tim has contacted the FAO and has obtained CRNs for himself and Mark.
Tim provides you with the following information:
- his CRN
- his date of birth
- Mark's CRN
- Mark's date of birth.
As Tim and Mark have provided you with all the necessary family information, you try to create a formal enrolment. You receive an error message stating “child details not found”. After you check the child’s CRN you realise you have copied it incorrectly from the enrolment form. After you make the correction and resubmit to the CCMS the formal enrolment is created successfully. |
Why can’t I change an informal enrolment to a formal enrolment?
When formalising an informal enrolment it is important to:
- check the informal enrolment has the correct dates of birth for both the child and parent/guardian
- check you have submitted an ‘update enrolment’ transaction prior to a ‘formalise enrolment’ transaction, depending on the CCMS registered software you use.
All details should match the information the Family Assistance Office (FAO) holds for the family before you can formalise the enrolment.
If you have entered the correct details but are unable to create a formal enrolment, the family will need to contact the FAO to discuss their eligibility and check their information.
Once you have formalised the enrolment the attendance reports will automatically be sent to the FAO and CCB will be back dated to the family’s CCB eligibility start date.
An informal enrolment is used when:
- a family has not yet been assessed for CCB
- a family can’t provide you with CRN details
- a family is not currently claiming CCB or Child Care Rebate (CCR)
- the CRN and date of birth information the family provide returns an error message when you attempt to create a formal enrolment in the CCMS.
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Boris and Natasha and their daughter Svetlana arrive at your service wishing to enrol every Wednesday. At this stage Boris and Natasha have not assessed their CCB eligibility with the FAO. You create an informal enrolment for Svetlana using her date of birth and Natasha’s date of birth.
After several weeks, Natasha provides the CRNs for her family. You have already entered the date of birth for Svetlana and Natasha in the informal enrolment so you add the CRNs to the enrolment record. Unfortunately you receive an error message stating “parent details not found” and you are unable to create a formal enrolment.
After speaking with the family to double check the CRNs they provided are correct, you discover
that the parent CRN provided by them is actually for Boris not Natasha. As you had entered Natasha’s date of birth in the informal enrolment you will need to edit the enrolment record with Boris’ date of birth and then all four family details; parent and child dates of birth and CRNs, will match those held by the FAO. |
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Why can’t the CCMS Helpdesk tell me the correct details I need to create a formal enrolment?
Due to privacy legislation, DEEWR is restricted in the amount of family information it can provide to services. In some circumstances the CCMS Helpdesk can assist where information is available. In other cases, the CCMS Helpdesk will need to refer to the FAO to resolve the issue.
Child care services are subject to the National Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 when handling personal information.
There are also provisions in the Family Assistance law relating to protection of personal information. Sections 161-170 of A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 provide for protection of personal information.
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Julie arrives at your service with her two year old daughter Piper and fills in the enrolment form before Piper begins care next week. She includes dates of birth and CRNs for herself and Piper.
When you create a formal enrolment for Piper and submit to the CCMS you receive an error message from your software stating “child details not found”. This means the information sent to the CCMS through your software for the child did not match. Either the date of birth or CRN is incorrect.
The details given by the family on Piper’s enrolment form are entered correctly in your software.
You phone Julie and ask her to confirm Piper’s date of birth and CRN. They are correct.
You call the CCMS Helpdesk and ask the operator to check Piper’s CRN and date of birth. The operator advises the date of birth in the system is different to the one the family has provided. Due to the Privacy Act, CCMS Helpdesk staff cannot tell you the correct date of birth.
You ask Julie to contact the FAO to confirm her CCB eligibility and details. When Julie speaks to the FAO it becomes evident that the incorrect date of birth was provided to the FAO originally by Julie’s partner.
Once the FAO updates Piper’s date of birth you will be able to resubmit to the CCMS, and successfully create a formal enrolment. |
What if I have created two enrolments for the same child for the same period?
The only time you need to create two enrolments for the same parent/child combination for the same period of time is when the care provided is an AMEP/Other Enrolment and the family also requires care for other purposes.
If you create an informal enrolment for a child and the family provides CRN details later, you should formalise the informal enrolment rather than create a new formal enrolment. If you have created an informal and formal enrolment for the same parent/child combination for the same period you may receive an error message from the CCMS stating “an enrolment exists for this child” or “enrolment dates overlap”. You may need to cancel the attendances, end date the formal enrolment and formalise the informal enrolment.
Dates on enrolment records cannot overlap. If you create a new formal enrolment because a child ceased care and then returned later, the new enrolment must have a start date after the end date of the existing enrolment record.
Please note a separated family may have two enrolments for the same child for the same period but each enrolment will have different parent details.
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Pablo runs an OSHC service and created an informal enrolment for Joshua when he started care in January. In March Joshua’s father provided CRN details and Pablo then created a formal enrolment for Joshua. After submitting the enrolment record to the CCMS he received an error message saying “enrolment dates overlap”.
Pablo checked his software and found he had created a formal enrolment and an informal enrolment for Joshua with dates overlapping. Since the informal enrolment had attendance data since January submitted against it, Pablo cancelled the two attendance records on the formal enrolment and cancelled it.
He formalised the informal enrolment and continued submitting attendance records against this enrolment record which was now a formal enrolment. |
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Can I claim an enrolment advance for every child in my care?
Enrolment advances will only be paid when creating a formal enrolment or formalising an informal enrolment. Enrolment advances will not be paid for informal, AMEP/Other or Service Special CCB enrolments. Claiming an enrolment advance is optional and is a business decision for your service. You can elect to claim or not to claim for every formal enrolment you create, but remember enrolment advances will be recovered by DEEWR when the enrolment is exited. If you are unsure how to claim an enrolment advance when you create a formal enrolment, you should ask your software provider for assistance.
The payment of an enrolment advance is intended to assist your service with cash flow and ongoing financial commitments. As such, there are no specific requirements regarding how your service can use an enrolment advance. However, payments should be treated as a liability (debt) and tracked and accounted for accurately.
Enrolment advances are not paid for enrolments at occasional care services.
Why has CCMS ‘deemed exit’ this enrolment?
The ’deemed exit’ of an enrolment occurs where there has been no attendance reports received for a designated period.
If you create a formal enrolment and no attendances are submitted at all against the record it will exit after 42 days for all service types.
If you create a formal enrolment and submit attendances, but then stop submitting attendances for a designated period (see below) the enrolment will exit.
You will always receive a message from CCMS through your software to warn you an enrolment record will exit in 14 days. You will receive another message to tell you that the enrolment has been exited and to warn you that the enrolment advance will be recovered. It is important to check these software messages regularly. If you are unsure how to do this, ask your software provider for assistance.
Once you have received a message that the enrolment will exit in 14 days the enrolment can be reactivated by submitting an attendance report and this will change the status of the enrolment back to active.
Enrolment advance funds will be recovered once an enrolment has been end dated by you or has been exited. It is automatically deducted from the next CCB payment made to your service.
What are the ‘deemed exit’ timeframes?
Number of days with no attendance (from the end of the week) before enrolment will be ‘deemed exit’
| LDC |
42 |
182 |
| FDC |
42 |
182 |
| IHC |
42 |
182 |
| BSC/ASC |
70 |
182 |
| VAC |
182 |
182 |
Any formal enrolment where an enrolment advance is paid will always exit after 42 days if no attendance records at all are submitted to the CCMS for all service types including OSHC services.
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How can parents/guardians who use multiple services (e.g. Family Day Care and Long Day Care) ensure they are able to access their full CCB entitlement?
CCB will be paid for all hours charged up to a family’s eligible limit (usually 24 or 50 hours). This will be applied across services if children are attending multiple services.
Families may choose how their CCB eligible hours are distributed across services, where their child attends multiple services in a week. They can do this by completing a Nomination of eligible hours where a child is attending more than one service (DEEWR 08-312) form.
Families may nominate how their hours are distributed (or change a previous nomination) at any point, not just when they first enroll at a service. It is important to note that the nomination process is voluntary and parents are not required to complete a nomination form unless they choose to do so.
If a family use care at multiple services but do not nominate how their hours are distributed, their CCB entitlement will be passed to services in the order attendances are submitted. Discuss with the family in the first instance if they do not have enough eligible hours to cover the attended hours at your service. If another service has used a family’s eligible hours for the same week, you are entitled to charge the family full fees for the period not covered by CCB fee reductions.
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Adriana has a daughter Alessandra who attends your service every Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Adriana works full time but unfortunately you do not have a vacancy on the other days of the week so on Wednesday and Thursday Alessandra attends another centre.
Adriana may be eligible for 50 hours of CCB but as she has just returned to work and has not contacted the FAO, she currently has only 24 hours of CCB. When you submit the attendance record to the CCMS you report 30 hours for the week, but Adriana is only paid CCB for 4 hours. This is likely because the other centre has already submitted an attendance report for two days and used 20 hours of the family’s CCB eligibility. Your centre has received the remaining 4 hours of the total 24 hours.
Adriana needs to contact the FAO and ask to be reassessed as she will now pass the Work, Study Training Test and needs to report her change in circumstances and income.
Ask Adriana to fill in a “Nomination of Eligible Hours” form to allocate the number of CCB hours she wishes to claim at your centre. |
If a family is salary sacrificing their child care fees, which type of enrolment should be created for the child?
For a parent to be eligible for CCB they must be responsible for paying fees for the session of care. Neither the FAO nor child care services can decide who is liable to pay the child care fees. The family should seek independent financial advice to decide the best course of action for their circumstances. The family should inform the FAO if they no longer want to claim CCB.
If an employer or any third party is liable to pay the child care fees, create an AMEP/Other enrolment.
Chapter 8.3 of the Child Care Service Handbook provides further information on employer contributions and salary sacrificing arrangements.
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Martin has three children who attend your service. He is eligible for CCB currently but has started a new job recently with a community organisation which allows him to salary sacrifice his child care fees. This reduces the amount of tax he pays on his income.
Martin tells you his child care fees will now be paid by a firm who manages the salary sacrificing arrangements for his employer. You ask Martin “Will you still be claiming CCB?” Martin indicates he has spoken to an accountant who advised him that financially it will be to his advantage to salary sacrifice his child care fees rather than claim CCB from the FAO.
Following Martin’s advice you end date the formal enrolments for the children at your service and create AMEP/Other enrolments. |
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How do I create an enrolment for a child who has two separated parents sharing care of the child and paying child care fees separately?
In shared care situations, where you have an arrangement with two parents or guardians to provide care to the child, and both will be charged for sessions under that arrangement, two enrolments must be created.
You should report attendances against the enrolment for whichever parent or guardian is liable for child care fees for the session of care.
If a child in a shared care situation is cared for by both parents or guardians in the same week, you should check with the family to see which parent or guardian is liable for the child care fees for each day of the week.
It is possible in shared care cases that one parent or guardian is eligible for CCB and the other is not. You should confirm this with each parent or guardian and create the appropriate type of enrolment for each.
Services should ask families to advise them as soon as possible of changes to their family unit or care arrangements to ensure all members of the family receive their correct CCB entitlement.
Each parent is treated as a separate family in the case of shared care arrangements. Each parent may have different CCB eligibility details and each parent may receive 42 absences per financial year.
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Kim and Ted have shared care of their son Max who attends your service. Two days of the week Kim is liable for the cost of care and three days of the week Ted is liable for the cost of care. Kim has visited the FAO and has tested her eligibility for CCB and has received CRNs for both Max and herself. Ted has not tested his eligibility with the FAO. In order to enrol Max in your service, two enrolments need to be created.
- A Formal enrolment for Kim and Max
- An Informal enrolment for Ted and Max.
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What type of enrolment should I create for a family who is not eligible for CCB but still wants to claim Child Care Rebate (CCR)?
A formal enrolment must be created for a family to claim CCB or CCR.
Lump sum customers who are unsure of their income and claim at the end of the financial year still require a formal enrolment.
Families with a higher income who are not eligible for CCB are assessed at a zero rate for CCB but still need a formal enrolment to claim CCR.
When I try to create an enrolment I receive an error message saying an enrolment record for this client already exists. What does this mean?
Your software will generate a unique Client Identifier Code for very child and parent record. This prevents you from creating overlapping or duplicate enrolment records for the same parent and child combination. If you try to create more than one enrolment record for a child your software will warn you there is a problem. You need to query your software to find other enrolments. If you are unsure how to do this, contact your software provider for assistance.
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When the Chi family begins using care at your service your staff create an informal enrolment for the child. Your software creates a client code for the parent and the child.
Later Mr and Mrs Chi provide CRNs and confirm they are eligible for CCB. You create a formal enrolment for their child, but receive an error message saying an enrolment already exists for this client code combination.
After you query your software you realise that an informal enrolment was created by another team member and you need to formalise it; not create a new formal enrolment. This way the attendances that have already been submitted to the CCMS are automatically sent to the FAO for processing and calculation of CCB when the informal enrolment is formalised. Backdating of CCB will automatically occur to the family’s eligibility start date. |
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