2.6.6 CCB Eligibility Criteria for 24 Hour Care

Summary

This section contains the eligibility criteria for 24-hour care (1.1.T.80) and covers:

• the circumstances when 24-hour care can be approved,
• the number of 24-hour care periods that can be approved in a financial year,
• circumstances where additional periods of 24-hour care may be approved, and
• when JETCCFA is payable for part or all of a 24-hour care period.

24-hour care circumstances

Twenty-four hour care can be approved by an approved service (1.1.A.90) when it considers that a child needs care because neither an individual, nor their partner (1.1.P.30) if they have one, is able to care for a child due to:

• employment-related commitments, or
• exceptional circumstances (1.1.E.50).

Explanation: The child does not need to be on the approved service's premises to be classed as cared for by the service.

Example: Twenty-four hour care can be approved if:

• neither parent (1.1.P.10) can care for the child for appropriate 24-hour care reasons, and
• the child is attending school, and
• the school has the service listed as the contact for the child.

If the school has a parent listed as the contact, however, 24-hour care cannot be approved.

Approval is granted at the individual level, and all children linked to that individual are eligible. This approval overrides the weekly limit of child care hours (1.1.E.20) for that specified week.

Exception: A child absent from the service's care because of boarding away at school is not included. The break does not count as part of a 24-hour care period.

Number of 24-hour care periods approved

The following table shows the number of 24-hour care periods, across all services, that can be approved in a financial year and who can approve them. The periods can be either:

• consecutive, or
• intermittent.

If approval is required from the FAO, it must be sought before the care is provided.

Circumstances where additional periods may be approved

Approval may be granted for more than fourteen 24-hour care periods in a financial year if:

• 24-hour care is required because of work-related commitments. The child must return to the individual's, or their partner's, care for the major part of the week, or
• the 24-hour care requirement is not work related but is of a short term emergency nature.

Approval of more than 28 periods of 24-hour care should not be granted unless the family's circumstances are extreme. The FAO may seek advice from the relevant state or territory authority on whether continuation of 24-hour care is in the best interest of the child/ren and family.

24-hour care & JETCCFA

If a person is eligible for JETCCFA 2.8, and they have a child with some or all of their limit of JETCCFA hours remaining in a week, JETCCFA can be paid to cover some or all of a period of 24-hour care up to the limit of their JETCCFA hours listed on the weekly statement.

Unlike CCB, during periods of 24-hour care, JETCCFA hour limits (1.1.J.100) remain. If a person eligible for JETCCFA requires more assistance to attend a work-related commitment (such as a live-in conference or a training course), they should contact the FAO to have their JETCCFA hours reassessed.

Act reference: FAAct section 56 Circumstances when 24 hour care limit applies

Policy reference: FA Guide 1.1.J.100 JETCCFA hours, 2.8 JETCCFA Eligibility

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Last reviewed: 30 April 2012