Just as we thought we were looking at the back of COVID-19, we were hit with a new variant, which means some more issues to deal with in ECEC.
Whilst this new strain of the virus is typically less dangerous, it’s causing disruption in early education settings across Australia — causing anxiety for providers, educators and families alike.
With that in mind, we thought we’d share some of the help that is available to your service, as well some things you can do within OWNA.
What Help Is Available?
The DESE have outlined 2 key ways they can assist your service and/or families during this time.
The first of which is the continuation of the Gap Fee Waiver
Services can continue to waive the gap for families that can’t attend care for the following reasons:
- The child or member of their household is in isolation due to COVID-19
- The service is closed due to COVID-19
- The State/Territory has restricted access to early education services due to COVID-19
When waiving the gap, services must keep record of the following:
- Evidence of the State/Territory advising the service to close
- Evidence from families showing requirement to isolate (if possible)
- The amount of gap fee waived (shown within fee statements for families)
The second type of support is to increase the number of Allowable Absences
An extra 10 absences are given to families throughout the 2021–22 financial year, bringing the total number to 52.
Extra days will also be provided if the state/territory restricts access to early education services for more than 7 days.
What to do if your service is affected by COVID-19?
In a previous article, we outlined what you can utilise within OWNA when it comes to stopping the spread of COVID-19. However, given the nature of the new strain, it’s inevitable that most services will be affected at some point.
Here’s what you can do within OWNA if your service is affected
If a child is absent due to COVID-19:
- Within the portal, navigate to Reports > Attendances, then mark the child as Not Attending
- You can then edit the child’s absence by hitting Edit, then inserting an absence reason from the list
- Absence reasons relating to COVID-19 include: Local Emergency — service closed, Local Emergency — unable to attend
You can then waive the gap by applying this to the child from the ‘Waive Gap Fee’ button — if you wish to do so.
Remember that waiving the gap fee is a business decision and not instruction from the government.
If your service closes due to COVID-19:
- Click on CCSS > Service Details
- Scroll down to Service Temporarily Closing
- Select an Action and a Reason, and enter a Description
- Enter the Closing Date (Start Date to End Date inclusive)
- Click on Update Temporary Closure Details to CCSS
If you are still charging families for sessions during closure, you can mark all children as not attending by:
- Navigating to Reports > Attendances, then ticking all children you will be reporting sessions for
- Scrolling down to and clicking on the Bulk Mark as Not Attending button
- Submitting a bulk absence Reason: Local Emergency — Service Closed
We are here to support you through this difficult time, and our goal is to make running your service as easy as possible for you. We hope these features help the smooth transition, and that yourself, your educators and your families stay safe.
For more information on the support available to you, please visit www.dese.gov.au.
And to get in touch with us, please contact us on 02 8417 5022 / support@owna.com.au.
