Funded child hours

Funded child hours (FCHs) are the hours for which a service may claim funding and are based on:

• the hours a permanently enrolled child is enrolled to attend the service or
• the hours a casually or conditionally enrolled child attends the service.

Maximum FCHs for the ECE Funding Subsidy

Services are eligible to claim the ECE Funding Subsidy for up to 6 FCHs per child-place per day, to a maximum of 30 FCHs per child-place per week (that is 7 days).

See Section 4-2 for the maximum FCHs for 20 Hours ECE Funding.

Section 4-2

Casually and conditionally enrolled children

FCHs for children enrolled on a casual or conditional basis must be calculated based on attendance only.

Examples of funded child hours

Funding begins

Funding for an enrolled child begins on the planned start date of their enrolment agreement.

When a child does not attend on their planned start-date, one week of absences will be funded if:

• the absence is due to illness or other reasons beyond the parent/guardian’s control and
• there is an enrolment agreement for the child, stating the planned start date for the child, that was signed and dated by their parent/guardian prior to the child’s absence and
• the reason for the absence has been documented with a medical certificate or letter from the child’s parent/guardian explaining the absence.

The Ministry will recover funding claimed for absences where there is no signed enrolment agreement for the child (see Section 6-1 for further details on enrolment records).

Section 6-1

Funding ends

Funding on the basis of enrolment ends:

• the date that the child will no longer be enrolled and attending the service (the termination date of the enrolment agreement) as advised by the parent/guardian or
• after 3 weeks of continuous absence (see Section 6-5 for further details on the 3 Week Rule).

Section 6-5

Public holidays

Funding can only be claimed if the service is open on the day the public holiday is observed.

If the service is open, funding may be claimed for children who attend the service on that day or who are enrolled to attend on that specific public holiday.

These are some examples:

• Children enrolled on Mondays are not automatically enrolled on Labour Day unless Labour Day is specifically cited in their enrolment agreement.
• Children enrolled on Fridays are not automatically enrolled on Good Friday unless Good Friday is specifically cited in their enrolment agreement.
• Children enrolled on Mondays are not automatically enrolled on your region’s Anniversary Day Holiday unless the Anniversary Day Holiday is specifically cited in their enrolment agreement. Please note some regional Anniversary Days occur on a Friday. If this is the case the same rule will apply.

Absences can be claimed only for children who were enrolled to attend on that specific holiday.

Public holidays must not be included in advance funding claims and will be paid by wash up.

Teacher-only days

Teacher only days are not funded.

On the RS7 Return they are to be noted as TOD. Funded child hours and staff hour count are not to be entered for teacher only days.