Attendance Record Keeping

Records that all providers must keep

To maintain approval, providers must keep certain records and notify the Department of Education and Training of certain events. Failure to keep these records and provide the required notifications can result in suspension or cancellation of provider or service approvals, or other penalties.

All providers must keep and maintain the following records:

• complaints made to the provider, or to any of the services of the provider, relating to compliance with the Family Assistance Law
• record of attendance for each child for whom care is provided (regardless of eligibility for Child Care Subsidy and/or Additional Child Care Subsidy, including records of any absences from care)
• statements or documents demonstrating that Additional absence days in excess of the initial 42 absence days meet the criteria
• copies of invoices and receipts issued in relation to the payment of child care fees
• copies of all Statements of Entitlement issued and any statements issued to advise of a change of entitlement.

Providers must also keep a written record of the following, even if they would not otherwise record them in writing:

• any notice given to a state or territory body about a child at risk of abuse or neglect
• copies of the evidence and information provided with an application for approval about persons with management or control of a provider and persons responsible for the day‑to‑day operation of a service
• any evidence or information produced to obtain police checks and working with children checks for personnel and to support any statements about these checks in an application for provider or service approval.

Written records include records that are made and stored electronically, as long as they are stored safely and any changes, apart from incidental changes related to their storage and display, are also recorded.

Providers must keep written records of all Required background checks for all specified personnel.

Records must be kept for seven years.

Every day when parents drop their children off for care, you should have each parent sign the attendance record showing that the child attended.

Keeping a register of care

Family Day Care services must keep a register of any Care of own children or siblings excluded from Child Care Subsidyby a Family Day Care educator. The register must be updated within 14 days after the end of each week in which care was provided.

The register must set out:

• the name of the individual who would otherwise be eligible for Child Care Subsidy (for example, the parent or their partner)
• the name of the Family Day Care educator (whether this is the same individual) and their child care personnel identification number (ID)
• the relevant child and their customer registration number (CRN)
• the enrolment ID for the child
• the service ID
• whether the child is still eligible for Family Day Care because the child is an eligible disability or Inclusion Support Program child, or is a remote area

This means only reporting attendance for sessions that the child actually attended. You can report absences, but only if the child would otherwise have been in care and only if the family was charged a fee for that care.

Your service is ultimately responsible, under the family assistance law, for the accuracy of the attendance reports it submits to the CCMS, and it is reasonable for them to contact you if your attendance records need clarification. Accordingly, if you, as an educator, submit attendance reports that are inaccurate, the service may decide not to submit the information to the CCMS until they are satisfied the report is correct. They do not have to submit exactly what you provide to them, indeed it is their responsibility to check and verify attendances before they are submitted for the payment of Commonwealth funds.

Your service is responsible for the accuracy of the attendance reports, particularly in relation to the calculation of CCS and ACCS. You should note however, if you provide false attendance records to your service and gained a financial advantage, this could be a crime and you could be subject to criminal prosecution for fraud.