Child care providers must submit accurate session reports on time – it’s the law. Services Australia uses session reports to calculate and process Child Care Subsidy (CCS) payments.
On this page:
What is a session of care?
A session of care is the period for which you charge a family a fee for providing care to their child.
CCS is not payable for the following types of care:
- Care that is transport only. This does not include transport that is incidental to a session of care, like taking children on an outing.
- Care provided in a child’s own home. This excludes In Home Care.
- Care provided at a Family Day Care service while the child’s parent or carer is present. Parents and carers may be present at other care types.
- Care provided by an educator who does not hold, or has not provided the department with, mandatory background checks.
- Care that occurs while a child attends school, including home schooling or distance education. For example, sessions of Outside School Hours Care must not overlap with a child’s school hours.
A session of care can only occur, and be reported, while your service is open, except on a public holiday by law or during a period of emergency.
A session of care cannot exceed 12 hours. Where care exceeds 12 hours, you must submit this as 2 or more sessions of care.
Read the rules for Family Day Care and In Home Care educators who provide sessions of care to relatives.
What is a weekly session report?
You must tell us about the sessions of care that take place at your service. You do this by submitting weekly session reports.
You must submit session reports for all children enrolled at your service, even if a child is not eligible for CCS.
When to submit session reports
You must submit session reports within 14 days after the end of the week in which the session of care was provided.
There are exceptions in very limited circumstances, including if your service was not CCS-approved on the day a child’s enrolment started. In this scenario you must submit session reports within 7 days after the end of the week in which approval was provided.
Why do I need to submit complete and accurate reports on time?
Services Australia uses session reports to calculate and process CCS payments.
Providers have a legal responsibility to ensure all session reports are complete, accurate and submitted on time.
If session reports aren’t accurate or submitted on time, families won’t get the right amount of CCS. This may result in families paying too much for care or getting a CCS debt.
What happens if I don’t submit accurate session reports on time?
If you don’t submit accurate session reports on time, you may be breaking the law.
We may take compliance action if you fail to meet your obligations, including:
- putting conditions on your approval
- issuing an infringement notice
- directing you to amend the report
- suspending or cancelling your approval.
How to submit session reports
You must submit session reports in the Child Care Subsidy System (CCSS). Access the CCSS via the Provider Entry Point (PEP) or your third-party software.
See how to view, add and update session reports in the PEP. For help using third-party software, contact your software provider.
What to include in session reports
You must submit a session report for each child at your service, for each week a session of care is provided.
If a child has more than one enrolment, such as a child whose parents are separated, you must submit a weekly session report for each enrolment.
Session reports must include the following information:
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Dates | The start and end date for the week the session report covers. The date of each session of care. |
| Times | The start and end times for each session of care. The actual in and out attendance times for each session of care, excluding absences. Watch a video on reporting actual attendance times. |
| Absences | Notification of any allowable absences. Notification of any additional absences and the reason. These can only be used where a child has used all their allowable absences for the financial year. |
| Fee information | You must report the actual fee a family is charged, after discounts are applied. You can choose to charge families for sessions of care that run for a set period of time, or at an hourly rate. The maximum session length is 12 hours. You must include details about discounts or subsidies that reduce a family's fees. For example, contributions from an employer. You must include details of the contributor and amount. This is because families are only entitled to CCS in relation to the amount you actually charge them. There are some circumstances where you may not need to deduct the discount from the total fee reported:
In the above circumstances, the discount will not impact on CCS. |
| Educator details | The child care personnel ID for any Family Day Care or In Home Care educators that provided the sessions. This information is not required for sessions of care that occur at Centre Based Day Care and Outside School Hours Care. |
| Preschool information | Whether the session was part of an early education program, such as preschool or kindergarten. |
How to update session reports
If you make a mistake, you must update the session report.
You can update or withdraw session reports up to 28 days after the start of the week for which the report relates.
You should only withdraw a session report if you do not intend to resubmit. For example, if you’ve submitted a session report for a child by mistake where no sessions of care occurred.
Failure to update incorrect session reports within 28 days may result in compliance action.
If you need to update or withdraw a session report after 28 days, you’ll need to select one of the following reasons:
| Reason | Use when |
|---|---|
| Administrative error | there was a mistake in the original session report, such as:
|
| General amendment | changes are being made before Sunday night of the session report week, before the report has been processed and CCS has been paid. |
| Responding to carer’s dispute | a parent has disputed a session report. |
| Responding to 204C | only use where a compliance notice has been issued requiring you to make a change to a session report. |
If you need to submit, update or withdraw a session report from a previous financial year, you must apply to the department.
Learn more about session reports from a previous financial year.
Outside School Hours Care
Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) providers cannot claim CCS for a session of care where, during any part the session, the child is:
- attending school
- engaged in a formal schooling program.
Complying written arrangements for before and after school care must not overlap with school hours.
In Home Care specific requirements
Additional requirements apply for In Home Care session reports. This is because CCS applies uniquely to In Home Care as payments are made per family, rather than per child.
Learn more about In Home Care session reports.
More information
If you need more information about session reports, please contact the CCS Provider Helpdesk on 1300 667 276 or email ccshelpdesk@education.gov.au
Online learning
Complete the Reporting sessions of care course in Geccko to learn more.
Learn more about Geccko.