3-B-4 Home-based ECE services

Introduction

Licensed home-based care early childhood education (ECE) services provide education and care for up to four children under the age of six in either a caregiver/educator's home, the child’s own home or a home nominated by the child's parent.

This section explains:

• funding rates for home-based ECE services
• the difference between standard and quality funding rates
• how to change the service’s funding rate.

Funding rates

There are two different types of funding rates for home-based ECE services.

Standard rate – this is the funding rate applicable for licensed home-based ECE services. These services must meet the requirements of the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008.

Quality rate – a higher funding rate is available to services that meet requirements additional to those specified in the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008.

For more information on the Regulations see the legislation website.

Funding claim exceptions

Funding must not be claimed for:

• an educator’s own children
• children who are present in the home but not enrolled in the home-based service or
• children enrolled at school.

If an enrolled child is absent from a home-based service and the educator, by contractual agreement, is not paid for absent children, the service provider cannot claim funding for that child for that day.

If, however, the caregiver/educator, by contractual agreement, is paid for absent children, the service provider can claim funding for an absent child and the absence rules will apply.

See Section 6-4 for more information on the absence rules.

For funding purposes, an educator's ‘own’ children includes children living with the educator in the educator's home.

‘Own’ children does not include children who are placed with the educator as part of a Department of Child, Youth and Family (CYF) care arrangement, where the Chief Executive Officer of CYF is their legal guardian, and where CYF have referred the children and/or educator to a home-based service provider.¹

Family members as educators

A home-based education and care service can claim funding for a child where the educator is a member of that child's family and is living with the child in the child's home only if:

1. the educator is part of a licensed home-based service
2. the home is available for use by children who are not part of the educator's family
3. at least one child who is not a member of the educator's family attends the home.

A home-based service can only claim funding for the hours when the child who is not a family member attends the home.

For example: If a child who is not a family member attends the home for education and care for 15 hours per week, then the home-based service may claim 15 hours per week for each child who is a part of the educator's family. Other children who are not part of the educator's family may attend at different times in order to claim up to a maximum of 30 hours per week per child providing that the maximum number of children in home is not exceeded.

Note: In exceptional circumstances, in isolated communities, (3) may be waived by the Ministry local office.

Home-based education and care declaration

Services are required to have a signed declaration for each child to indicate whether the educator who will be providing education and care for the child is a member of that child's family.

This declaration is part of the enrolment agreement example and can be found in Appendix 2.

Coordinator requirements: all services

Each home-based care network must have its own named coordinator or coordinators.

All coordinators must be ECE qualified registered teachers.

Quality rate requirements up to 1 July 2011

To be eligible for quality funding rates, home-based ECE services must meet the requirements of one of the following options:

Quality rate requirements from 1 July 2011

To be eligible for quality funding rates, home-based ECE services must meet the requirements of one of the following options:

Note: The Ministry will only accept the new qualifications (listed in the table above) for home-based ECE quality funding if these are listed on the New Zealand Register of Quality Assured Qualifications.

A full or part ECE qualification gained prior to 1 July 2011 will continue to be recognised for quality funding purposes until the end of the educator's contractual agreement with the home-based service.

Quality rate requirements: coordinators

Coordinators of home-based care networks receiving quality rate funding:

• must be locally based (i.e. available, in person, within normal commuter distances and times for that location) and
• must be on duty for the times specified in the table below, including over the lunch period.

Coordinators must not provide cover for more than one service at a time.

For funding purposes, "on duty" means that coordinators are:

• mainly focused on and involved in supervising quality environments for educators and children in their service
• able to instantly respond to educators and parents in their service ‘person-to-person’ (i.e. in person or by phone).

‘On duty’ does not include times when the coordinator cannot respond instantly to educators and parents in person or by phone.

Relief coordinators

When a coordinator of a service funded at the quality rate is unable to be on duty, another coordinator must be on duty during their absence.

The relief coordinator must also meet the coordinator requirements.

Coordinator absences

The Ministry will fund up to five discretionary situations at the quality funding rate, per funding period, when a coordinator is not available if:

• the service size specified by the networks’ quality rate option was not exceeded and
• the record keeping requirements described in this section are kept.

The standard funding rates will apply from the date of the sixth absence.

Services may apply to return to quality level funding at any time using the EC11 Form.

Educator absences

When an educator is not available (for example, due to illness), funding can not be claimed if no care is provided. If there is a replacement educator funding can be claimed only for the educator who provided alternative care. Funding can not be claimed:

• for the educator who was not available
• if the parent/guardian chooses not to place their child in the care of the alternative caregiver/educator.

When to change funding rates

Use the following table to find out when and how to change a home-based ECE service's funding rate:

Note: Funding rate changes are effective from the date the EC11 Form, with evidence of the educator's qualification attached, is received by the Ministry.

Christmas coverage: options for all services

There are three service delivery options for home-based ECE services during the Christmas period.

The options are identified in the table below.

Record keeping

All home-based ECE services must keep records for audit purposes and in a place where they can be easily accessed by the coordinator.

The relevant records must be provided at the site of the audit when an audit is taking place.

Services not able to supply records to the Ministry’s Resourcing Auditors in support of funding at the quality rate will be returned to the standard funding rate.

For information regarding what records your service needs to keep see Chapter 11 of this Handbook.

More record keeping information

Below is a list of links to further information about record keeping and financial reporting requirements:

• Information on 20 Hours ECE
• Record keeping requirements for 20 Hours ECE
• An overview of the record keeping requirements for all services
• Information on funding claim audits and record keeping audits
• Information or instructions for financial reporting

¹ For audit purposes service providers must retain a copy of the referral letter from CYF to show that the care arrangement has been approved and that funding can be claimed.