Start Strong (NSW Kindergarten) Funding Automation

This article outlines the Start Strong NSW Kindergarten Funding Automation that is available to use to automatically distribute both 3 year old fee relief and 4 year old plus fee relief funding payments to children. Weekly payments are created and applied on a Sunday for the week in arrears to use the most accurate attendance data available. Weekly payments will not exceed the gap for children. Any Surplus fund amounts need to be manually managed by the centre at their discretion. Please see FAQ: Start Strong (NSW Kindergarten) Funding Automation for any frequently asked questions you may have.

Table of Contents

1. Set up Automated Fee Relief funding subsidies for your program
2. Exclude specific children from receiving Automatic Fee Relief Funding
3. Formula Specifications for Automations

Set up Automated Fee Relief funding subsidies for your program:

1. Select Centres > Programs in the Menu.
2. Select the three dots (... ) in the actions column of your selected Program and Edit.
3. Scroll down to the section named Automated Funding.
4. Enter the start date that you want the automation to begin from. (The system will not create payments for dates before this start date.)
5. Enter the amount of weeks that your Kindergarten Programs runs for across the year.
6. If you want Fee Relief payments to automatically apply to the eligible children, tick the box labelled Fee Relief Funding, then Save. 

Exclude specific children from receiving Automatic Fee Relief Funding:

1. Navigate to the Account for the specific child.
2. Select the Agency tab.
3. Select the three dots (... ) in the actions column of the child's Program and Edit.
4. Drop down on the Child Information section, and scroll down to the Customise Automated Funding section.
5. Enter the start date that you want the exclusion of Fee Relief funding to apply to the child from.
6. Tick the Fee Relief funding checkbox, then Save. 

Formula Specifications for Automations:

Fee Relief
Max. Start Strong payment ÷ number of program weeks = Fee Relief payment amount weekly

For more information on the Fee Relief funding, visit: 2023 Start Strong for Long Day Care program guidelines for 2023, or 2024 Start Strong for Long Day Care program guidelines for 2024.