FAQ: Kindy For All (QLD Kindergarten 2023) Funding Automation

This article will run through any Frequently Asked Questions in regards to the Kindy For All Queensland Kindergarten 2023 Funding Automations in Kangarootime. 

Q: Which Queensland Kindergarten Funding Subsidies are automated in Kangarootime?
A: You can choose to automate the distribution for Affordability subsidy only, Base subsidy only or both types of funding.

Q: How did you develop your Kindergarten Automation formula?
A: We have worked closely with the Queensland government to capture the intent of how the funding has been designed to be distributed.
For more information, visit: Funding Essentials for Long day care providers
Affordability Subsidy
The amount is adjusted up or down depending on how many weeks your program operates for. For example, if your program operates for 40 weeks then the rate paid per week is 1/40th of the annual rate.
Base Subsidy
The amount is adjusted up or down depending on how many weeks your program operates for and then pro-rated by the given funding percentage configured at the program level or child level. For example, if your program operates for 40 weeks and you allocate 50% to children then the rate paid per week is half of 1/40th the annual rate.
Gap
Kangarootime will calculate the gap for the Kindy program for the child each week. This differs from the gap for child care. The Kindy program gap is determined by using the program’s hours for each day.
For example, if a child has a 10-hour session for $100, and a Kindy program operates for 5 hours, the fee for Kindy is considered to be $50.
Similarly, if the child receives $60 of CCS that day, the gap for Kindy is considered to be $20 - the $50 fee for Kindy and $30 of CCS.
Rounding
If fractional cents are present due to distributing the subsidy across 40 weeks, or by pro-rating it with the given percentage, Kangarootime will round the fractional cents up or down depending on whether it’s an odd or even week.

Q: Do I have to go to every child's Agency program on their account to set up their automated Base subsidy payments?
A: No. By setting up the automation within the Centre program, by default it will automatically distribute base subsidy to all eligible children linked to that program.

Q: Can I change the percentage of a subsidy a child receives for a period of time?
A: Yes. You have the ability to go to a child’s individual Agency program and modify the date and percentage of funding they will receive via the automation. For this child, this will override the centre default settings.

Q: When does automation run?
A: At 11pm daily a query is run to make sure that if there are any changes to attendances, whether these have affected whether a child is eligible for payment that week or not - this will adjust payments on their account.
This means if you make a change to the program or child’s automation schedule it is not reflected immediately.
The automation considers weeks prior to the current week to be ready for automated funding. The automation will not estimate subsidies in advance.

Q: When are Kindy payments created and applied to the eligible accounts?
A: Weekly payments are applied on a Sunday for the previous week. This is to ensure that the payments have the most accurate attendance information to distribute on.

Q: Why are base automations not applied to a child who attends the Kindergarten Program?
A: This could be for a number of reasons, such as the child did not attend 15+ hours of Kindergarten for the specific week, the class was closed on days throughout the week meaning the child is not eligible for the specific week, the child has received an Affordability payment that covers the gap fee on the Kindy hours attended for the specific week/s. We suggest that you:

• check that the child was eligible for this week (attended 15 hours of more of the program for the week in question),
• check that the program is open and running this week,
• check that the child has not received an Affordability payment that has covered the child's Kindy hours for the week.