How to troubleshoot a Family Account inquiry

The Family account profile as well as the Subsidies screen can provide you with the details you need to investigate any account enquiries.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Why has the CCS estimate or payment changed for the family?
• Why does the parent have no CCS for their sessions this week?
• Why is CCS not being paid for a child's absent days?
• Why is the family's CCS payment amount different week to week?
• Why is the CCS payment amount less than what Kangarootime is estimating for the child?

Why has the CCS estimate or payment changed for the family?

Go to Families > Accounts > CCS > CCS Entitlements

Here you can see

To drill down further into their latest CCS entitlement change

Go to Subsidies > CCS Subsidies > Entitlements > Search on their name > Use the X to clear the filter and display their entitlement history

Here you can see

• What their previous entitlement data was - hrs/%
• When their annual cap was reached
• The total change of hours and percentage

Why does the parent have no CCS for their sessions this week?

You can use the two screens in the answer above to find out this information.  

• A child's hours or percentage may have been changed to zero
• They may have reached their Annual CCS cap for the year

You can also confirm this by building and looking at the families Statement for the period.  For a week that has been finalised, look at the Statement of Entitlement section toward the end of the statement. This summarises exactly what was paid/not paid from the government for the family.

The family in the example below, was paid CCS for each day of attendance.  You would see $0.00 if no CCS was paid.

Why is CCS not being paid for a child's absent days?

This sounds like they have reached their maximum allowable absences for the year.  

To confirm, go to Subsidies > CCS Subsidies > Absences > Search on their account name

You will also be able to verify this from:

• Families > Accounts > CCS > CCS Entitlements
• Subsidies > CCS Subsidies > Entitlements > Search on their name > Use the X to clear the filter and display their entitlement history
• Build and View a family statement - The Summary of Attendances shows their Absences (YTD)

Why is the family's CCS payment amount different week to week?

CCS Subsidies are calculated across a fortnight for a family.  Week 1 or Week 2 of the CCS fortnight.  Depending on the family entitlements, the hours they are eligible might not cover the full amount of time a child spends in care.

CCS entitlements are applied from day 1 of the CCS fortnight.  In a lot of cases, that means each day of week 1 attracts subsidy for the child.  Week 2 may run out of CCS eligible hours and therefore, one or more days of the week do not attract any subsidy (exceeding hours).

You will most likely see this in a family where a child attends five days a week.

Check Families > Accounts > CCS > CCS Entitlements to confirm the hours CCS should be covering for the child across the fortnight.

Why is the CCS payment amount less than what Kangarootime is estimating for the child?

If a parent accrues a debt with the government, they can withhold a portion of their CCS entitlements.  This agreement is between a parent and the government, so the CCSS does not send a notification that withholding is occurring.

On the parent statement, you can begin to see a discrepancy in the Summary of Adjustments table.

In this example for week ending 11/7/21, there is a $50.85 amount difference between what was estimated and what was Paid by CCSS.

Scroll down to the end of the statement to the official Fee Decisions for that week.  The fee decision that was made was for $50.83 for the five sessions the child attended that week = $254.15.

If the Fee Decision total (using the example) of $254.15 is higher than what CCS actually paid for the week, which was $203.30 - this indicates the family has a debt with the government.