The Department for Education, Children and Young People, Education and Care Unit (ECU) Grants Program provides recurrent grant funding to occasional child care services located in Tasmania. These services are regulated under the Child Care Act 2001 and generally cater for children aged 0-12 years. These services aim to meet a variety of needs in the community, including:
- Assisting children aged 3-5 years to transition from home to school;
- Providing intermittent care for school age children during school holiday periods;
- Ensuring the availability of affordable child care in remote and/or isolated communities where no other child care is available.
The funding is to contribute towards the operational costs of running an occasional child care program. Typical expenses include staff salaries, insurance, rent, utilities and materials/resources. It is not intended to contribute towards equipment and capital items, e.g. painting, renovations.
Because this funding is intended as a contribution only, it is not expected that it will cover the entire cost of operating an occasional child care service. Grant recipients are expected to raise income through fees and/or other fundraising activities to support service viability.