Child Care Benefit (Rates and Hardship) Determination 2000
I, 	JOCELYN MARGARET NEWMAN, Minister for Family and Community Services, make this Determination under subsection 82(3) of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999. 
Dated	30th May	2000.

Jocelyn Newman
Minister for Family and Community Services

Child Care Benefit (Rates and Hardship) Determination 2000
made under the
A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999
Contents
	Page
Part 1	Preliminary
	1	Citation	4
	2	Commencement	4
	3	Interpretation	4

Part 2	Kinds of hardship

	4	Kinds of hardship	5

Part 3	Limit on making determinations

	5	Interpretation of this Part	7
	6	52 week limit on determinations	7
	7	Limit in income support cases	8
	8	Further limit relating to Secretary's hardship determinations	8

Part 4	Rules relating to the giving of certificates under section 76 of the Act
	9	Rules relating to the giving of certificates by an approved child care service	10

Part 1	Preliminary
1	Citation
		This Determination may be cited as the Child Care Benefit (Rates and Hardship) Determination 2000.
2	Commencement
	This Determination commences on 1 July 2000, immediately after the commencement of Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the A New Tax System (Family Assistance and Related Measures) Act 2000.
3	Interpretation
(1)	In this Determination:
the Act means the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999;
income support payment means any payment referred to in subparagraph (a)(ii) of clause 7 of Schedule 2 to the Act.
(2)	Unless the contrary intention appears, expressions used in this instrument shall have the same meanings as in the primary legislation, and for this purpose “the primary legislation” means the Act and the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999.

Part 2	Hardship
4	Kinds of hardship
(1)	When a person experiences an event which substantially reduces his or her ability to pay child care fees, this is a specified kind of hardship for the purposes of subparagraph 76(1)(b)(ii) and paragraph 81(2)(c) of the Act.
(2)	The event referred to in subsection (1) may include, but is not limited to:
(a)	loss of employment or the failure of a business;
(b)	destruction of, or severe damage to, a person’s home, necessitating relocation of the family or the need to place a child in care or to increase child care;
(c)	significant additional expenditure or a significant reduction in income arising from an event such as a death or serious illness in the family.
(3)	Subject to subsection 4(4), when a person has ceased to receive an income support payment and as a consequence:
(a)	the person incurs significant additional expenditure associated with commencing new employment; or
(b)	the person experiences a significant reduction in income,
	this is a specified kind of hardship for the purposes of subparagraph 76(1)(b)(ii) and paragraph 81(2)(c) of the Act.	
(4)	Subsection 4(3) does not apply in a case where a person has ceased to receive an income support payment because of the application of an assets test.
(5)	For the avoidance of doubt, for the purposes of subparagraph 76(1)(b)(ii) and paragraph 81(2)(c) of the Act, kinds of hardship do not include hardship arising from:
(a)	foreseeable expenditure such as routine home repairs or maintenance;
(b)	non-essential expenditure such as home improvements;
(c)	ongoing low income;
(d)	an increase in fees charged by an approved child care service.

Part 3	Limit on making determinations

5	Interpretation of this Part

In this Part:
	hardship event means the event which gave rise to a hardship determination in respect of a person;
	hardship determination means:
(a)	the giving of a certificate by an approved child care service under subsection 76(1) of the Act for a reason set out in subparagraph 76(1)(b)(ii), or
(b)	a determination by the Secretary under subsection 81(2) of the Act;
	period of hardship determination means:
(a)	any period specified in a certificate by an approved child care service under subsection 76(1) of the Act for a reason set out in subparagraph 76(1)(b)(ii); and
(b)	any period specified in a determination by the Secretary under subsection 81(2) of the Act.
6	52 week limit on determinations

The total period of hardship determination in respect of one hardship event may not exceed 52 weeks.

7	Limit in income support cases

(1)	Where a hardship determination is made in respect of a person who is experiencing the kind of hardship specified in subsection 4(3) of this determination (person who has ceased to receive income support), the initial determination must be made for a period of 3 weeks commencing on:
(a)	if the day that income support payments ceased to be payable was a Monday, that day; or
(b)	if paragraph (a) does not apply, the first Monday following the day on which income support payments ceased to be payable.
(2)	Subject to subsection (3), when the period referred to in subsection (1) has expired, further hardship determinations in respect of the same hardship event may be made, provided that each determination is for one week, until:
(a)	in a case where the hardship determination is a certificate given by an approved child care service under subsection 76(1) of the Act, the service receives from the Secretary a notice under section 50M of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 setting out the CCB% applicable to the person; or
(b)	in a case where the hardship determination is a determination by the Secretary under subsection 81(2) of the Act, the Secretary sends to the approved child care service providing care to the child a notice under section 50M of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 setting out the CCB% applicable to the person.
(3)	The total period of hardship determination under this section may not exceed 6 weeks.

8	Further limit relating to Secretary’s hardship determinations

(1)	In considering the period to be specified in a hardship determination under subsection 81(2) of the Act, the Secretary must consider how long the person in respect of whom the determination is made reasonably needs to recover from or adjust to the hardship event.
(2)	For the purposes of subsection (1):
(a)	recovery from or adjustment to a hardship event means adaptation to the person’s new circumstances, and does not mean a return to the circumstances that existed before the hardship event occurred; and
(b)	the Secretary must consider all the person’s circumstances, including his or her ability to reduce other items of household expenditure in order to pay child care fees, and whether the general expenditure of the person is reasonable having regard to the level of housing and other costs in the area in which the person lives.
(3)	The total period of hardship determination in respect of a hardship event must not exceed the period that the Secretary considers necessary under subsection (1).
(4)	This section is subject to section 6 (52 week limit on determinations).
(5)	This section does not apply in a case to which section 7 applies (limit in income support cases).

Part 4	Further rules relating to the giving of certificates under section 76 of the Act
9	Rules relating to the giving of certificates by an approved child care service

	When an approved child care service gives a certificate under section 76 of the Act (child care benefit rate certified by an approved child care service), the certificate must contain a description of the circumstances that led to the giving of the certificate, including:
(a)	where the certificate is given under subsection 76(1) of the Act for a reason set out in subparagraph 76(1)(b)(i), or is given under subsection 76(2) of the Act (child at risk of serious abuse or neglect), the reasons that the service considers that the child is at risk; and 
(b)	where the certificate is given under subsection 76(1) of the Act for a reason set out in subparagraph 76(1)(b)(ii) (person experiencing hardship), the details of the hardship that the person is experiencing.