Articles in this news item:
- New funding claim audit requirements for service providers with multiple licences
- Playgroup Special Grants (PG4 forms)
- Early Childhood Education Funding Circular Information
New funding claim audit requirements for service providers with multiple licences
If your early childhood education service has multiple licences, you must correct any funding breaches identified during an audit, across all linked services. You must also put processes in place to ensure that these audit breaches do not continue.
We will communicate with you about the breaches identified. You will then need to write to us confirming that changes have been made.
We will then schedule a revisit to ensure that the funding requirements are being met by all your linked services.
Playgroup Special Grants (PG4 forms)
Please return all PG4 forms to regional offices by 27 February 2015 so we can make payments in May.
The Special Grant is a discretionary grant to assist certificated playgroups in meeting one-off costs.
For this round, playgroups critical to increasing participation in a Ministry target community can now apply to use this funding to reimburse co-ordinator expenses.
For queries and application forms, contact your regional Ministry of Education ECE playgroup advisor.
Early Childhood Education Funding Circular Information
We will send out the next early childhood education (ECE) Funding Circular, with advice notices, on the first working day in March. Please read the Circular in conjunction with the Early Childhood Funding Handbook and your ECE service’s advice notice, and file them both for future reference.
In future this funding information will be shared only through He Pānui Kōhungahunga - the Early Learning Bulletin. We will tell you more about this in the near future.
Early Childhood Education Funding: March 2015 Payment
Correctly completed RS7 Forms and electronic RS7 Returns submitted by Monday, 9 February 2015 will be paid overnight on Monday, 2 March 2015.
RS7 data was used to calculate entitlements for the following months:
| ECE funding wash-up for: | ECE funding advance for: |
|---|---|
| October 2014 | March 2015 |
| November 2014 | April 2015 |
| December 2014 | May 2015 |
| January 2015 | June 2015 |
Advance payments for February 2015 were paid in November 2014. The wash-up payment for February 2015 will be paid in July 2015.
Confirmation of Bulk Funding Payment
Payments are based on the information provided on the RS7 Form or electronic RS7 Return. Funding notices outlining payment calculations used are posted to ECE services on the payment date.
The Ministry does not provide payment confirmation to ECE services or service providers, their banks, or other financial institutions prior to the payment date.
Late Claims
Correctly completed claims received after Monday, 9 February 2015 but before Friday, 6 March 2015 will receive funding overnight on Friday, 20 March 2015.
Submitting Amended RS7s
ECE services with errors on their RS7 Forms can submit amended forms to the Ministry. All resubmissions must be accompanied by a completed signed and dated declaration.
If you submitted an electronic RS7 Return for March 2015, you may resubmit this period electronically via ELI, up until 30 April 2015.
Resubmissions are available to correct genuine errors or oversights that come to light at a later date. They should not be considered a normal part of the process. ECE services are expected to do all they can to ensure the accuracy of all data submitted.
Note: Resubmissions with incomplete declarations will not be processed.
Other ECE Funding Information
The Funding Handbook, available on www.lead.ece.govt.nz, contains the information needed to help complete funding forms (see Chapter 9 in particular). Clarification of some points is provided as follows:
Frequent Absence Rule and Recording Enrolment, Attendance and Absence for Funding Purposes
ECE services are reminded to refer to funding information on www.lead.ece.govt.nz, for information on claiming funding due to absences.
In the event of a funding claim audit, funding claimed incorrectly will be recovered by the Ministry.
Annual review of Equity Index (EQI)
Licensed services may apply to have their EQI reviewed in October each year.
Applications received for 2014 have been processed and successful applications will receive their new equity funding payment in the March 2015 bulk funding payment. Funding is effective from 1st October 2014.
ECE services wanting to apply for a review can next do so in October 2015. The forms will be available on the ECE Lead website.
New services and the Equity Index (EQI)
New ECE services which opened between 1 July 2014 and 31 December 2014 will receive a new service application email in March 2015.
Applications received from new ECE services which opened between 1 January 2014 and 30 June 2014 have been processed and successful applications will receive their new rate of Equity Funding in the March 2015 ECE funding payment. Funding will be back-dated to the date the ECE service opened.