Flexible Support Funding
Flexible Support Funding (FSF) is time limited support available to eligible child care services that need additional assistance to include a child with ongoing high support needs, such as:
- a child with a diagnosed disability
- a child undergoing continuing assessment for a disability
- a humanitarian refugee child who demonstrates behaviours symptomatic of having experienced torture or trauma.
This Flexible Support Funding (FSF) is provided to eligible child care services to build their capacity to include a child with high ongoing support needs. The funding is used to engage an additional worker to increase the staff to child ratio above licensing requirements for a time limited period. A Service Support Plan (SSP) will assess the need for FSF and the amount of FSF required.
Flexible support funding may be appropriately used to:
- assist a service to include a child with high ongoing support needs in circumstances where it is unclear whether ISS is required on an ongoing basis;
- allow some release time for permanent staff to settle a child with high ongoing support needs into the child care environment, eg a refugee child, a child who is transferring to a new care environment, or a child who is transferring to a new type of care service (for example, from long day care to outside school hours care);
- provide permanent staff with an additional worker so that a child with high ongoing support needs who attends on an irregular basis can participate in out of home excursions or other special activities, e.g. playgroups or vacation care excursions;
- assist a service include a child with high ongoing support needs in circumstances where care may be irregular and an application for ISS may not be appropriate e.g. in occasional care, Multifunctional Aboriginal Children's Services (MACS), flexible/innovative services or mobile services;
- assist in circumstances where ISS has already been approved but an emergency situation has resulted in the child requiring additional hours of care for a time-limited period;
- A combined FSF limit of 15 hours per service, per year, can be used for specialist training and/or the preparation of SSPs. Services should apply for funding for these activities as required, not as a lump sum.
Please note: For Family Day Care (FDC) and In Home Care (IHC), FSF can only be used to employ an additional worker to enable a child with high ongoing support needs to participate in out of home excursions. FSF cannot be used to employ an additional worker within the FDC/IHC care environment.
Inclusion Support Agencies are responsible for administering FSF in their respective region.
Note: For more information, please see Item 1.8.: Flexible Support Funding, page 20 onward, in the IPSP Handbook.
