We are writing to remind you of the attendance rules for the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), and in particular the flexibility under the Scheme to support families when there are occasional changes to a child’s attendance pattern.

We recognise that there will be occasions where a child’s attendance is less than their registered hours. This could be due to illness, appointments, short-term holidays, early collections and late drop offs. This will not affect the claim.

However, if a child has consistently not attended their registered hours for 8 consecutive weeks, then this must be reported via your weekly return. A notification will be sent to both you and the applicant to advise that if the under-attendance continues for a further 4 weeks, the claimed hours will be reduced. Please take this opportunity to review the agreed hours with the applicant and makes changes if necessary.

If a child has been absent for 4 consecutive weeks, this must be reported via your weekly return.

For more information on absenteeism and under-attendance please click here.

Exemptions

Please be reminded that there are exemptions available for certain circumstances in relation to both absenteeism and under-attendance, for more information on the exemption options available and the criteria required, please click here.

Attendance and paid closures

For claim weeks that include a bank holiday or a subsidised closure, there is no additional action required by you, the service provider, provided the closure is correctly entered onto your NCS service calendar.