Aussie Childcare Network Forum

When an educator in childcare centre needs assistance or has complaint about her payment being not received, she/he can contact fair trading. When an educator registered with a family day care service has dispute over the payment, it is very hard to solve this problem. I know an educator who did not get paid for a period of 2 weeks even though her payment from centerlink was sent to the service. the educator tried to inform the centerlink, fair trading and embodiment they all claimed that they cant do anything in this regards. The educator (my friend) is now left with no choice. what can she do? who can she contact to get her money? any idea please? the educator has a prove from centerlink that parents received rebate, which means payment has been sent to the service.

Hi,

Was it the scheme or the family that didn't pay the educator?

The scheme

Unfortunately the scheme is a law unto themselves and after 20 years in FDC I don't know of anyone else you can go to.
There must be a reason why they haven't paid....is it a new family?
Is she sure they are linked up to centrelink...... do they get CCB or only CCR..... if they only get CCR does it go to the scheme or to the family?
If it goes to the family then the family is up for 100% of the fees to the educator.
IS the scheme disputing the educators timesheets and attendance sheets?......there are huge crack downs lately and the buck stops with the scheme so if there is a dispute they might withhold money till it is sorted..... but in that case the educator should know the reason why.
If everything is ligit and the educator can prove it then the only thing I can think of is to take the scheme to small claims and recover the money that way.
I do know that sometimes the scheme makes mistakes with the pays..... it happens a lot but as soon as I notice it i email the scheme and they fix the problem on the next pay advice... so even though its their mistake we have to wait another fortnight for it to be paid, it's just the way it is done with centrelink.

everything you said dear is right. but this educator is legit i can assure that, the parent is eligible for BCC and she provided a prove from centerlink that payment has been submitted to the service and the rebate has been paid to parent. it is very upsetting my friend is very upset she left the service and she is looking for a way she can get her money back. the thing is she has been asking for her money for about 4 months now and reply from service is "the money is pending we don't know why".

If i were her i would take it to the small claims tribunal to recover the money.
Let the scheme know if you dont have the money within 2 weeks she will be taking it to the small claims, usually people end up paying once they know you mean business and i don't think it costs much taking it there.

All the best
Linsaa fdc