(1)

An approved child care service is eligible for child care benefit for a session of care provided by the service to a child if:

(a)

at the time the care is provided, the service believes the child is at risk of serious abuse or neglect; or

(b)

the child is in an individual's care immediately before the session is provided and, at the time the care is provided, the service believes the individual is experiencing hardship of a kind specified in a determination in force under subsection 48(1).

Exceptions

(2)

However, the service is not so eligible for child care benefit for the session of care if:

(a)

the session is provided after 13 special-circumstances-rate weeks (see subsection (3)) have passed, whether or not in a continuous period, in the same calendar year as that in which the session is provided; or

(b)

when the session is provided, a determination is in force under Part 3 of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 that an individual is conditionally eligible for child care benefit by instalment to the approved child care service in respect of the child.

Special-circumstances-rate week

(3)

For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a), a special-circumstances-rate week is a week in which the service provided at least one session of care for the child that satisfied the following conditions:

(a)

either:

(i)

the service was eligible for child care benefit under this section; or

(ii)

an individual was eligible for child care benefit by instalment to the service under section 42;

for the session in respect of the child;

(b)

during the session, a certificate was in force under section 71 (which sets the rate of child care benefit in special circumstances) in relation to the child and the service.

Section subject to Subdivision E

(4)

This section is subject to Subdivision E (which deals with limits on eligibility).