Before And After School Care Savings For Local Families

Member for Kiama Gareth Ward MP has today welcomed the NSW Government’s new $155 million program for Before and After School Care (BASC) services to provide greater support and access to BASC services which will benefit local parents and carers.

Mr Ward welcomed the announcement and said that the $500 voucher will assist families who use BASC services by covering the parent gap fee component of their session fees.

“Before and After School Care services are more important than ever as local families return to work across the Kiama electorate and across our region,” he said.

“It has been a challenging couple of years for many local parents of school children. Many have had to juggle supervising their kids’ education at home while working remotely or even foregoing paid work to provide care and support to their children.

“These vouchers for before and after school care will help alleviate some of the financial pressures on our local families across our region and provide greater flexibility and more options for those who are working.

“These vouchers are all about providing affordable access to care for families, particularly after a tough two years that have disrupted access to school and BASC.

“Every family with children at a primary school is eligible for one voucher per child, which will provide each child with approximately 60 sessions of free BASC.

“The NSW Department of Education has partnered with Service NSW to roll out the program, which will be delivered through Service NSW and will follow a similar premise to the current Dine and Discover Vouchers,” Mr Ward said.

“BASC providers will be able to register to redeem the vouchers from 7th February 2022 and parents will be able to apply for and utilise the vouchers from 28th February 2022.

“This is very welcome news for local parents and caregivers as they can apply for, store and redeem their new vouchers via the Service NSW app, similar to Dine & Discover and other vouchers like Active Kids and First Lap.

“Eligible families will receive their vouchers in their app just like the Dine & Discover program with providers able to quickly scan the QR code on the spot or use the unique voucher code to redeem them,” Mr Ward said.

Providers and customers can register and apply online via a MyServiceNSW account, in the app, or by visiting their nearest Service Centre.