You may be eligible for assistance with childcare if you are not able to care for your child or children because of your injury.
What help can I get?
You may be eligible for assistance with childcare including taking them to and from school.
Example:
You are a single parent and have lost much of your mobility due to an injury. You live in a multi-level home and can no longer get up and down the stairs to adequately supervise your child before and after school.
Childcare can be provided in either:
- a home environment, or
- an accredited child care facility, such as a Playcentre or kindergarten.
Assistance with childcare payments may also be available for the dependants of a person who dies as a result of an injury. See Childcare payments following accidental death.
What do I need to do to get help?
- Talk to ACC about what kind of help we may be able to provide. See Contact ACC Claims for our contact information.
- Complete the ACC001 Request for assistance form, listing details of childcare that you require.
Note:
- You can also make a verbal application for assistance, but you need to make sure you ask for specific help, such as having someone to come to your home to care for your children after school.
- You can authorise other people, eg a family member or your doctor, to make applications for assistance on your behalf.
How am I eligible?
You may be eligible for childcare assistance if:
- your claim for injury has been accepted for cover by ACC
- it is likely that there would be substantial disruption to employment and other activities of your household or family to provide the childcare that you normally would, and
- the child (or children) in your care is:
- aged under 14, or under 18 if he or she needs care because of a physical or mental condition, and
- one or more of the following:
- your natural child
- your adopted child
- your partner or spouse’s child, for whom you act as a parent
- a child who ordinarily lives with you, is raised as your child and for whom you act as a parent. This can include a foster child, if he or she fits this description.
The length of time childcare assistance can be provided to you will depend on your injury and recovery. ACC will discuss your progress with you during your recovery and we may reassess your needs from time to time.
Important:
The help you will get depends on your individual circumstances. Please contact us to confirm if you are eligible, or to identify other ways in which we can help. See Contact ACC Claims for our contact information.
If you are unhappy with the decision, you can ask for it to be reviewed. See What if I have problems with a claim?
How long might ACC take to determine if I am eligible?
ACC regards 21 days as a reasonable timeframe for the majority of decisions about what assistance you may be entitled to.
Please contact us if you have not heard from us within a reasonable period of time. See Contact ACC Claims for our contact information.
What happens next?
ACC will advise you whether your application is accepted. If your needs are straightforward, we can approve the childcare help you need without having to do a detailed assessment.
Once ACC has approved your application you’ll need to choose who you want to provide your childcare. You can choose from the following three options:
- a childcare agency that has a contract with ACC (we’ll give you a list of contracted providers)
- a non-contracted agency
- a private caregiver (someone you know, such as a family member).
If you choose to use an agency:
- ACC pays agencies direct on receipt of their bill, up to an approved amount
- the agency is responsible for meeting all the legal and tax obligations of an employer
- we strongly recommend you use an ACC-contracted childcare agency in preference to a non-contracted agency, because we check that they provide high quality, professional care.
If you choose to use a private caregiver:
- you and your caregiver both need to be aware that you may have income tax, GST and other legal obligations
- we strongly recommend that you and your caregiver get advice from an accountant or tax advisor – they can tell you about the implications of entering into a formal employment relationship (ie you are the employer and the employer is the employee) versus being self-employed
- you will also need to decide whether you want ACC to pay your caregiver directly or pay you directly, so that your can pay your caregiver.
Related legislation
Accident Compensation (AC) Act 2001
- Sections 81-84: Social Rehabilitation (external website)
- Schedule 1, Clause 15: Child care (external website)
Published: 1 April 2010