4402.0 - Child Care, Australia, Jun 2005 Second Reissue  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/11/2008   
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GLOSSARY

(Additional) formal care

Additional formal care required in the last four weeks for children already using formal care, and formal care required in the last four weeks for children who did not currently use any.

Approved care

Child care provided by a service provider that participates satisfactorily in the Australian Government funded quality assurance system and has been approved to receive Child Care Benefit payments on behalf of eligible families. Most long day care, family day care, before and/or after school care, vacation care, and some occasional care providers are approved child care providers .

Area of usual residence

State capital cities comprises the Statistical Divisions of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart. Note that Darwin and Canberra are excluded from this category.

Balance of Australia comprises all areas outside the capital cities mentioned above, plus Canberra and Darwin.

Before and/or after school care

A type of formal care provided for school aged children before and/or after school during the school term. Some services also provide care on 'pupil free days'. The services usually make use of established facilities such as schools, community halls, and recreation centres.

Brother/sister care

Informal care by the child's brothers or sisters, including step brothers or sisters.

Child care arrangements

Relates to those types of care described as formal and informal.

Child Care Benefit (CCB)

Assistance in the form of a payment made by the Australian Government to help with the costs of child care for families who use either approved or registered child care. The CCB was introduced on 1 July 2000, when it replaced the Child Care Cash Rebate and Childcare Assistance.

Child Care Tax Rebate

A new tax offset, passed by Parliament in December 2005. In general terms, as a result of the Child Care Tax Rebate, families with a tax liability will be eligible for 30 per cent of out-of-pocket expenses incurred for approved child care, up to a maximum of $4,000 per child per year. The Child Care Tax Rebate applies to out-of-pocket expenses for approved child care incurred since 1 July 2004 and can be claimed in relation to the period 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2005 for the first time in 2005-06 income tax returns. The Child Care Tax Rebate is available for families who receive Child Care Benefit (CCB) and meet the CCB work, study and training test.

Children

Children aged 0-12 years in scope for the survey.

Cost of care

Cost, net of Child Care Benefit, to parents for a child to attend care. In most cases, where the Child Care Benefit was paid directly to the child care service provider, the cost of care was directly collected in the survey. In a small number of cases, where the Child Care Benefit was not paid direct to the provider, the Child Care Benefit was estimated and subtracted from the reported cost of care. Information on the Child Care Tax Rebate was not included as part of the survey as it had not been made available for families to claim at that time.

See the Explanatory Notes for more information about the Child Care Benefit, the Child Care Tax Rebate, and how cost of care data were calculated.

Family

Two or more persons, one of whom is at least 15 years of age, who are related by blood, marriage (registered or de facto), adoption, step or fostering; and who are usually resident in the same household. The basis of a family is formed by identifying the presence of a couple relationship, lone parent-child relationship or other blood relationship. Some households will, therefore, contain more than one family.

Family day care

A type of formal care provided by experienced caregivers in their own homes, available for a full day or part day. Schemes are administered and supported by central coordination units.

Family type

Refers to one parent or couple families.

Father

The natural, adopted or step father of the child, or the male legal guardian of the child, or the spouse or de facto partner of the mother. The father must be resident in the same household as the child.

Formal care

Regulated care away from the child's home. The main types of formal care are before and/or after school care, long day care, family day care and occasional care.

Full-time/part-time workers

Full-time workers are employed persons who usually work 35 hours or more a week and others who, although they usually work less than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week.

Part-time workers are employed persons who usually work less than 35 hours a week and who did so during the reference week.

Grandparent care

Informal care provided by the child's grandmother or grandfather.

Hours of care

Number of hours a child attended child care in the reference week.

Hours worked

Number of hours actually worked by the child's parent(s) in the reference week.

Informal care

Non-regulated care, arranged by a child's parent/guardian, either in the child's home or elsewhere. It comprises care by (step) brothers or sisters, care by grandparents, care by other relatives (including a parent living elsewhere) and care by other (unrelated) people such as friends, neighbours, nannies or babysitters. It may be paid or unpaid.

Long day care centre

A type of formal care that is centre-based and is available to children between birth and school age for the full day or part day. Centres are usually open for most of the year.

Mean

The mean of a numeric variable is calculated by summing the values of all observations in a data set and then dividing by the number of observations in the set. It is often referred to as the average.

Median

The value that divides the population into two equal parts, one falling below the value and one above.

Mother

The natural, adopted or step mother of the child, the female legal guardian of the child, or the spouse or de facto partner of the father. The mother must be resident in the same household as the child.

Occasional care

A type of formal care provided mainly for children who have not started school. These services cater mainly for the needs of families who require short term care for their children.

Other formal care

A type of formal care other than before and/or after school care, long day care, family day care and occasional care.

Other person care

Informal care by people who are not related to the child such as family friends, babysitters, nannies or neighbours.

Other relative care

Informal care by relatives of the child excluding (step) brothers and sisters, and grandparents. It includes care by the child's other parent living elsewhere, 'in-laws' who are not grandparents of the child and other relatives such as aunt, uncle or cousin .

Preschool

Educational and developmental programs for children in the year (or in some jurisdictions, two years) before they begin full-time primary education.

Reason used care/reason required additional formal care

Respondents were asked to identify all reasons and the main reason formal care was required in the previous four weeks.

Work-related reasons include working, looking for work and studying/training for work.

Personal reasons include study or training not related to work, shopping, entertainment, social or sporting activities, giving parents a break/time alone, caring for relatives, visiting doctor, or undertaking voluntary/community activities.

Beneficial for child reasons include good for child and preparation for school.

Registered care

Child care (for parents with work-related responsibilities) provided by nannies, grandparents, relatives or friends who are registered with the Family Assistance Office. It can also include care provided by some private preschools, kindergartens, some occasional care centres and some outside school hours care services.

Remoteness

The ABS has defined Remoteness within the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC). The ASGC Remoteness Structure is defined only in census years, commencing with the census year 2001, and includes all Collection Districts (CDs) across Australia. The purpose of the Remoteness Structure is to classify CDs which share common characteristics of remoteness into broad geographical regions called Remoteness Areas (RAs). The structure defines six RAs: Major Cities of Australia; Inner Regional Australia; Outer Regional Australia; Remote Australia; Very Remote Australia; and Migratory.

The delimitation criteria for RAs are based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA), which measures the remoteness of a point based on the physical road distance to the nearest Urban Centre (ASGC 2001) in each of five size classes. For this survey, the ASGC 2001 CDs were used. The RAs were derived by calculating the average ARIA index value for each CD and applying the ASGC 2001 RA criteria.

The Migratory category is out of scope of this survey.

The Remoteness Structure is described in detail in the publication Statistical Geography Volume 1 Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) 2001 (cat. no.1216.0).

Vacation care

A service provided to school children during the school holidays.

Weekly income of parents

In couple families, total income received from all sources by the couple. In one parent families, the total income from all sources of the lone parent.

Work arrangements

Arrangements, such as flexible working hours, permanent part-time work, shiftwork, job sharing or working at home, normally used by employed parents to assist them to care for their child(ren).