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Child
care as easy as ABC
By
Pte John Wellfare
MORE
child care places will be available to Defence families when ABC
Corporate Care takes up the Defence child care contract on July
1.
New Defence child care centres will be established and Defence families
will also have priority access to ABC Corporate Care’s 650 childcare
centres throughout Australia.
More Defence/ABC child care centres are envisaged for areas such
as Newcastle, Adelaide, Laverton, north Queensland, Darwin, Wagga
and Wodonga, among others.
Janet Stodulka, Director General DCO, said the transfer from the
existing child care provider, KU Children’s Services, to the new
provider would be as seamless as possible.
“There will be no diminution of services to our families as a result
of this new program – ABC Corporate Care is required to meet, at
a minimum, all existing regulatory, licensing and accreditation
requirements,” she said.
“ABC Corporate Care has agreed to offer continuing employment –
with at least the same remuneration and conditions as currently
received – to all of the current provider’s staff employed at Defence
child care centres.”
She said ABC Corporate Care would also offer employment opportunities
for Defence spouses currently working in the child care industry.
“This includes transferring Defence partners employed by ABC Corporate
Care between their centres when posted, where vacancies exist.”
Defence has confirmed that existing Salary sacrificing arrangements
for child care at all Defence centres will still be available after
ABC Corporate Care takes over in July.
The company is also currently negotiating with the Australian Tax
Office to make salary sacrificing available to Defence members with
places in Defence/ABC child care centres throughout Australia when
they come on line.
ABC Corporate Care will provide a national free-call number through
which Defence families can access vacancies in all ABC child care
centres, book child care in advance of a posting to a new area and
get information on all child care centres in a general line of travel
between work and home.
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