Payroll Compliance: Children’s Services Industry

Cloud-based payroll software can provide a simplified and automated compliance approach, helping employers stay up-to-date with the latest regulations under the Children’s Services Award.
BOOK A DEMO

The Importance of Modern Award Compliance

A vital part of the current workplace landscape in Australia is the use of modern awards. The purpose of these rules and regulations is to highlight the specifics that surround employment within various industries and provide a compliance framework for all businesses operating within those industries.

It is essential that businesses and employees alike adhere to this compliance framework to ensure they operate within the law and understand their rights and entitlements. Modern awards also help level the playing field between different businesses, ensuring that all companies operate under the same guidelines.

This ensures that employees are treated fairly and equally across all workplaces, regardless of their employer. Without modern awards, the Australian workplace would be significantly less fair and regulated, and employees would be at a greater risk of exploitation. As such, modern awards play an essential role in protecting the rights of all employees.
03-img-1
Employers in Australia are legally obligated to comply with workplace laws and modern awards. Breaching these could result in hefty fines. For example, an employer who fails to pay their employees the minimum wage could be fined up to $63,000 per breach.

And if you continue to contravene your obligations in terms of the Children’s Services Award, you may face severe consequences for your business, including potentially having to pay back any lost wages and rates to the employee(s). This can be seriously detrimental for most organisations.

Biggest Pitfalls in the Children’s Services Industry

The Children’s Services Award sets out the minimum conditions of employment for early childhood educators working in child care centres, family daycare and outside school hours care. These minimum conditions include things like pay rates, leave entitlements and rostering requirements. Employers who do not comply with the Award can be subject to penalties.
03-img-2
There are several reasons why an employer might not comply with the Award. They may be unaware of their obligations, or they may deliberately choose to flout the rules. However, in some cases, non-compliance can result from unintentional errors or inadequate systems and processes. Whatever the reason, non-compliance with the Award can have serious consequences for children's service providers.

Unfortunately, there’s not much guidance from the Fair Work Commission regarding staying compliant with all its regulations. In addition, the Fair Work website is not always easy to navigate, and it can be hard to find the information you need. So we often find employers fall into non-compliance traps purely on the grounds of a misunderstanding.
Combined with the specific nature of each area of the industry, and the very technical legal jargon, it’s no wonder that so many businesses struggle to stay on top of their compliance obligations.

For example, suppose your workplace is closed during a vacation period, other than Christmas vacation, and no work is available. In that case, your employee must be paid the ordinary rate of pay during such a period.

This is a common condition in the Children’s Services Award that catches a lot of businesses off-guard.

Employers in the children’s services sector must also be aware of the potential pitfalls associated with allowances.
03-img-3
Employees are eligible for specific allowances based on their skills or tasks, which can often be significant. Most employers believe that they can add a chunk of money to their employees’ salaries. But it doesn’t work that way.

For example, if you require your staff to work two separate shifts in a single day, they are entitled to a broken shift allowance. The allowance is 1.91% of the standard rate per day for each day a broken shift is worked.
03-img-4
It’s your responsibility to pay them each and every allowance relevant to their line of work. You could be subject to some pretty harsh penalties if you fail to do so.

So, what is the solution? Cloud payroll software and automated time and attendance software.

As the world of business changes, so too must the way companies manage their payroll. In the past, payroll was a time-consuming and error-prone process, often reliant on paper records and manual calculations.
03-img-5

However, with the advent of cloud-based payroll software, businesses now have a more straightforward and more automated approach to compliance. Cloud-based payroll software provides a centralised platform for managing employee pay and benefits and can help automate many of the tasks associated with payroll processing. As a result, businesses can stay compliant with changing regulations while also freeing up time and resources that can be better spent on other business areas.

KeyPay Cloud Payroll

KeyPay’s cloud payroll software automatically applies modern award or enterprise agreement rules to ensure your business remains compliant year-round. 

Beyond that, you can automate your entire payroll process from importing timesheet data, gross to net reporting and leave accruals for all scenarios to super calculations and ATO reporting.

logo-keypay

NoahFace Time &
Attendance Software

NoahFace offers an app-based time and attendance software called NoahFace Go which automates scheduling, time tracking and attendance records for site workers. 

In addition, the timekeeping records will automatically integrate with your KeyPay cloud payroll software. 

logo-noahface

Employment Hero

Go paperless and automate the employee onboarding process with Employment Hero’s employee HR software - an end-to-end people management platform that covers every aspect of the employee lifecycle.

By incorporating everything you need to recruit, onboard, roster, and manage your aged care team, Employment Hero increases efficiency and drives productivity across every aspect of your workforce.

logo-employmenthero

How Pay Cat Can Help

img-5
As a children’s services business owner, you know that efficient payroll is essential to the success of your business. But with so many other demands on your time, it can be difficult to keep up with the paperwork and make sure everything is done correctly.

Pay Cat can help take the hassle out of payroll by offering an all-in-one system that makes it easy to manage your employee information, process payroll, and stay compliant with government regulations.
01-img-6
With varying modern awards and industry regulations to get your head around, we understand that working out your obligations as an employee can be overwhelming.

We understand that running a business is complicated enough without having to worry about payroll compliance issues. That’s why we offer a comprehensive range of services designed to keep your business in line with relevant regulations, awards and employee entitlements. From implementing payroll software and time and attendance solutions to providing training and advice, our team of experts can help you identify potential compliance problems before they become serious issues.

We also offer a range of support services to help you stay up-to-date with industry-specific standards.
01 img-7
Never get it wrong. No back pay calculations. No inefficient manual interpretation. No data re-entry.

If you’re interested in moving from a manual payroll system to an automated cloud payroll system, get in touch with us today for a free demo.