Kindergarten and Child Care Centre Fee Remission Scheme

The Kindergarten and Child Care Centre Fee Remission Scheme (KCFRS) provides parents-in-need with financial assistance in the form of fee remission for their children to receive pre-primary services. In the 2010/11 school year, parents of children attending Nursery (K1), Lower (K2) and Upper (K3) classes in eligible local non-profit-making kindergartens / kindergarten-cum-child care centres / schools offering kindergarten classes (hereafter collectively referred to as kindergartens) may receive fee subsidy through the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS) introduced since 2007. The fee subsidy under PEVS for each eligible child is $14,000 in the 2010/11 school year. Kindergarten children of needy families who require financial assistance on top of the fee subsidy from PEVS may apply for fee remission under the KCFRS. In addition, KCFRS will provide assistance to children who are receiving whole-day child care services in child care centres.

* Eligibility
* Application Procedures
* Method of Assessment
* Level of Fee Remission
* Amount of Fee Remission
* Release of Results and Method of Payment
* Change of Correspondence / Residential Address
* Statistics
* Frequently Asked Questions
* Briefings

Eligibility

(a) The student-applicant must be:
  (i) Hong Kong residents with right of abode, right to land or valid permission to remain without any condition of stay (other than the limit of stay) in Hong Kong ;
  and    
  (ii) (1) Nursery, Lower and Upper classes in Kindergarten (K1 to K3)
     

at least 2 years and 8 months old as at 31 August 2010 (i.e. born on or before 31 December 2007) and studying in kindergartens of which their school year starts in August or September. Those who were born on or after 1 January 2008 are not eligible to apply for KCFRS for kindergarten classes in the 2010/11 school year, even when they reach the age of 3 during the school year. Their parents should submit applications in the 2011/12 school year instead; and
      attending Nursery (K1), Lower (K2) and Upper (K3) classes in kindergartens registered with the Education Bureau (EDB). The kindergarten should be a non-profit-making kindergarten, offering local curriculum and eligible for voucher redemption. Parents may refer to http://chsc.edb.hkedcity.net/kindergarten/ for information on the list of kindergartens joining the PEVS and eligible for voucher redemption.
    or  
    (2) Child Care Centre (group aged 0-2)/Child Care Centre (group aged 2-3)
     

receiving whole-day care services in child care centres (day crèches, day nurseries or relevant classes in kindergarten-cum-child care centres) registered with EDB/Social Welfare Department (SWD).
       
(b) Pre-primary children in receipt of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) can apply direct to the Student Financial Assistance Agency (SFAA) for joining PEVS since the 2009/10 school year, as with other children at the age appropriate for pre-primary education, so as to receive fee subsidy from the voucher. If financial assistance on top of the subsidy from the voucher is required to cover the tuition fee, parents of these CSSA children should apply to the Social Security Field Unit of SWD for special grants under the CSSA Scheme. To avoid double subsidies, children in receipt of special grant under CSSA to cover kindergarten fees will not be provided with fee remission from KCFRS for the same period.
       
(c)

Since the introduction of PEVS in 2007, needy parents with children attending kindergartens can enjoy fee subsidy from PEVS during the validity period of the Certificate of Eligibility for PEVS. In addition, they may apply for financial assistance on top of the subsidy from PEVS under KCFRS each year within (and is limited to) the validity period of the Certificate.
       
(d) Children currently benefiting from the Child Care Centre Fee Assistance Scheme (CCCFAS) of SWD who opt for KCFRS will not be eligible for assistance under the CCCFAS again.

Application Procedures

The Agency has issued the fee remission application forms for the 2010/11 school year together with the guidance notes to kindergartens/child care centres before the commencement of the school year. Parents who wish to apply for fee remission for their children can obtain application forms and relevant documents from the kindergartens/child care centres in which their children are attending.

Fresh applications should be made every year, and only one completed application form together with supporting documents should be returned to the kindergartens/child care centres concerned in respect of each student-applicant. The kindergartens/child care centres will forward their applications to SFAA for processing. In normal circumstances, the applicants should forward their applications at the beginning of the 2010/11 school year or upon admission of their children. Please note that the effective month of fee remission will be the month in which the application forms are submitted by the applicants, or the month in which the student-applicants are admitted to the kindergarten/ child care centres, whichever is the later.

Method of Assessment

  1. All applications are subject to means test. To qualify for the whole-day rate of fee remission for children attending whole-day kindergarten programmes or to qualify for fee remission for children receiving whole-day child care services, the applicant’s family must also pass the ‘social needs’ test during the same assessment period.

  2. The Adjusted Family Income (AFI) mechanism is the means-tested assessment mechanism adopted to assess the applicants’ eligibility for and level of assistance.

  3. The AFI mechanism is based on the following formula:



    * For single-parent families of 2 to 3 members, the “plus 1 factor” in the divisor of the AFI formula will be increased to 2.

  4. Gross annual income of the family includes the annual income of the applicant and his/her spouse; 30% of the annual income of unmarried children residing with the family; the contributions from other children not residing with the family and relatives/friends; and other income if applicable.

  5. Family members normally refer to the applicant, his/her spouse, the unmarried children and the parents residing with the applicant’s family/the dependent parents.

  6. The calculated AFI indicates whether an applicant is eligible for assistance and if so, whether the assistance level will be 100%, 75% or 50% fee remission. The AFI eligibility benchmarks for 100%, 75% and 50% remission in the 2010/11 school year are as follows:

    AFI between (HK$) Award
    0 to 20,966 Full remission (100%)
    20,967 to 30,476 3/4 remission (75%)
    30,477 to 55,990 1/2 remission (50%)
    Over 55,990 No remission


  7. Applicant with children attending whole-day kindergarten programmes who wish to receive whole-day fee remission must pass the AFI means test and the ‘social needs’ test within the same assessment period. Otherwise, they can only receive remission at half-day session rate (i.e. the tuition fee for the AM session or the fee remission ceiling for half-day classes, whichever is the less. If the kindergarten does not operate any half-day classes, the fee remission ceiling for half-day class will apply).

  8. Applicant with children receiving whole-day child care services (i.e. group aged 0 to 2 and 2 to 3) must pass the AFI means test and the ‘social needs’ within the same assessment period in order to qualify themselves for the fee remission. Otherwise, they will be ineligible for any fee remission. Those receiving half-day child care services are not eligible to apply for KCFRS.

Level of Fee Remission

There are 3 levels of fee remission for the 2010/2011 school year, namely 50%, 75% and 100%.

Amount of Fee Remission

(a) Computation Method of Fee Remission
　 (i)Nursery, Lower and Upper classes in Kindergarten (K1 to K3):
After the launch of PEVS, SFAA will continue to provide fee remission to applicants in accordance with the level of assistance assessed using the AFI formula. The actual fee remission will be 50%, 75% and 100% of the actual fee or the fee remission ceiling, whichever is the less, minus the voucher value dedicated towards fee subsidy. The following formula will be used to calculate the actual subsidy under KCFRS for children attending kindergarten:
     
　 　 Half-day class monthly fee remission =

Annual tuition fee or fee remission ceiling (whichever is the less) x level of assistance – voucher value dedicated towards fee subsidy
　 　 No. of operating months of the kindergarten
　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　
　 　 Whole-day class monthly fee remission = [Annual tuition fee or fee remission ceiling (whichever is the less) x level of assistance – voucher value dedicated towards fee subsidy] + [Actual monthly meal charge or maximum meal allowance (whichever is the less) x level of assistance]
　 　

No. of operating months of the kindergarten
　 　 　 　

(Tuition Fee Subsidy)

 　

(Meal Allowance)
(ii)Child Care Centre (group aged 0-2)/Child Care Centre (group aged 2-3)
　 The monthly fee remission will be 50%, 75% and 100% of the actual fee or the fee remission ceiling, whichever is the less. The formula used to calculate the fee remission amount is as follows:
　 　 Monthly fee remission = Monthly fee inclusive of meal charge or fee remission ceiling (whichever is the less) x level of assistance
　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　
(b) Fee Remission Ceiling:
  The voucher value dedicated towards fee subsidy for each eligible student-applicant in the 2010/11 school year is $14,000, and the maximum meal allowance for whole-day kindergarten classes is $400 per student per month. The fee remission ceilings for various levels of KCFRS will be available soon after the commencement of the 2010/11 school year on the SFAA’s website. http://www.sfaa.gov.hk

Release of Results and Method of Payment

SFAA will inform the applicants and the kindergartens/child care centres concerned the outcome of their applications in writing.

SFAA will accept applications for KCFRS from kindergartens and child care centres for the 2010/11 school year with effect from August 2010. In general, if the information provided is complete, the applicant will be notified of the result in about two months’ time from the date SFAA received the application from the kindergartens/child care centres. However, the processing time may vary, depending on the circumstances of the cases. If the information provided is incomplete or inconsistent, the applicant will be requested to give explanation or provide supplementary information, in which case the processing time will be longer. In addition, SFAA may, on some occasions, have to seek additional information from other government departments or institutions for processing of the application. The processing time for such cases will also be longer.

Review of Results

Applicants who wish to enquire about the application details or seek a review of the result may contact the Kindergarten and Child Care Centre Fee Remission Section of SFAA

Tel: 2154 2130  
Address: Room 713 - 714, 7/F, Kwai Hing Government Offices, 166-174, Hing Fong Road, Kwai Chung,
New Territories.