06.03.01 - 70% Attendance Rule

Effective Date: 11/01/04
Revised:  10/27/10, 2/22/13, 04/17/2015, 6/15/2016, 10/1/2019, 7/1/2021

Reference: Memos dated 1/8/01 and 3/8/02, 7/18/12

Policy Statement:

Payments for licensed and license-exempt child care centers are based on eligible days if the total number of days attended for all IDHS children at the center location are 70% of the eligible days.

Payments for licensed and license-exempt child care home providers are based on eligible days if the total number of days attended for all children in the family are 70% of the family's eligible days.

Applicability:

This policy is applicable to site administered providers and certificate providers.


Definitions:

Eligible Days - The number of days a child is approved for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) each month relative to the client's employment and/or education/training schedule. The number of eligible days must not exceed the maximum number of days the provider is open for business during the month.

Attended Days - The number of days a child is present during the month.

Location - The physical location of the day care center; street address.

Procedures:

  1. Child Care Center
    The attendance percentage for a child care center is calculated on the total of all CCAP families approved for the location.  A child care center with multiple locations must calculate the 70% attendance percentage for each location separately and submit the results separately. Location refers to the physical location.  If a single physical location has multiple address indicators (i.e. one for child care programs and one for a collaboration program), the calculations for those address indicators will be added together to arrive at the center's total attendance percentage.

    Example:      ABC Child Care Center's primary address indicator is "1".  ABC also has a collaboration program.  Children in the collaboration program are on indicator "C1".  The attendance percentage for ABC Child Care Center will be based on the combination of address indicators "1" and "C1" since they are in the same physical location.

    Under no circumstances shall a child be lined off of the Certificate (Form IL444-3492), Certificate Report Form IL444-3492A), Site Administered Monthly Enrollment Report (SAMER) or Monthly Enrollment Report (MER) because of low attendance to manipulate the result of the 70% attendance rule. 
    In order for the rate type (full time, part time, or school age) to be included in the 70% calculation, a child must attend at least 1 day in the rate type in order for the eligible days to be paid.

    Example:     Child is approved for 2 FT days and 20 PT days. The child only attends 15 PT days. The 70% calculation is based on 18 attended days divided by 20 PT eligible days. The center will not receive payment for the 2 FT eligible days because the child did not attend any days for that payment rate.

    Calculation Procedures     
    1. Add the number of days attended for all IDHS subsidized children for a location
    2. Add the number of days eligible for all IDHS subsidized children for a location
    3. Divide the total number of days attended by the total number of days eligible.
      1. If the result is 69.5% or above, pay eligible days for all children even if the individual family's attendance is below 69.5%
      2. If the result is 69.499% or below, pay on a family-by-family basis. Payments for each family whose attendance percentage is 69.5% or above will be based on eligible days, and payments for each family whose attendance percentage is below 69.5% will be based on attended days.
  2. Licensed Day Care Home, Licensed Group Home and License-exempt Child Care Homes
    The attendance percentage for licensed child care homes and licensed group homes is determined by family.
    In order for the rate type (full time or part time,) to be included in the 70% calculation, a child must attend at least 1 day in the rate type in order for the eligible days to be paid.

    Example:     Child is approved for 2 FT days and 20 PT days. The child only attends 18 PT days. The 70% calculation is based on 18 PT attended days divided by 20 PT eligible days. The licensed child care home will not receive payment for the 2 FT eligible days because the child did not attend any days for that payment rate.

    Calculation Procedures
    1. Add the number of days attended for all children in the family.
    2. Add the number of days eligible for all children in the family.
    3. Divide the total number of days attended by the total number of days eligible.
      1. If the result 69.5% or above, pay the eligible days for all of the children in the family.
      2. If the result is 69.499% or below, pay attended days for all children in the family.
    4. Repeat steps A-C for each family.
  •  
  1. Special Instructions for School Age Children
    If a school age child routinely needs care less than five hours per day during the school year, the child shall be approved at either the part time rate or school age rate for the entire month. If the child attends more than five hours per day due to a school holiday or closure, the department will pay the full day rate if the child is in attendance. The client's work/school schedule must support the need for more than 5 hours of care.
    1. Site Administered Program
      For each child listed on the SAMER, Site Administered providers shall complete a Monthly Enrollment Report (MER) by:
      1. Entering the clients' and children's names
      2. Entering the number of full time days attended.
      3. Enter the number of eligible part time or school age days from the SAMER and the number of attended days.
      4. Since there are normally -0- eligible days approved at the full day rate for school age children during the school year, write in the number of full-time days eligible. Note: The number of eligible full time days and the number of attended full time days should always be the same for school age children unless before and after school care combined calls for care more than 5 hours per day.
      5. Indicate in the margin the date(s) and reason for full time attendance (i.e. 1/18/16, Martin Luther King's birthday).
    2. Certificate Program
      CCR&R staff must ensure that school age children who normally attend less than five hours per day, Monday through Friday, are only approved for either the part time rate or school age rate during the school year. In most cases, staff can make payment corrections on the payment entry screen if a provider indicates that a full day(s) of care was provided. In some cases, an approval update will be required before the payment can be entered correctly.
      CCR&R staff shall:
      1. Approve either part time or school age days for school-age children who routinely need care less than five hours per day during the school year.
      2. If the certificate is returned to the CCR&R for payment processing and the provider has indicated full time attendance, the provider must indicate the date(s) and reason for full time attendance (i.e. 1/18/16, Martin Luther King's birthday).
      3. On the Payment entry screen:
        1. If full time care was provided, reduce the number of eligible part time or school age days by the number of full days attended.
        2. Increase the number of eligible full-time days to equal the number of full days attended.
        3. Enter the number of full-time days and part-time or school age days actually attended
  2. Changes to Eligible Days
    Eligible days are based on the client's work schedules.  Changes should not be made to the eligible days unless the client has a documented change in their work or school schedule except under the following conditions:
    1. Vacations/Illness (Licensed child care centers only)
      If a child is absent for five (5) consecutive days that the center is open due to a vacation or illness, you may reduce the eligible days by 5.  Adjustments due to vacations are limited to two (2) 5 consecutive day absences per year per child.

      In order to take advantage of the vacation or illness reduction, the site must use the adjusted codes on the Monthly Enrollment Report (MER), give the dates of the absence, and case note the explanation.

      Example 1:       Child visits grandma July 1 - 6, Thursday through Tuesday. The provider is closed on July 3 - 5 for the weekend and holiday. This child is not eligible for the 5-day reduction, because the child was only absent on 3 days that the center was open. Do not reduce eligible days.

      Example 2:       Child visits dad September 6 - 10, Monday through Friday. The provider is closed on September 6 for Labor Day. This child is not eligible for the 5-day reduction, because the child was only absent on 4 days that the center was open. Do not reduce eligible days.

      Example 3      : Mom and child are on vacation November 11 through 19, Thursday through Friday. The center is open on all of the days except Saturday and Sunday. The child was absent on 7 consecutive days that the center was open; therefore, this child is eligible for the 5-day reduction. Reduce eligible days by 5.

      Example 4:       Dad and child are on vacation December 2 - 8, Thursday through Wednesday. The center is closed on Saturday and Sunday. The child is eligible for the 5 day reduction for Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Reduce eligible days by 5.

      Example 5:       Child is ill October 18-22, Monday through Friday. The center is open on all days. Reduce eligible days by 5.

    2. Provider Closures (All licensed providers and license exempt centers)
      A provider cannot charge the State of Illinois for days they are closed. The eligible days must be reduced by the number of days the provider was not open for business. 

      Similarly, if a provider is open for business on a day that was not included in the eligible days, the provider should increase the eligible days by the number of days open for business.