Families and Children Activity reforms from 1 July 2021

This page outlines the grant requirements introduced to a number of programs under the Families and Children (FaC) Activity, from 1 July 2021.

The Australian Government extended funding arrangements for a number of FaC Activity funded services, which were due to expire on 30 June 2021.

Five-year grant extensions to 30 June 2026 were offered to:

Two-year grant extensions to 30 June 2023 were offered to other providers delivering CaPS or Budget Based Funded (now part of CaPS) services.

Grant requirements introduced in 2021

As part of the extensions from 1 July 2021, the department introduced a number of reforms in order to improve reporting and tracking of outcomes for Australia’s families and children.

These reforms introduced the following requirements for providers in scope:

  • Outcomes Framework, to identify key outcome objectives for programs
  • Program Logics, to demonstrate how their individual activities will contribute to the identified outcomes
  • Reporting outcomes through the Data Exchange Partnership Approach and
  • Participating in a mid-term Review Point (for 5-year agreements), to check if providers remain on track and identify areas for improvement.

These reforms should improve outcomes by facilitating better coordination between services, targeting support to families and children who are experiencing disadvantage or vulnerability, and measuring and monitoring outcomes.

The reforms were informed by consultation with in-scope FaC service providers between 27 November 2020 and 30 March 2021. On 27 November 2020, the department released a Discussion Paper ‘Supporting Improvements to the Families and Children Activity’. Interested service providers were invited to respond to the discussion paper and to participate in focused discussions convened throughout February 2021. The consultation report was released on 25 August 2021, and is available on DSS Engage.

Guidance documents

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