KidSport financial exceptions

KidSport Financial Assessors

KidSport Financial Assessors are professional employees at agencies who provide support services for families. They will assess a family's financial situation against the KidSport financial exceptions and submit a KidSport application to the department.

Your local government or the department can provide the contact details for a local KidSport Financial Assessor. 

Organisations who want to be KidSport Financial Assessors should email the KidSport team or call 61 8 9492 9911 to discuss this role.

Who is not eligible to be a KidSport Financial Assessor

The following people/organisations cannot become KidSport Financial Assessors: local leaders/individuals, clubs, doctors, universities, metropolitan schools, PCYCs or YMCAs. 

The reasons for not including these people/organisations vary but are generally around them not being able to make a financial assessment of the family or running programs/clubs themselves which presents a conflict.

Why regional schools are eligible but metropolitan schools are not

Teachers are not always in a position to determine a family’s financial status and in the metropolitan area there are other more suitable agencies which can fulfil this role. For this reason, Sport and Recreation (WA) has decided to restrict metropolitan schools from becoming KidSport Financial Assessors.

It is, however, acknowledged that in some regional areas the local school is the only organisation in a position to recognise and support families experiencing financial hardship to access KidSport funding. For this reason regional schools will be accepted as KidSport Financial Assessors if recommended by the local government.

KidSport financial exceptions

Families who do not have a concession card but are experiencing significant financial hardship, as a result of an unforeseen situation, may apply for a financial exception through a KidSport Financial Assessor. A child can only access KidSport once under one of the following four financial exceptions: 

1. Sudden loss of employment and subsequent income from the main income earner of the family. This does not include voluntary unemployment or circumstances where a redundancy payment has been received.
2. Death or serious illness of a parent/guardian causing significant impact on the household income which places the family in a position of financial hardship.
3. Fire, flood or other natural disaster causing significant impact on the household’s financial situation.
4. Situations when the child has been placed into care (of the State, foster or extended family) and the relevant concession cards are unavailable.
   

If the family is experiencing ongoing financial hardship they should apply for a concession card through the Department of Human Services (Centrelink).

Application process when using a KidSport Financial Assessor

If an applicant is not listed on a valid concession card but appears to be experiencing financial hardship under one of the four exceptions, the local government or the department can provide them with the contact details of a local KidSport Financial Assessor.

The KidSport Financial Assessor will then meet with the family and discuss their financial circumstances. If these circumstances meet one of the four exceptions for not having a concession card, the KidSport Financial Assessor will complete an exception application form and send it to the department for assessment.

If the department approves the exception it will be processed online for final administration against the remaining KidSport eligibility criteria. If the application is unsuccessful the KidSport Financial Assessor will be notified and will contact the family.

KidSport Financial Assessors can still support KidSport applications for children with a valid concession card. There is no need for the family to provide any reasons of financial hardship, they simply need to include a copy of their concession card with their application form.