RS71: Survey of Income, Expenditure and Fees at
ECE Services (2011)

Questionnaires

The survey questionnaire can be downloaded here.

All  services are encouraged to complete the survey electronically by downloading the spreadsheet RS71 2011 Form.  Please  fill out the survey information on the spreadsheet, save the completed file with  your service number in the file name (eg 80566RS71.xls) and email it, along  with the fee schedule attachment, to ece.statistics@minedu.govt.nz  by 24 August  2011.

If  it is not possible to provide a spreadsheet you can print out a copy of the RS71 2011 Paper-based Form, fill it out and post it to the Ministry of Education address on the  form, along with a copy of the fee schedule by 24 August 2011.

Please refer to the Downloads/Links box on the right to download the RS71 2011 forms and information.

About this Survey - Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the Ministry of Education asking for this information? How will it be used?

Information from  this survey will be used to inform government funding for ECE. It will also  help us develop advice on recovery for ECE in Christchurch. Operational cost  information was last collected in 2008 and now we need to update that  information so that changes in costs can be measured.

Is this survey compulsory? Are there any  consequences if the survey is not completed?
The Ministry is encouraging all ECE  services to participate in the 2011 survey.  The survey is  voluntary.  However, it is in your  interests to complete it as the information on costs will inform funding policy. The more  services that complete the survey the more accurate the data will be for  informing future funding. The Ministry recognises that services in  Christchurch have experienced considerable disruption and may not have access  to all of their records.  We therefore  understand that many Christchurch ECE services may choose not to participate.

How long will it take to complete the survey?

On  average it takes one to two hours to complete the survey. Generally, it can be  done without the help of an accountant.

How do I take part in the survey?

All  services are encouraged to complete the survey electronically by downloading  the spreadsheet RS71 2011 Form.
Please  fill out the survey information on the spreadsheet, save the completed file with  your service number in the file name (eg 80566RS71.xls) and email it, along  with the fee schedule attachment, to ece.statistics@minedu.govt.nz  by 24 August  2011.

If  it is not possible to provide a spreadsheet you can print out a copy of the RS71 2011 Paper-based Form, from the  website, fill it out and post it to the Ministry of Education address on the  form, along with a copy of the fee schedule by 24 August 2011.

What if I manage a number of services – do I have to  fill out a separate form for each service?

Where  possible, we want survey forms to be completed for individual ECE services.  This provides us with the best information on how much costs, income and fees  vary between services. We know that some management groups use combined  accounts for their ECE services and individual service-level information may  not always be possible. If you manage more than one ECE service and it is  difficult to separate out the costs for each service then you can provide  combined information. A separate sheet is provided for listing the  services covered by combined returns.

Should I include GST?

You can provide income and  expenditure data on either GST exclusive or inclusive basis. Questions have  been added to this year’s survey for you to indicate on which basis you are  reporting.

How do the survey questions compare with the  previous survey conducted in 2008?

There are a  number of changes, including: 

• There  is now only one survey form for all types of ECE services
• There  is a new question collecting information on income received by ECE services
• The  question on assets has been modified
• Services  are asked to attach the latest fee schedule rather than answering questions on  the fees, donations and optional charges requested by ECE services
• The  voluntary hours question which has historically been in the playcentre form is  included as an optional question for all services
• The  survey includes an additional question on educator charges only for home-based  services
• A  question asking how long it took to complete the survey has been added.
• The previous question on occupancy has been dropped.

Why don’t you use the financial statements services  sent to the Ministry of Education last year?
The financial statements do not  contain the same level of information for all ECE services and the income  thresholds limit which services need to provide statements, and non community-based services aren't required to report income from private sources. The Ministry cannot use your audited accounts directly as costs may be split into different  categories from what we need.

Why are you asking for an individual fee schedule as  a separate attachment rather than asking a standard question?
A fees schedule provides both  information on how much fees are charged, as well as information on the  different ways fees are charged. Evaluation of fees responses from previous  survey questions indicated that it was often very difficult and time consuming  for all services to translate their system of charges and fees into a single  common standard format. The resulting data quality and completeness was  variable. Asking services to just supply their fee schedule as a separate  attachment will be simpler, hopefully aid a higher response rate and will help the  Ministry to determine a more comprehensive set of results.

Why are you asking for information on assets and  liabilities?

Information on total assets and  liabilities are important indicators of the financial health of the sector,  information which is useful when considering funding policy development.

Is every ECE service being asked to fill out the  survey?

All licensed ECE  services have been asked to participate in this survey.  In most cases we have sent the survey to  management groups rather than individual ECE services.  Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust and all  kindergarten and playcentre associations have been asked to complete the survey  on behalf of their services. 

Will we get to see any results from the survey?

Yes. The Ministry plans to  publish results from this survey on its Education Counts website  www.educationcounts.govt.nz later in the year.

Who do I contact if I need help or more information?

If you need help please don’t  hesitate to call the Ministry of Education contact centre:
  Phone   +64 4 463 0915
  E-mail   ece.statistics@minedu.govt.nz