§ 98.45 Equal access.

(a) The Lead Agency shall certify that the payment rates for the provision of child care services under this part are sufficient to ensure equal access, for eligible families in the area served by the Lead Agency, to child care services comparable to those provided to families not eligible to receive CCDF assistance or child care assistance under any other Federal, State, or tribal programs.

(b) The Lead Agency shall provide in the Plan a summary of the data and facts relied on to determine that its payment rates ensure equal access. At a minimum, the summary shall include facts showing:

(1) How a choice of the full range of providers is made available, and the extent to which child care providers participate in the CCDF subsidy system and any barriers to participation including barriers related to payment rates and practices, based on information obtained in accordance with paragraph (d)(2) of this section;

(2) How payment rates are adequate and have been established based on the most recent market rate survey or alternative methodology conducted in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section;

(3) How base payment rates enable providers to meet health, safety, quality, and staffing requirements in accordance with paragraphs (f)(1)(ii)(A) and (f)(2)(ii) of this section;

(4) How the Lead Agency took the cost of higher quality into account in accordance with paragraph (f)(2)(iii) of this section, including how payment rates for higher-quality care, as defined by the Lead Agency using a quality rating and improvement system or other system of quality indicators, relate to the estimated cost of care at each level of quality;

(5) How co-payments based on a sliding fee scale are affordable, as stipulated at paragraph (k) of this section; if applicable, a rationale for the Lead Agency's policy on whether child care providers may charge additional amounts to families above the required family co-payment, including a demonstration that the policy promotes affordability and access; analysis of the interaction between any such additional amounts with the required family co-payments, and of the ability of subsidy payment rates to provide access to care without additional fees; and data on the extent to which CCDF providers charge such additional amounts to families (based on information obtained in accordance with paragraph (d)(2) of this section);