CCS update
Child Care Subsidy (CCS) and Additional Child Care Subsidy will commence again from 13 July 2020.
For families that have been impacted by COVID-19, who can no longer access the same number of hours of work, training or study as before, a transition period will apply for 12 weeks from 13 July 2020 to 4 October 2020. These families will be able to access up to 100 hours per fortnight of subsidised childcare.
To check if you are eligible, complete the activity test via your Centrelink online account through myGov or the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.
What is the Child Care Subsidy?
The Child Care Subsidy (CCS) helps make early learning and childcare more accessible for Australian families. The Child Care Subsidy will generally be paid directly to your approved child care provider/s to reduce the fees you pay.
How does the Child Care Subsidy work?
The Child Care Subsidy will be paid directly to providers to be passed on to families as a fee reduction. Families will contribute the difference between the provider fee charged and the subsidised amount.
Calculate how much Child Care Subsidy your family could receive:
There are three things that will determine your level of subsidy:
Our Family Relations Team can help you calculate an estimate for your subsidy, contact us for more information.
Activity level of parents
The number of hours of subsidised care families can access will be determined by an activity test. The higher the level of activity, the more hours of subsidised care families can access, up to a maximum of 100 hours per fortnight.
Extra support
Some families can get Additional Child Care Subsidy. It will be paid on top of Child Care Subsidy to provide extra support with child care fees.
There are 3 different types of Additional Child Care Subsidy that you can apply for. You can apply if you’re either:
- a grandparent
- transitioning to work
- experiencing temporary financial hardship.
FAQ’s
You need to meet some requirements to get Child Care Subsidy. The child care subsidy is paid directly to child care providers to reduce the fees you pay. You may be eligible if you or your partner meet all of the following:
- care for your child at least 2 nights per fortnight, or have 14% care
- are liable for fees for care provided at an approved child care service
- meet the residency rules. See further information here
- Your child must also meet immunisation requirements
The amount of Child Care Subsidy you can get depends on your circumstances. To work out how much Child Care Subsidy you are eligible for depends on the following:
- your family’s income
- the hours of activity you and your partner do
- the hourly rate cap based on the type of approved child care you use and your child’s age.
The amount of subsidised child care you can access per fortnight applies to each child.
Yes, we are a registered childcare provider which means that eligible families can claim the Government benefit relating to your childcare.
It is good idea to start your claim process as soon as you are considering starting your child in childcare. Claims can take over 4 weeks to process so the sooner you make the claim, the more likely the claim will be approved by the time your child commences care.
In order to receive the CCS, you will need to log into your myGov account and complete your CCS assessment task using your registered CRN. For further information on how to claim the CCS, click
here.
CCS claims can only be backdated up to 28 days. You can’t make a lump sum claim for CCS.
Complete the following
steps to apply for Child Care Subsidy (CCS). Before you start, check if you are eligible to receive the Child Care Subsidy (CCS).
Provide us with your and your child’s CRN details so we’re able to make a connection to Centrelink to ensure you can receive CCS payments. It is important that we receive both CRN’s as a connection can’t be made using only one.
Once a connection to Centrelink is made, you will receive notification to approve the enrolment notice. Instructions on how to do this can be found here
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/online-help/centrelink/confirm-your-childs-enrolment-details-child-care-subsidy
Visit the enrolments tab in your Centrelink account to approve your child’s childcare details (i.e. the campus they are enrolled at, days they are enrolled and the daily rate)
Families are entitled to 42 absence days per child, per financial year. You may also be entitled to additional absence days in certain circumstances (e.g. illness of a child, a parent or sibling). In shared care arrangements, the allocation of 42 absences per financial year relates to the child, not each individual claimant.
If you don’t have enough CCS hours to cover all your care per fortnight, then your fees may be different each alternate week. Your activity levels relate to the number of hours of care that subsidy is applied to each week. For example; If both guardians are working fulltime (80hours per fortnight), they will be entitled to 100 hours of subsidised care per week. If their child attends 5 days per week at a service that operates for 11 hours each day, they will use 55 hours in week 1 leaving them with only 45 hours for week 2. This means the fees charged in week 1 will be lower than week 2.
The start date of your agreement may be earlier than your childcare start date as this connection can be made prior to the commencement of care. Even though the agreement date may be earlier, no childcare subsidy will be paid until attendances have been sent to Centrelink in your first week of care.
Your letter of assessment will note if you have an annual cap or not. The cap is not applied to all families and is dependent on the income associated to the claim. If your family earns $189,389 or less, you won’t have an annual cap on your subsidy. If your family earns between $189,390 and $353,680 your subsidy will be capped. This means Centrelink will subsidise your fees up to the annual cap of $10,560 per child each financial year.
A new claim needs to be made for each of your children even though it is based on your combined family income and activity.
