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Child Care Subsidy

Child Care Subsidy

Child Care Subsidy

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 be paid directly to your approved child care provider/s to reduce the fees you pay. In 2021 there has been an update to the Child Care Subsidy, please read this article on our website to find out more about the latest update.

Check If You Are Eligible

Complete the activity test via the links below to see if you are eligible.
Centerlink Online Account
myGov Online Account
Express Plus Centrelink App

How does the Child Care Subsidy work?

The Child Care Subsidy will be paid directly to childcare 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. This is known as the families gap fee.

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.

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 the date your child commences care at the centre as this refers to the date your enrolment details were sent through to Centrelink. 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 $190,015 or less, you won’t have an annual cap on your subsidy. If your family earns between $190,015 and $354,305 your subsidy will be capped. This means Centrelink will subsidise your fees up to the annual cap of $10,655 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.
Your family’s combined income will help determine the CCS percentage you’re entitled to.

 Your family income

 Child Care Subsidy percentage

 $0 to $69,390

 85%

 More than $69,390 to below $174,390

 Between 85% and 50% The percentage goes down by 1%  for every $3,000 of income your family earns

 $174,390 to below $253,680

 50%

 $253,680 to below $343,680

 Between 50% and 20% The percentage goes down by 1%  for every $3,000 of income your family earns

 $343,680 to below $353,680

 20%

 $353,680 or more

 Nil
Centrelink will withhold 5% subsidy. This is to help reduce the likelihood of you getting an overpayment. At the end of the financial year when Centrelink balance your payments, if you have not underestimated your family income you will receive the 5% withholding back.

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