About the Child Care Subsidy
The Child Care Subsidy, also known as CCS, is a government payment that reduces out-of-pocket costs for childcare. Your family’s subsidy percentage is paid directly to your childcare provider. This is passed on to families as a fee reduction.
Families pay the “gap fee” between the daily fees charged and the subsidy amount. This is indicated on your fee invoice. Centrelink withholds 5% of your Child Care Subsidy payments to accommodate for any changes to your expected and combined household income. This helps to reduce the likelihood of you getting an overpayment.
For families with more than 1 child aged 5 and under in care will get a higher subsidy for their second child and younger children. Eligible higher rate children will receive a 30% higher subsidy, up to a maximum 95%. Families will continue to receive their income tested CCS rate for all children. Children eligible for the higher rate will have the increase automatically included in their CCS percentage reported to services.
If you’re new to childcare, we recommend that you apply for the Child Care Subsidy as soon as possible.
How to Apply for CCS
Set Up a MyGov Account
Create an account with MyGov and link Centrelink by following the steps online or via the app. If you previously received a payment from Centrelink, such as Paid Parental Leave, you can go straight to Centrelink online or the Express Plus Centrelink app.
Select Your Claim
Select 'Payments and Claims' from the menu, then 'Claims,' then 'Make a Claim.'
Apply for CCS
Under 'Families,' select 'Get Started.' Select Apply for Family Assistance Payment, then follow the prompts. Each child will require a separate claim.
Track Claim Progress
You can track the progress of your claim online or through the Centrelink App.
Important Information about CCS
To receive the subsidy, some basic requirements must be satisfied. These include:
AGE – Your child must be aged 13 or under and must not attend secondary school (certain exemptions apply, e.g. disability, medical condition).
IMMUNISATION STATUS – The child must meet immunisation requirements as outlined by the Australian Government.
RESIDENCY – The individual (parent or guardian) applying must live in Australia and meet the residency requirement as outlined in legislation.
CHILDCARE PROVIDER – The childcare provider must be approved and delivered in Australia; the service type is also taken into consideration.
FAMILY INCOME – The amount of subsidy granted depends on the total taxable income of the individual parent/couple per financial year.
ACTIVITY LEVELS – The individual parent/couple with the lowest entitlement determines the hours of subsidised care the child.
There are four factors that determine the level of the subsidy that can be granted to your family:
- Number of children in care
- Household income
- Recognised activity levels
- Hourly Rate Cap
| Your family income | Child Care Subsidy percentage |
|---|---|
| $0 to $80,000 | 90% |
| More than $80,000 to below $530,000 | Between 90% and 0% The percentage goes down by 1% for every $5,000 of income your family earns above $80,000 |
| $530,000 or more | 0% |
Your CCS payments are impacted by the annual rate cap for the type of childcare service you use. For example, the hourly rate cap for long day care services like Little Gumnuts is $13.73 per hour. If your childcare centre’s fees work out to be more than this per hour, CCS only covers a portion of the hourly rate based on your child’s hours of attendance of enrolled session type.
The hours of CCS entitlement for each family are based on recognised activity. In two parent families, the hours of care entitled is determined by the person with the lowest number of hours of activity per fortnight.
Recognised activities can include any of the following:
- paid work including being self employed
- paid or unpaid leave, including paid or unpaid parental or maternity leave
- unpaid work in a family business
- unpaid work experience or unpaid internship
- actively setting up a business.
- doing an approved course of education or study
- doing training to improve work skills or employment prospects
- actively looking for work
- volunteering
- other activities on a case by case basis
- periods of unpaid leave for up to 6 months, this doesn’t apply to unpaid parental leave
- setting up a business for 6 months out of every 12 months
- 16 hours per fortnight if your only activity is volunteering or actively looking for work
- any paid or unpaid parental and maternity leave you take.
| Activity level each fortnight | Hours of subsidised care each fortnight |
|---|---|
| Less than 8 hours | 0 hours if you earn above $80,000 24 hours if you earn $80,000 or below |
| More than 8 to 16 hours | 36 hours |
| More than 16 to 48 hours | 72 hours |
| More than 48 hours | 100 hours |
The Child Care Subsidy will be applied to your daily fees if your child is absent for up to 42 initial absences. Normal daily fees are applicable if your child is absent. Please advise us if your child will be absent so we record their attendance correctly.
You can get up to 42 allowable absence days per child each financial year. These absences can be used for any reason, including a local emergency. If you reach your allowable absence limit, you may get additional absences in some cases. Reasons may include:
- Child or carer is ill
- Child attends preschool or a pupil free day applies
- Public Holiday
- Declared local emergency
Please note that your child must physically attending the centre on their first and last day of enrolment to be eligible to receive the Child Care Subsidy.
If you leave Australia to live in another country, your subsidy will stop when you depart.
If you travel for a short term, you’ll get your subsidy for up to 6 weeks. But you must be paying for child care in Australia while you’re overseas.
After 6 weeks your subsidy will stop.
Your payment will also stop when you depart if all of these apply:
- you travel for more than 6 weeks
- you return to Australia
- you then leave again within 6 weeks of that return.
