Childcare is a godsend to parents around Australia, and thanks to the Australian government there are subsidies to help you pay for it so you don’t have to shoulder the bill yourself. Better yet, these subsidies are available to most families in Australia, so long as you meet its eligibility criteria.
Who is eligible to receive the Child Care Subsidy (CCS)?
If you or your partner are caring for your child at least two nights per fortnight, paying for an approved child care service provider, and meet residency rules, you are eligible to get the CCS.
Please see the Australian Government’s website on residency rules for the CCS here.
That’s not all. Some families – where the grandparents are primary carers, or the parents are transitioning to work or experiencing financial hardship – are eligible to receive Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS), that provides additional financial support on top of the standard CCS.
Are there criterias for my child to qualify for CCS?
Yes, your child has to meet the immunisation requirements laid out by the Australian Government, or have an approved medical exemption recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register.
To find out more information on the Australian Government’s immunisation requirements for children, please visit their website.
How does the CCS work?
Introduced in July 2018, the Australian Government’s CCS is an income and activity based system that provides families with 36, 72, or 100 hours of subsidised care per fortnight.
The amount of subsidy provided is calculated based on the combined hours of work, training, or study. For parents to be eligible for this subsidy, they must work or study at least eight hours a fortnight, with the family earning less than $354,305 annually.
The fee subsidy that is paid to approved child care providers, which is then passed on to families in the form of a reduced fee.
What is Approved Child Care?
To ensure that the CCS and ACCS is being fully utilised by families who need it, the subsidies are only given to approved child care services that have the Australian Government’s approval. These Approved Child Care service providers includes:
- Centre Based Day Care, including long day care and occasional care
- Family Day Care
- Outside School Hours Care, including before, after, and vacation care
- In Home Care
As an Approved Child Care service provider, Bright ELC is eligible to receive CCS on your behalf, which will go towards reducing your child care fees. Please talk to our staff for more information on receiving CCS.
What is the Child Care Subsidy coverage for my income bracket?
The amount of subsidised child care fees is dependent on your family’s combined Adjusted Taxable Income (ATI), and categorised under six income brackets.
Families with an ATI of up to $70,015, are eligible for a CCS with an 85 per cent subsidy on fees with no annual cap.
Those families with an ATI of above $70,015 to just below $175,015 will be eligible for a maximum of 85 per cent from the CCS, and a minimum of 50 per cent. The percentage is reduced by 1 for every additional $3000 of family ATI over $70,015.
Families with an ATI of $175,015 to below $254,305, will have a fixed CCS claim of 50 per cent. Not only that, families with an ATI of $190,015 or more will have an annual subsidy cap of $10,655 per child.
The variable rate returns for families with an ATI of $254,305 to below $344,305 where it ranges from a maximum of 50 per cent to a minimum of 20 per cent, with a one per cent decrease for every additional $3000 of family ATI over $254,305.
The CCS is fixed at 20 per cent for families with an ATI of $344,305 to below $354,305. And it is removed for families whose ATI is $354,305 or more.
You can calculate how much Child Care Subsidy your family is eligible for here.
What is the Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS)?
The Additional Child Care Subsidy is aimed at families who are in extraordinary disadvantageous circumstances:
- ACCS child wellbeing: children who are at risk of serious abuse or neglect
- ACCS grandparent: children whose primary carers are grandparents on income support
- ACCS temporary financial hardship: families experiencing temporary financial hardship
- ACCS transition to work: low income families transitioning to work from income support
Eligibility and entitlement for ACCS is dependent on the individual’s circumstances, with families eligible for ACCS child wellbeing, grandparent, and temporary financial hardship, able to receive a subsidy equal to the actual fee charged, up to 120 per cent of the CCS hourly rate cap.
Families who are eligible for these ACCS categories will not be subject to the Child Care Subsidy Activity test, and will be entitled up to 100 hours of care per child, per fortnight.
As for those in the ACCS transition to work category, eligible parents will receive a 95 per cent subsidy of the actual fee charged or up to 95 per cent of the CCS hourly rate cap, whichever is lower.
Unlike other ACCS categories, the hours of subsidised care families will receive under ACCS transition to work will be determined by the activity test.