Government Child Care Subsidy
CHILD CARE SUBSIDY (CCS)
What Determines How Much Child Care Subsidy I Will Receive?
The Australian Government provides a subsidy to help with the cost of child care.
Your child care subsidy (CCS) is based on two factors:
1. Your Family Income
2. Your Hours of Activity
1. Family Income
Your child care subsidy (CCS) will be a percentage based on your estimate of family income. See this link for estimating Family Income.
2. Hours Of Activity
Your CCS is also based on the level of activity for you and your partner. Or just yourself for a single parent household.
The hours of subsidised care you can get per fortnight depends on the hours of recognised activities you and your partner do.
Extra Child Care Subsidy for Families with Multiple Children in Care
Families with two or more children under six years old may be able to receive an additional 30%, up to a maximum of 95% on top of the current CCS for their second child and younger children.
To be eligible, families need two or more children aged under six years and need to have a household income of less than $354,305 a year.
Contact us for more information or see Services Australia.
Exceptions to the Activity Test:
Children in the year before school are entitled to 36 hours of subsidised care per fortnight regardless of the activity test.
Low income families with a combined annual income of $66,958 or less who do not meet the activity test are entitled to
24 hours of subsided care per fortnight.
There are some exceptional cases where families may be exempt from the activity test and be entitled to
100 hours of subsided care per fortnight regardless of ‘hours of activity’ -
- If you or your partner are the principal carer of a grandchild or great grandchild.
- Affected by family and domestic violence
- Experiencing serious illness.
For families in exceptional cases please call the Family Line to discuss your case (136 150 Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm)
Kinda Kapers is happy to help with any questions you may have!
TIPS FOR APPLYING FOR CHILD CARE SUBSIDY
- Apply for CCS early – it is best to start your application for Child Care Subsidy with Centrelink as early as possible. The easiest way is through a MyGov account and submitting a ‘Claim’. See this link for a guide
- You will need to have calculated your expected ‘Family Income’ and ‘Hours of Activity’ for you and your partner.
- Count every hour– When considering your ‘Hours of Activity’ make sure you count every hour to maximise your hours of approved CCS. This includes the travel time between your childcare centre and place of activity (work, study or other approved activity)
- CCS works on Fortnights – When calculating your hours count over the fortnight (two weeks)
Flexible Sessions
Making the most of your approved hours
Kinda Kapers is happy to help you make the most of your approved hours! You have the freedom to choose from 9 hour, 10 hour or full day sessions as you require.
This can reduce parent out-of-pocket and increase access to days of care as you need.
Our flexible sessions allow you to choose your drop-off & pick-up times as you need. There will be no late-fees as long as children are collected within licensed hours.
Please ask us if you have any questions on how we can help you make your number of approved hours work for you!
Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS)
The Government also assists with Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) for the following situations –
- Grandparents – assist families where you or your partner is a grandparent (or great-grandparent), have 65% of care or more for a child, and also receive an income support payment. ACCS (Grandparents) fully covers Kinda Kapers fees for 100 hours per fortnight. See this link for more information
- Transition to Work – assists low-income families to cover child care costs while parents either work or seek employment, study or complete training activities to make them more employable. Eligible families receive a CCS percentage of 95%. See this link for more information.
- Temporary Financial Hardship – assists families if you have experienced temporary financial hardship due to an event that happened in the last 6 months and have a substantially reduced ability to pay child care fees. Examples may be loss of job, a sudden illness, death of partner, and others. ACCS (TFH) fully covers Kinda Kapers fees for 100 hours per fortnight for 13 weeks. See this link for more information
Applying for ACCS is a separate ‘claim’ made through your myGov portal or directly at Centrelink. You will likely require supporting documents to prove your eligibility.
Please contact us if you would like further information!
Kinda Kapers is childcare & preschool provider based in the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie & Maitland region. We have centres in Adamstown, Belmont, Tighes Hill, Maitland, Charlestown, Mount Hutton and Toronto. For more than 25 years we have provided safe and nurturing care in our purpose-built learning environments. Our curriculum incorporates the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) to support children's learning development and their transition to primary school.
