Child Care Subsidy
As of July 2, 2018, the Federal Government introduced changes to the subsidy paid to parents to assist in offsetting early childhood education and care fees.
The new Child Care Subsidy (CCS) replaces the former CCB and CCR Payments. This new payment is referred to as the CCS payment, or simply CCS.
The Child Care subsidy (CCS) is the main way the Australian Government helps families with childcare fees.
CCS is paid directly to the education and care service, and guidelines that determine the amount of subsidy paid incorporate the following factors.
- A single payment subsidy
- The revised combined family income threshold
- A new Activity Test (e.g: working hours, study, volunteering work)
- New ‘hourly rate caps’ per service type
- All parents will be required to register with Centrelink to confirm the child’s booking into childcare
CCS assists with education and care fees, covering long day care, before and after school care, and vacation care where families qualified for assistance.
Enrolment Process for CCS
All children who attend approved care must be enrolled, regardless of whether they get CCS. This is a requirement under Family Assistance Law.
Families must ensure to lodge a Child Care Subsidy (CCS) claim with Service Australia before enrolling children at the service to ensure they receive the subsided CCS towards their fees.
If a child starts before the family has lodge a claim, or while their claim is being assessed, families will be charged full fees and responsible to pay all attended days. Families may be backdated up to 28 days once families application for Child Care Subsidy has been approved. Backdated CCS will be paid directly to family not the service.
Once an enrolment agreement is in place at the service between the family and service provider, the family will be required to confirm enrolment via their Centrelink online account this is a final step to ensure the service will receive the subsided CCS amount based on the family approved claim.
