Highlights
- Currently, families can lose more than 80 per cent of their take-home pay to childcare fees.
- The new rules will boost the subsidy applied to the second child by 30 per cent but capped at 95 per cent.
- Although subsidy makes a big difference, childcare remains unaffordable for low and middle income families with multiple children in care at the same time.
Are you eligible?
Families with more than one child in care aged 5 or under in care can get a higher Child Care Subsidy (CCS). Services Australia pay this subsidy directly to your child care provider to reduce the fees the parents or primary carers pay.
To be eligible, you must be an Australian citizen, permanent resident, or a Special Category visa holder.
You may also meet the requirements if either you or your partner are a student from overseas, sponsored by the Australian Government to study in Australia or you’re in hardship, or special circumstances apply.
The family must earn less than $354,305.
How much CCS are your family eligible for?
The amount of Child Care Subsidy you can get depends on your family’s income, the hourly rate cap is based on the type of approved child care you use, your child’s age, and hours of activity you and your partner do.
The eldest child in care will get the standard rate of childcare subsidy. For children born on the same date, such as twins, Services Australia will automatically determine one child as the eldest child and apply the higher rate to the other child.
For example, if your eldest child (Juan) is getting a 60 per cent subsidy from your chosen childcare provider, your second child (Pedro) will get an additional 30 per cent on top of the given rate. The government will now pay a total of 90 per cent of Pedro's child care fees.
You and the child care provider don't need to do anything. You will receive a letter to confirm your new subsidy or you can check your MyGov account.
