January 2023 – Child Care Subsidy News & Updates

Child Care Subsidy (CCS) is changing.

From July 2023 most families using child care will get more CCS. Here’s what you need to know:

The maximum amount of CCS is increasing from 85% to 90%.
Families earning $80,000 or less will get 90% subsidy.
Families earning over $80,000 and under $530,000 will get a subsidy that tapers down from 90%, depending on their income. The subsidy will go down by 1% for each $5,000 earned.
Families earning below $362,408 with more than one child aged 5 or under in care can still get a higher rate for their second and younger children when the changes occur on 10 July 2023. The higher rate for second and younger children will end when a family earns $362,408 or more. All children will then receive the standard CCS rate. (Updated on 01/03/2023)

Understand Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS)

The Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) provides extra help with fees to families facing barriers to child care. ACCS will usually cover all of a child’s child care fees.

Types of ACCS

There are four categories of funding:

child wellbeing is for families who need practical help to support their child’s safety and wellbeing
grandparent is for grandparents on income support, who are the primary carer of their grandchild
temporary financial hardship is for families experiencing significant financial stress
transition to work is for parents or carers transitioning to work from income support.

Eligibility for ACCS

To get ACCS, a family must:

be eligible for Child Care Subsidy (CCS)
meet other criteria depending on the category.

How to apply for ACCS

Families can apply for CCS and ACCS at the same time.

Families can apply for the following subsidies through Centrelink:

grandparent
temporary financial hardship
transition to work.

Providers apply for the child wellbeing subsidy on behalf of families.

ACCS amount

The amount of ACCS a family can get depends on the category they’re eligible for.

ACCS is paid to providers to pass on to families as a fee reduction.

To estimate how much you can get please refer to the Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) section in the Childcare Subsidy Calculator. Once you enter all the informaton in your ACCS amount will be displayed under the Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) section.