Category: 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.

Do I need to issue a new certificate for Additional Child Care Subsidy (child wellbeing) each 12-month period?

Yes. Once a child has received Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) (child wellbeing) for continuous periods over 12 months, you need to issue a new certificate.

The Child Care Subsidy System (CCSS) will not allow you to apply for a further determination if the child has received ACCS (child wellbeing) for continuous periods over 12 months and a new certificate is not issued. If the child remains ‘at risk’ after six weeks on the certificate, you will then need to apply for further 13-week period determinations.

For example:

Billy attends Pink Unicorn Child Care Service and a certificate was issued for six weeks on 8 July 2019 because he was assessed as being ‘at risk’. Billy has remained on 13-week determinations continuously since then (inclusive of the Relief Package period). On 18 May 2020, Services Australia made a determination for another 13 weeks for Billy which ceases on 16 August 2020. If Billy is still considered to be ‘at risk’, the service will need to issue a new six-week certificate, from 17 August 2020, before another determination can be given.

Does a child need to use the full six weeks of a certificate before I can apply for a determination?

Yes. When you apply for a determination, the system will check to see if the child has been on a certificate for six weeks in the previous 12 months.

If the child has not been on a certificate for six weeks in the last 12 months, you will need to issue a certificate for the remaining balance of the six weeks before you can apply for a determination.

For example:

Orange Monkey Child Care Centre issued Janie a certificate for three weeks because she was assessed ‘at risk’ when she started at the service on 8 July 2019. Janie continued to be assessed as ‘at risk’ so the service applied for a determination from Services Australia for 13 weeks commencing 29 July 2019. The system checked to see if Janie had been on a certificate for six weeks in the previous 12 months. In this case, only three weeks of the certificate was used. The service must issue a certificate for the remaining balance of the six weeks before they can apply for a determination.