The Child Care Subsidy is designed to help families cover the costs of their child care, through approved facilities.
The Government pays the determined amount directly to your chosen child care provider, to reduce the fees that your family is required to pay.
The hourly rate cap that will be subsidised is determined on a case by case basis, and is decided by looking at a few main points: the type of child care you require, the child’s age, and the household income.
Not all early education and care facilities are approved for the Child Care subsidy. Approved facilities include:
The Child Care Subsidy will help to relieve the financial pressure that education can place on your family, as long as your situation is eligible.
To establish eligibility, the following factors will be taken into consideration:
Subsidy is not determined per family, but per child — this means that if you’ve got multiple children, you’re able to apply for each individual child.
There are some guidelines available online to calculate how much subsidised child care you can access per fortnight per child, including the calculator available here,
The Services Australia website provides answers to all the questions you might have, including a step-by-step guide for how to make your suitable claim. You can access the application page here.
An overview of the process is as follows:
While the online services do provide information every step of the way, our team at Stepping Stone is also available to help you. Please get in touch for more information.