Childcare Subsidy (CCS) – Overview

What is the Child Care Subsidy (CCS)?

The Child Care Subsidy is a government payment that reduces families out-of-pocket costs for childcare, including: Centre Based Day Care, Family Day Care or Outside School Hours Care.

Each family’s Child Care Subsidy covers a percentage of the childcare centre’s daily fees.  This subsidy percentage is paid directly to childcare providers and then passed on to families as a fee reduction on their invoice. Families pay the gap fee between the daily fees charges and the subsided amount.

All Montessori Academy childcare centres are registered for the Child Care Subsidy (CCS). When using a CCS calculator to determine your out-of-pocket expenses, please note that Montessori Academy centres operate as a Long Day Care and fixed daily rates apply across the 10 to 11.5 hours of operation.

If you’re new to childcare, we recommend that you apply for the claim as soon as possible, so that you understand your eligibility and can confidently enrol at a childcare centre. For more information, you can visit Services Australia

Factors Affecting Child Care Subsidy Eligibility

• Combined Household Income
• The number of children under 5 you have in child care.
• The activity level of your family (e.g. hours of paid work, volunteering, studying, self-employed work, actively job seeking)
• The type of childcare service you are enrolled in (All Montessori Academy childcare centres are registered for the Child care Subsidy)
• The fees you pay for childcare (hourly rate caps apply for each type of service)

Families Who Previously Received the Child Care Subsidy

If you have previously received CCS for the child you are enrolling and wish to receive the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) from Centrelink, please advise us of the following information on your Enrolment Application.

• Child’s CRN number
• Child’s Date of Birth
• Claiming parent’s CRN number
• Claiming parent’s Date of Birth
• Letter of approved subsidy

Please note that if details are not correctly supplied, this will impact your subsidy payments.

Minimising Disruption to your Child Care Subsidy

We recommend families complete the following steps to minimise disruptions to CCS entitlements:

• Give Centrelink your  family income estimate to receive the correct CCS percentage and avoid an overpayment.
• Check your activity hours to receive the correct amount of hours of CCS per fortnight*.
• Make sure your child meets immunisation requirements.
• Check your child’s enrolment details are current with your child care service and re-enrol if you need to.

Once the details above have been provided to us, we will submit your enrolment details to Centerlink. We will also send you an email outlining further steps to be completed on your MyGov account and guide you through until the enrolment shows a ‘Confirmed’ status. Once your enrolment is confirmed CCS will be applied to your fees.

Once Your Enrolment is Submitted to Centrelink

If you are able to view your child’s enrolment details on your Centerlink account, please note the following:

• The enrolment start date displayed on your myGov account is the date the enrolment was submitted to Centerlink and is not reflective of your child’s actual start date. This is done to ensure that families receive their Child Care Subsidy from the child’s actual start date and eliminates any further delays with subsidy payments.
• If your child is currently attending another childcare centre, please note that confirming the enrolment with Montessori Academy via myGov will not effect any subsidies with the current centre. Child Care Subsidy for Montessori Academy will only be received from the child’s first attending day at Montessori Academy.
• Please note that the Child Care Subsidy application process needs to be completed by the parent/guardians through Centerlink. Our Family Care Team are here to assist you.

Absences and the Child Care Subsidy

Initial Allowable Absence Days

The Child Care Subsidy provides 42 allowable absence days per financial year. Absence days can be used for the days your child would normally attend care and receive CCS. Reasons may include public holidays, family vacation, sick days. For the initial 42 absence days, evidence does not need to be provided.

Additional Absence Days

In some circumstances, families may be able to get additional absences once they have used their allowable absence days. Please refer to the Services Australia’s website for more information.

Absences on First and Last Day of Enrolment

Please note that your child must be physically attending the centre on their first and last day of enrolment to be eligible to receive the Child Care Subsidy.

• In the case they are absent on their first day of attendance followed by subsequent absent days, families can receive the Child Care Subsidy (for up to 7 days before the child’s first physical attendance) provided that supporting documentation has been submitted to the centre.
• In the case they are absent on their last day of attendance with preceding absent days, families can receive the Child Care Subsidy (for up to 7 days after the child’s last physical attendance) provided that supporting documentation has been submitted to the centre.

Long Absences

From 11 July 2022, if your child hasn’t used child care at least once in the previous 26 weeks, they will stop being eligible for CCS. Centrelink will reassess your family if one or more of your children stop using child care. If your child starts to attend care again, you’ll need to submit a new claim for CCS for that child.

This page was last updated on July 2024. Any changes to the Child Care Subsidy after this date may not be reflected. Please refer to the Services Australia’s website for the latest updates.

Travel Outside Australia

There are rules about when you can get Child Care Subsidy when you travel outside Australia.

• In the case where you leave Australia to live in another country, your subsidy will stop when you depart.
• In the case where you travel for a short term, you’ll get your subsidy for up to 6 weeks. But you must be paying for child care in Australia while you’re overseas. After 6 weeks your subsidy will stop.

This page was last updated on July 2024. Any changes to the Child Care Subsidy after this date may not be reflected. Please refer to the Services Australia’s website for the latest updates for travel outside Australia.