Child Care

Child care subsidy

Child care subsidy (CCS) replaced the Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate with effect from 2 July 2018. Eligibility for the subsidy is based on an income and activity test.
CCS may be supplemented by an Additional Child Care Subsidy to provide extra support for disadvantaged and vulnerable children

Child care subsidy	1 July 2019 – 30 June 2020
Income test
Income assessed	Adjusted taxable income of claimant and partner (family income)
Family Income
Up to $68,163	85%
$68,164 – $173,162	85% reduced by 1% per $3,000 of income above $68,163
$173,163 – $252,452	50%
$252,453 – $342,452	50% reduced by 1% per $3,000 of income above $252,453
$342,453 – $352,452	20%
$352,453 and above	Nil
Activity Test
	Claimant must engage in: paid work, including paid and unpaid leave self-employment a training course to improve work skills or employment prospects an approved course of education or study unpaid work experience unpaid work in a family business voluntary work activity related to looking for work activity related to setting up a business Activity specific conditions and time limits apply in some cases. Max hours of CCS is based on hours of claimant’s activity. For a couple, max hours of CCS is based on partner with lower hours of activity. Families with annual income of $68,163 or less can access up to 24 hours per fortnight of subsidised care without meeting the activity test.
Activity and max CCS hours	Hours of activity pf	Max hours of CCS pf
	Less than 8 hours	Nil
	8 – 16 hours	36 hours
	16- 48 hours	72 hours
	More than 48 hours	100 hours

CCS hourly rate cap
Care provided by …	Hourly rate cap (per child)	Annual subsidy cap
Centre-based day care	$11.98 per hour	$10,373 per child where family income exceeds $188,163
Family day care	$11.10 per hour
Outside school hours care	$10.48 per hour
In-home care2	$32.58 per hour per family

Calculating weekly child care subsidy

Step	Description
1	Activity test: Work out the maximum number of hours in which CCS is payable (Max hours of CCS) based on claimant and their partner’s activity for the relevant fortnight. If nil, CCS for the fortnight is nil.
2	Annual subsidy cap: Work out whether the annual subsidy cap applies. If cap has been reached, CCS is nil.
3	Eligible care sessions: Identify all sessions of care for the week for which the claimant is eligible for CCS.
4	CCS hourly rate: Work out the hourly rate of CCS (ie applicable CCS percentage based on family income x lesser of actual hourly fee and CCS hourly cap) for the eligible care session.
5	Activity tested amount: For each session of care, the activity tested amount is the CCS hourly rate (step 4) multiplied by the lesser of: number of hours in the eligible care session balance of activity test result (step 1 reduced by earlier sessions of care in the fortnight where claimant or partner were entitled to CCS)
6	CCS amount: Lesser of: activity tested amount (from step 5), or annual subsidy cap (if applicable) less previous CCS amounts received in financial year

Note: additional criteria for in-home care apply. The subsidy for in-home care is intended to support workforce participation and child care requirements where other options are not available or appropriate

Paid parental leave

Single income family supplement

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Child care subsidy

Calculating weekly child care subsidy

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