How to make a claim to Centrelink for Child Care Subsidy

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Make a claim to Centrelink regarding CCS assessment for your family:

• Register for CCS through your MyGov account and provide Centrelink with

1. Your projected family income for FY18/19
2. Your activity levels
3. The name of the child care centre your child will enrol at

• You will then receive a notification from Centrelink informing you of your new CCS

1. Percentage
2. Hours of subsidy

What you need to know

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Combined family income

Your family’s combined income will calculate the CCS percentage you’re entitled to.
Remember, you will need to contact Centrelink when your combined income increases or decreases.

Family income	CCS %
$66,958	85%
$66,958 – $171, 958	Subsidy reduces 1% for every $3,000 over $66,958
$171,958 – $251,248	50%
$251,248 – $341,248	Subsidy reduces 1% for every $3,000 over $251,248
$341,248 – $351,248	20%
$351,248+	Nil

These tax brackets will be adjusted as per CPI every financial year.

Level of activity

CCS is linked to how much a family contributes to the Australian economy through activity. This activity level is calculated from the parent with the lowest number of hours of activity.

Hours of activity (per fortnight)	Maximum number of hours of subsidy (per fortnight)
8 hours to 16 hours	36 hours
16 hours to 48 hours	72 hours
More than 48 hours	100 hours

What counts as activity?

Under the new system, you will only be able to access the Child Care Subsidy if you are doing suitable activity and the amount of activity will then determine how many hours of Childcare Subsidy you are eligible for.

Activity counts as:

• Paid work (including unpaid lunch breaks)
• Commute time from childcare centre to work (excludes time travelling form home to childcare centre and vice versa)
• Authorised leave (eg maternity leave, long service leave, annual leave etc)
• Unpaid leave of up to 6 months
• Unpaid work in a family business
• Setting up a new business
• Study
• Training and study (includes semester breaks)
• Work experience/internships (whether paid or not)
• Volunteering
• Looking for work (eg internet research, contacting employers, preparing resumes/letters of application, preparing for and attending job interviews, travel time for interviews)

Concerned you won’t have enough activity?

There may be some families that lose the level of childcare funding support they have become used to as a result of the activity test. However, please note:

• Activity is based on the family’s estimate over a thirteen week period
• For casual/contract/itinerant workers whose hours may vary from week to week, you should pick the week with the highest level of activity in the thirteen week period and use that as your level of activity
• You can go onto myGov and change your activity level at any time
• Families earning less than $64,710 are exempt from activity tests for up to 24 hours care per fortnight

 

The new caps

The current cap of $7,500 per child has been updated depending on your family’s combined income.

• Families earning less than $186,958 = no cap
• Families earning $186,958 to $351,248 = $10,190 cap
• Families earning over $351,248 are not eligible for CCS

Note: the government will be holding back 5% of CCS paid to families until reconciliation at the end of every financial year. This balance will be paid back to families in their tax return if they are eligible.