Assistance with child care fees

Find out more if you're a child care provider.

Child Care Subsidy and Additional Child Care Subsidy won’t be paid between 6 April and 28 June 2020. You won’t need to pay fees if you access child care during this time. You should speak to your child care service if you need to enrol or re-enrol your child in child care. Read about your family payments if you’re affected by coronavirus (COVID-19).

Child Care Subsidy

Child Care Subsidy helps families with the cost of approved child care.

We pay this subsidy directly to child care providers to reduce the fees you pay. The amount you may be eligible for depends on:

your family’s income
the hourly rate cap based on the type of child care you use and your child’s age
the hours of recognised activities you and your partner do.

Additional Child Care Subsidy

Additional Child Care Subsidy gives some families extra help with the cost of approved child care. You must first claim and be eligible for Child Care Subsidy to apply for this additional subsidy. You’ll also need to meet extra criteria. There are 3 different types you can apply for.

Grandparent

This gives eligible grandparents and great-grandparents extra help with child care costs.

Transition to Work

This gives families transitioning to work from certain income support payments extra help with child care costs.

Temporary Financial Hardship

This gives families in temporary financial hardship extra help with child care costs.

Related subjects

Adopting a child

We have a range of payments and services to help parents care for their newly adopted child.

Having a baby

We have payments and services to help when you have a baby. Use this guide to find out what you need to do to access them.

Payments for families

We have payments and services to help with your child's education and health care.

Support for non parent carers

We provide support to grandparents, legal guardians and other family members who provide full time care for a child.

What families need to do at tax time

Use our tool to check what you need to do at tax time. Do this if you get family assistance or have a child support assessment with us.

Page last updated: 29 April 2020