On 2 July 2018, the Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate was replaced by a single Child Care Subsidy as part of the “Jobs for Famiilies” package. The Child Care Subsidy is means tested based on the combined family income, the fortnightly activity of families – such as work, study or volunteering – and the type of service a child attends.*
REED has written a paper describing how the “Jobs for Families” Child Care package impacts on Wheatbelt Early Childhood Services, and in particular its Fee Sructure. To view this paper please click here.
How to Apply for the Child Care Subsidy
You will need to complete a Child Care Subsidy assessment and apply for the Child Care Subsidy with Centrelink by following the below steps:
- Sign in to your myGovaccount. If you don’t have one, you will need to create a myGov account at https://my.gov.au.
- Link myGov to Centrelink. You can do this under Services.
- Select Centrelink and complete the Child Care Subsidy Assessment form by providing Centrelink with the following information: your estimated 2018-19 combined family income, your activity details(using the parent with the lowest activity level), and confirmation of your child’s enrolment.
Families receiving additional support under Child Care Benefit payments, will need to follow the instructions in their Centrelink notice on how to apply for Additional Child Care Subsidy.
Once this process has been completed and you have been assessed as eligible for the new Child Care Subsidy, the subsidy will be paid direct to your child care service and you will receive it as reduced fees.
If you can’t complete these steps online, you can provide this information to Centrelink verbally.
There is also an Express Plus Centrelink mobile App available to download on Apple and Android devices so that you can easily access your myGov account.
For questions and support contact the myGov help desk on 13 23 07, select Option 1.
