1.      Your combined family income – how much your family earns will determine the percentage of subsidy you are eligible for.

2.      Your activity level – parents must undertake a recognised activity to be eligible for the subsidy, and

3.      The type of child care service your family uses – CCS will be calculated by an hourly rate cap, which vary
         depending on whether you use centre-based care, family day care or outside school hours care.

 

You can compare the hourly rate of our services to the government's CCS hourly rate cap at the link above - You will find all of our programs are well below the cap.

 

This is quite a good article to take a peek at as well https://www.guardian.edu.au/families/child-care-subsidy-ccs/  More information is better! 

 

If you have not already done so, please action the following now:  All of these steps must be completed in order to access subsidy fee reduction.

1)      Create a MyGov account

2)      In your  MyGov account, link to Centrelink

3)      In your  Centrlink account – Complete your new assessment for the new child care subsidy. 

         **Update income estimates for the following year by mid June - Ongoing > to keep your childcare subsidy entitilement

4)      Confirm your child's Enrolment at our Service/s - This is the final step and until it's done your CCS entitlements will NOT flow through
         to our CCS software and you will not receive reduced fees.         

   ***Let us know if you are having trouble finding this step in Centrelink - After you log in to Centrelink via MyGov, it's usually found if you:

         Go to: Menu > My Family > Childcare > Enrolments 
         Select the pending enrolment    click view details   check details - if correct  click Yes then Next.  (If No, leave and ring us to correct first).

         Review and tick:  'I accept this declaration'  press Submit   Done!  Click Here to go to Centrelink help

CHILD CARE SUBSIDY (CCS) '14 WEEK RULE' -

RECEIVING THE SUBSIDY WHEN YOUR CHILD IS ABSENT ON A BOOKED DAY OF CARE

An Enrolment for Subsidy purposes means 'A CCS enrolment online in your Centrelink account'. You are required to confirm the CCS Enrolment initially and may be required to confirm again if Centrelink ceases the enrolment.  Centrelink will cease a CCS enrolment after 14 weeks of non attendance and you will need to let us know if this happens.  Full fees apply once a CCS enrolment ceases.

 

* Child Care Subsidy is not payable for absences submitted before a child has physically attended at a service, or after a child’s final physical day of attendance at a service.  

* An online Subsidy enrolment is taken to have ceased for Child Care Subsidy purposes if the child does not attend a session of care for 14 continuous weeks.

What does this mean to families? 

Please be aware that booked sessions of care are charged whether your child attends or not - Absences incur the full fee if Child Care Subsidy is withdrawn/recovered or not paid by Centrelink for a session of care.

Families may have their childcare subsidy recovered by Centrelink if any of the following occur:

* Absent on a First physical day of care -

       > This can occur if absent on the actual 'first day' booked at the service

       > If absent on any subsequent 'first day', when recommencing care after Centrelink ceased the online enrolment (14 week rule)
          OR if a family becomes ineligible

 * Absence on a Last physical day of care -

       > This can occur if absent on the 'last day' booked at the service where the child will not be returning

       > If absent on any subsequent 'Last day'prior to Centrelink ceasing the online enrolment (14 week rule)
          OR if a family becomes ineligible

CASUAL CARE AND SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAM ONLY FAMILIES who do not use routine/regular care OR Families who use St Jude's After school care only during the school term, are at risk of being affected by the 14 week rule because it is 'Service/Site specific.  Regular care used at St Jude's will not provide continuity of your 'online subsidy enrolment' for care provided at the Community Centre for Before school care or School holiday program.

*** Please check that your online subsidy enrolment has not been 'Ceased' by logging into your Centrelink account and checking your child care subsidy enrolment status, prior to booking casual care after a break.