Child Care costs and your family income
Your family income is going to influence your eligibility for a whole range of government support services and payments. In this article we focus on child care subsidy help, and the numbers you need to know.
Families with income less than $355k can get a subsidy
In short, if your family income is less than $355k, you should consider the Child Care Subsidy.
Note that there is quite a specific definition of family income - if your financial situation is more complex - you could have a closer look at the rules here.
The next step will be to look at the activity test to see how many hours you qualify for.
Your subsidy changes depending on how much you earn
While this may seem obvious, it is worth keeping in mind for the changing situations families face. As an example, the decision to work an extra day based on exisiting out-of-pocket childcare costs may see an overall drop in subsidy - thus making childcare more expensive per day.
Here are some examples where income changes could impact your overall family budget:
A pay rise
Loss of work (with a pay cut, and child remaining in childcare)
The decision to work an extra day
An income change while taking parental leave
The chart below should help.
A second child under 6 gets a boost in child care help
From March 7 2022, families with 2 or more children in eligible child care will get a boost in childcare subsidy.
This a boost of 30%, above your rate, up to 95%.
A few things to consider with the 30% boost
If you are in a childcare provider who charges above the government standard rate, look closely at how much support you get. (Find out more about this here)
This is a boost up to a maximum rate of 95% - so if you are at 70%, then you do not get to 100%
This will hold if you have 2 or more children while the older child is under 6 - so basically until their 6th birthday.
This is a great outcome if the older child is in lower cost after school and/or before school care, with younger children in more expensive long day care.