How much will your family save from the Child Care Subsidy changes taking effect today?

Child care is one of the biggest expenses for young families; with the cost of childcare usually only second to the cost of rent or mortgage repayments for most families with young children.

Under changes to the Child Care Subsidy which take effect today, families with more than two children 5 and under attending early learning services will benefit from additional federal government subsidies that could see a subsidy of up to 95% applied to their childcare fees.

Set to cost the Government $1.7 billion over three years, the additional investment in subsidies is targeted to benefit those families who are paying the most in childcare fees.

These changes to the subsidy benefiting families with more than one child in care come after changes on the 10th of December 2021 that removed the 'annual cap' on subsidy payments which caused bill shock for many families when their subsidy suddenly stopped part way through the year.

What is the Child Care Subsidy?

The Child Care Subsidy is the main federal government program to help families with the cost of childcare.

Which families will benefit from the changes?

Only families with more than one child aged 5 or under in care will get a highest subsidy for the second child and any other additional younger children.

To be eligible to receive the Child Care Subsidy, families need to have total household taxable income of under $354,305 per year.

Eligible higher rate children will receive a 30% higher subsidy than the first child, up to a maximum of 95%.

What has KindiCare done to help you work out your Child Care Subsidy benefits?

The KindiCare Search with Subsidy feature is the only childcare comparison serivce that lets you search for childcare with your subsidy applied.  

The Search with Subsidy feature has been updated with the release of the latest version of the KindiCare App. You can now see the estimated gap payment after Child Care Subsidy for both one child aged 5 and under as well as any additional children 5 and under.

How does income affect my childcare subsidy?

The Child Care Subsidy percentage you receive is based on your family's household taxable income. For the 2021/2022 Financial Year, the following subsidy and household taxable income bands apply:

Please note that eligible higher rate children receive a 30% higher subsidy than the first child in the table above, up to a maximum of 95%.

Where can I go for additional information?

For more information on the childcare subsidy please click here. 

To update the KindiCare App, simply update on Google Play or the App Store.