The Guides to Social Policy Law is a collection of publications designed to assist decision makers administering social policy law. The information contained in this publication is intended only as a guide to relevant legislation/policy. The information is accurate as at the date listed at the bottom of the page, but may be subject to change. To discuss individual circumstances please contact Services Australia.

1.1.E.15 Election of subsidised care (CCS)

Definition

CCS eligible individuals (1.1.I.90) with an activity test result greater than zero, and whose child is enrolled at more than one approved child care service (1.1.A.90), can elect the maximum number of subsidised hours each child care service can receive on their behalf per fortnight. Individuals can do this through Centrelink (online, in person, or over the phone). This information will be recorded through CCSS to assist with the calculation of CCS. If an individual makes an election, they must apportion their total eligible hours across services, in whole hours. The election will apply from the beginning of the next CCS fortnight (applies to new and varied apportionment of hours).

Example: An individual is entitled to up to 100 hours of CCS per fortnight, based on their activity test result. Their child attends an FDC service 3 days (36 hours) a week for a total of 72 hours per fortnight, and a CBDC service 2 days (20 hours) a week for a total of 40 hours per fortnight.

The number of hours the child is enrolled (1.1.E.25) in per fortnight (112) is higher than the number of subsidised hours that the individual is entitled to receive per fortnight (100). Therefore, the individual elects to allocate a maximum of 60 subsidised hours per fortnight to the FDC service, and a maximum of 40 subsidised hours to the CBDC service. This will result in CCS being paid for 60 of the 72 fortnightly hours at the FDC service, and all 40 hours per fortnight at the CBDC service (where the individual's out-of-pocket costs are higher). There will be 12 hours per fortnight (6 hours per week) that will not be subsidised at the FDC service. The family will be required to pay full fees for these hours.

Where an individual does not elect how their subsidised hours are to be apportioned, the child care services will be paid up to the limit of the individual's subsidised hours available, according to the order in which the session reports (1.1.S.35) are received.

In the example above, if the individual did not elect how their subsidised hours were to be paid and both child care services submitted session reports weekly, both the FDC and CBDC service would be paid for all hours submitted in the first week of the CCS fortnight (36 and 20 hours, respectively, 56 hours in total). The individual would have 44 of the 100 hours of subsidised care remaining for the second week of the fortnight. If the FDC service submitted its session report for the second week before the CBDC service, CCS would be paid for all 36 hours used in FDC for that week, leaving 8 subsidised hours remaining. When the CBDC service submitted their session report for the second week, only 8 of the 20 hours would be subsidised.

Act reference: CCSMinRules Part 3 Division 2 Circumstances for election

Last reviewed: