Child Care Benefit for Australian Permanent Residence Holders

Much like Canada, the Australian government also provides Childcare benefits to its citizens and permanent residents. In simple terms, the Child Care benefit is a lump sum amount that the government offers to eligible families to support their children. Below are the details of how the Child Care Benefit in Australia works.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the Child Care Benefit, you must meet the following criteria:

•  You must have an approved care or a registered Child Care plan
• You should be responsible for paying for the child’s care
•  You must make sure that your child is immunised or that the child’s vaccinations are up-to-date
•  You should be a citizen of Australia or a permanent resident

What is an Approved Care?

Approved Child Care services are those that have Australian government approval. These Child Care benefits include reduced Child Care fees.

When availing the approved Child Care benefit, you need to pay less. An approved Child Care can include:

•  Long day care
•  Family day care
• Outside school hours care
• Vacation care
• In-home care, and
• Occasional care

An approved Child Care benefit can provide:

• Up to 24 hours per child per week, available to all eligible families, or
• Up to 50 hours per child per week if

1. You or your partner is a grandparent and is a primary caretaker of your grandchild.

2. You or your partner are working, looking for work, training or studying for at least 15 hours per week or 30 hours per fortnight, or

3. You and your partner meet the exception from the requirement

Information You Need to Provide to Avail an Approved Child Care

While enrolling your child for an approved Child Care, you will be notified to submit specific details about you and your child.

These details are as follows:

• Your customer relationship number (CRN) and date of birth
• Your child’s customer relationship number (CRN) and date of birth

When you submit a claim for child care benefits, you and your child will get a CRN as soon as a record is created with an Approved Child Care.

You can either claim your Child Care benefits in the form of a fee reduction or a lump sum amount.

If You Claimed Child Care Benefits as a Fee Reduction

Upon submitting yours and your child’s CRN and date of birth, an enrolment is created with Centrelink. If you are eligible and have chosen for payments to be made to your Child Care service, Centrelink will provide the details to an Approved Child Care and offer you the Child Care Rebate. This, in turn, means that you will be paying less for your Child Care.

If You Claimed Child Care Benefits as a Lump Sum

Even if you plan to get a lump sum amount for your Child Care Benefit or Child Care rebate, you will still need to submit your and your child’s CRN and date of birth. This allows Centrelink to receive your child’s attendance, which further assists the system to process the claim.

What is a Registered Care for Child Care Benefit?

Registered childcare is care for children provided by individuals who are registered as carers with Centrelink. This can include care provided by Nannies, grandparents, relatives, friends or neighbours.

Child care benefit for registered care is paid at a standard rate for up to 50 hours per child per week if:

• You and your partner are working, studying or training for 15 hours per week
• You and your partner meet an exception to the requirement

Payment Rates

The payment rates for Approved and Registered child care benefits are as follows:

Approved Care

The current approved child care rate is $4.30 per child per hour, totalling $215 per week. The payment rates for school-aged children are 85% of the rates of non-school-aged children.

Your circumstances, like your family’s income, the number of children attending child care, the type of child care service and the number of hours you use as child care, can all affect your child care payment.

If you do not participate in any work, school or any training, you can get up to 24 hours of child care per week. In case you participate in work, study or other training that consumes about 15 hours per week or 30 hours every fortnight, you can avail up to 50 hours of child care.

You may get a higher rate of payment if you are a grandparent and a primary caretaker of the child.

Registered Care

The current rate for registered care of a non-school-aged child is $0.719 per hour, or $35.95 per week per child.

The payment is made to the registered child care directly once you submit a claim and supporting receipt.