Child Care Benefit

If you have read the article on childcare costs you will see that childcare in Australia is expensive. However, you may be entitled to help from the government.

We have different names for benefits for children in Australia. 

Child care benefits is benefits that are paid to a child care provider.

Family Tax Benefit - Is a two part payment for help in the cost of raising your children

Child Care Rebate - Covers half of the annual cost of child care up to a certain limit

Ok so let's get back to child care benefits and see what you can or can't claim.

Firstly to be considered eligible you need to:

• Use approved or registered childcare
• Meet the residency requirements
• Be the person paying the school fees
• Make sure your child is fully vaccinated.

Now I bet the first thing you are thinking is, "Do I meet the residency requirements?" The good news is that if you are on a Permanent Residency Visa then yes you qualify for the Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate subject to meeting certain criteria.

An example costing is

Peter and Jane have 2 children - 1 is 5 months old and is in full time childcare at a cost of $500 a week.

Their 2nd child is 14 and attends after school care at the cost of $150 per week.

Based on a joint income of $10,000 and both Peter and Jane either working or looking for work over 15 hours they would receive.

Child 1 - $221.52 per week towards the child care

Child 2 - $56.49 per week towards after school care

They would also receive a Child Care Rebate which can be paid weekly if required at $185.99.

On top of the childcare allowance Peter and Jane may also be entitled to Family Tax Parts A and B 

Part A is $420.70 per fortnight

Part B would be $155.54

They may also be entitled to Rent Assistance which based on the figures above would be $155.26 per fortnight.

The above is to be used for a guide only, you must contact Centrelink directly to confirm what you are entitled to.

You can find a benefit calculator here: https://www.centrelink.gov.au/RateEstimatorsWeb/publicUserCombinedStart.do