costs- childcare

Hi,, i was just speaking to a friend who said that she will be putting her abby in half day childcare(this ctr does it) anyhow, i am thinking of putting DS into this centre as well.. apparently half day creche costs are about $30. but you do get some back from the govt..

Does anyone know the rebates, would love to know my out of pocket costs.. our joint income will be under $60k, as i am going back part time, and DS will only be in childcare like half day. thanks

Hi Maggie :)
Get onto your Family assistance office they will send you out the exact % that you are entitled too and your day care centre have whats called a centre provider number that you give to Family assistance office and they communicate and give you the correct rebate as per your annual income estimate :)
Ours is about 60k and while I am not at work we will get 56% child care rebate and we get $106 per fortnight, we are married and stuff and that is all declared... but when I go back to work.. which is full time at 37k per year on top of DH self employed earnings... our rebate goes to 16% and no family assistance fortnightly payment.

Its a GREAT help while I am not working and even though its only a little % of CC rebate when I do go back its still better than a kick up the bum I suppose :)

So yeah give family assistance a call and they will answer all of your questions.. I found them pretty helpful and prompt with thier service and information :)

Good luck
xox

oh BTW the full cost for a day at ABC near us is $56 per day... unfortunatly they dont offer half days so if DS only goes in for 3 hours its still the cost of a full day... but we are in QLD.... then the rebate gets taken off that amount :)

thanks

Hi, we pay $52 a day at our ABC centre. Get on to Centrelink ASAP as we are still waiting for our paperwork to come through and have been told it could take at least another 2 months for the rebate to come through and the centre to be notified so in the mean time we are paying full fees.

Fruitwood, is it Centrelink that is telling it is going to take 2 months for the rebate to come through. If it is I would be right back on the phone to tell them what for as it only take 2 weeks for them to give you a letter saying what your percentage is and it can take longer for the centre to get there. You can always take your letter to the centre as proof.

Ok, the CCB that the government is the % of $2.95 that the government thinks that childcare is worth. Saying your % is 60 and the childcare fee is $55 a day. The goverment will pay for 10 hours.(up to 50 hours a week with exception but they do not like to let you know about this) This is what the government will pay.

$2.95 x 10= $29.50 then you multiply it by your % which in this example is 60. Which gives you $17.70. This is the amount the the government will pay through CCB which will leave you with $37.30 to pay for the day. This very rough but it gives you an idea on what to expect. Childcare is definately worth more than $2.95 a day.

You can find out what your percentage will be from Centrelinks online service.

I hope this helps you.

Ang

I meant $2.95 an hour not a day.

Ang

And then at tax time, next year (07/08) you get 30% of out of pocket costs back when you do your tax return for child care paid in this financial year. Some places will work this into what you pay weekly to try and get you in, other places won't do it.

Yep - I would ring centrelink back and ask to speak with a team leaderif you aren't happy with the consultatn you get. it should take no more than 10 days for you to get your letter saying what your CCB entitlement is, and they notify the centre at the same time.

There are so many Family Assistance Office calls to Centrelink, that the call que fills up and the "overflow" calls go to the first availbale consultant, who may not have any, or only very brief FAO traning, so could tell you the wrong thing.. GRRR..

Dont Medicare now also look after familly assistance???

We get about $12 back a fortnight for 3 full days a week care wt FDC...

Our combined incomes is over $100k

medicare does in in the offices, but the phone calls all go through centrelink as far as I know.

we are in the same situation as you Tracey, and get the minimum back.

Check out my thread "unbelievable" in the boohoo room.... tells you my horrid story of this morning!