Child care benefit - how does it work?

I am possibly going to be returning to work for 2 days a week in november, and my daughter will be attending a long day care centre for those two days...

Now, my question is, can anyone tell me how the child care benefit works? I am trying to work out whether or not it is going to be worth it financially to even go back to work at all at this stage.

I have tlked to my child care centre and they hve given me the daily fees which are $66 per day (before any benefits are applied). I have then used the calcultor on the FAO website to give me my CCB % which is 43%. I overestimated our incomes just in case.

Would anyone be able to tell me what I do with this percentage?
Is it 43% of the mximum rate of the CCB or 43% of something else?
Their website is not that helpful (or maybe I am looking in the wrong spot!)

I'm so confused.

any help would be appreciated. I need to tell my child care centre in the next week or so and I hate waiting on hold when I try to cll the FAO during the day! (who has the time to sit there on hold anyway!!)

thanks :)

I am not really good at working this out but, I will try and help!!
On my statement it has the % 54.29 x110.00, my fee is $55.00 per day and the CCB is $24.15 so I pay the Gap of $30.85.
I hope that this helps??

oh ok, thanks Dani.. I'm sorry but I am still so confused! Whats the 110 for? Is that what my 43% will be based on? 43% of $110 or something??
omg I must be so daft. :(

Oh I have no idea, as what I told you dosn't add up... sorry!!
You could ring the daycare direct and asked then, that is what I did.
Sorry I haven't been much help

Karina, I think that the 43% is what the govt pays towards your childcare.
So, if your CC costs $100 per day you will pay $57 per day yourself and the remaining $43 will be paid by your CCB.

It is quite a complicated formula for applying the CCB to chilcare fees, applying 43% to the total cost of the fee does not work. I have tried to work it out from the vague govt website I came across, but I am having trouble getting my figures to match. If I can work it out (can't at the moment, Maggie wont' give me back my cc statement), I will post it.

The 43% is % of the maximum childcare benfit given. Not 43% off the daycare fees.
Out rebate is somewhere around 60-70%, but its definitely not that much off the daycare fees.

HTH

I'm not sure how its worked out.
We get the minimum rate which works out to about $6 a day of CCB.

You know that you can claim the Child Care 30% rebate as well, right?
At then end of the financial year you can claim 30% off your out of pocket childcare costs (so after the CCB) up to $4000 per child in approved care, and they pay it to you in a lump sum? I think you get it back around September after the financial year your claimin for ie Sept 07 for 06-07 financial year.

Yep I saw about the 30% thing, but it said you could only get it if you got the CCB!!! So I thought I'd check wht this CCB is, cos I thought they were all the same thing. hehe

So, Ambah, I have to find out what the maximum weekly rate of CCB is, and then work out what 43% of that is, and that figure will be my CCB?

ok ETA I have just looked on the FAO website. It says the maximum rate is $168.50... so would my CCB be 43% of $168.50? thats $72.46, or would it be less since I wont be having 5 full days of childcare, like it will be a prorata amount of that $72.46 or something?

OMG so confusing. I wish they would answer their stupid phones!

hi ladies

the 43% is off the maximum child care benefit paid by the government - which is around $3.15 per hour - each child care provider has a different way of charging unfortunately, but to give you a run down example

child care costs $66 per day for each child - this child care provider charges for an 11 hour day, no matter how many hours your child is actually at the centre

in the 11 hour day, you get a rebate equivalent to 43% of the base rate for each hour (so around $1.35 per hour) - multiply that by the number of hours (11) and you get a daily rebate of around $14.90 - you then pay the difference to the child care provider.

the maximum rate you're looking at of $168.50 would apply for a person getting 100% rebate and using the maximum 50 hours of subsidised care per week

hope that helps in some way to ease your confusion a bit - the easiest way to work out your exact out of pocket costs each week is to go to the provider with your estimated child care benefit entitlement - and they'll let you know

ahhhhh I get it now!! Thanks Briggsys Girl!

Rachel - with the 30% out of pocket thing - that used to be a whole year behind, so for this year you would claim for 05/06. But I think they are bringing it up to date so that for this year only you get to claim two years worth 05/06 and 06/07.

I'm pretty sure I've received two lots of out of pocket expenses this month - one came separate from the rest. Cait was in care in 05/06 and Alex was last year.

Barb.

you also get $600 per child when you put your tax return in.

The $600/child is FTB Part A, and then there is a max of around $300/family for FTB Part B dependant upon how much the lower earner of a couple has earnt in the financial year.

The 2006-2007 30% out of pocket expenses will be paid automatically around September I believe.

yeah, Becka is right - the 05/06 out of pocket costs could be claimed through your 06/07 tax return, and 06/07 will be automatically processed by family assistance office starting from September (provided your tax details are completed already for the year)