Child Care Benefit/Child Care Rebate Info

[briggsy's girl]

There are a few payments you may be eligible for when it comes to child care, but often simply getting a place in a child care centre is the hardest thing.

My Child Website

You can use this website to locate child care places in your area – and you can limit it to places that have available spaces for a child the right age etc
It also has information about child related services – activities, early childhood services etc. It’s a little-known resource that may come in handy for you

Child Care Benefit (CCB)

There are two types of Child Care that may attract assistance from the government – Registered and Approved. Each type has it’s own eligibility criteria, payment levels, and processes to claim the payments.
Child Care Benefit

Registered Child Care

Registered child care is care provided by grandparents, relatives, friends, or nannies who are registered as carers with the Australian Government Department of Human Services. In some cases, it can also include care provided by individuals in private schools, kindergartens and outside-school-hours services. Carers or teachers in these services must be registered with the department. You can only claim Child Care Benefit for registered care if you are looking for work, working, training, or studying at some time during the week in which you use child care or have an exemption from that requirement.

Claims can be lodged up to 12 months after care has been used – due to the small amount of money payable per hour, most people lodge their claim and receipts annually or every 6 months to make it worth lodging the claim.

Approved Child Care

Approved child care benefit is an income and activity tested entitlement, and is far more common than registered care.

Approved child care, for the purpose of Child Care Benefit, is care by a child-care service provider approved by the Australian Government to accept Child Care Benefit on your behalf. This means that you pay less money out of your own pocket. Approved child care (for Child Care Benefit) can include outside-school-hours care, family day care, vacation care, long day care, in-home care, and some occasional-care services.

Approved care attracts the “child care percentage” as well as child care rebate.

Your circumstances will affect the number of child-care hours for which you can receive Child Care Benefit.
If you use approved child care, you can claim Child Care Benefit of:
• up to 24 hours per child per week, available to all eligible families; or
• up to 50 hours per child per week, available to grandparents with primary care of a grandchild (in child care) and to parents who are both working or looking for work, training, or studying for at least 15 hours per week, or 30 hours per fortnight, or have an exemption from that requirement.

CCB percentage is based on family income, and is a percentage of the basic rate of payment per hour NOT a percentage of your whole hourly fee.

The process to apply for CCB for approved care is dependent on your current circumstances. If you are claiming FTB for your children, you can apply over the telephone. If not, you will need to apply online or fill out forms. When you start child care, the child care centre will need your reference number (CRN) as well as the CRN for each child going in to care. This is how they link your file to FAO and provide usage information back to FAO

Child Care Rebate (CCR)

Child care rebate

Child Care Rebate covers 50 per cent of your out-of-pocket expenses for approved child care, up to a maximum amount per child per year. You do not need to claim Child Care Rebate. You will automatically be assessed for Child Care Rebate when you lodge a claim for Child Care Benefit for approved child care.

CCR is always paid AFTER it is used, so if you are looking at your first bill, it will not attract CCR. CCR always appears on the bill after the care has been used. It is currently capped at $7500 per child per year

Generally, looking at your bill for a week would show CCB for the current week and CCR for the previous week

As an example
Total fees (01.01.13-07.01.13)
Less CCB (01.01.13-07.01.13)
Less CCR (25.12.12-31.12.12)
= Bill amount

CCR can be paid in several ways. From 1 July, 2012, annual payment option is being removed, so the options are limited to Direct to Service, Direct to Customer or Quarterly

CCR Payment Methods

Direct to Service – CCR entitlement is paid direct to the child care provider to reduce the bill for the customer. Up to 85% of your CCR is paid direct to the childcare, the remaining 15% of your CCR entitlement is held until tax time/reconciliation

Direct to Customer – CCR entitlement is calculated and paid direct to the customers bank account. Customer pays the child care provider for their fees (less CCB) and CCR is paid to the customer after the child care report usage to FAO. Up to 85% of your CCR is paid direct to the customer, the remaining 7.5% of your CCR entitlement is held until tax time/reconciliation

Quarterly – Customer pays child care bill in it’s entirety after CCB has been applied. CCR is held and paid in quarterly instalments for the first three quarters of the year (full 50% paid in October, January and April) – the final quarter is held until tax time/reconciliation




CCB and CCR – the calculations

I’m going to do some really simplified calculations in the following posts so that it makes as much sense as possible. I’m going to use round numbers (which rarely happens with payments!) so that it is as clear as possible without confusing details. I will do a couple of scenarios so that different CCR payment types are used. Any reference to amounts held until tax time/reconciliation will be explained in a thread about Reconciliation rather than confusing this explanation as it all comes in together at Reconciliation

[briggsy's girl]

EXAMPLE 1: the basic scenario (these numbers are NOT reflective on any current payment amounts – I have just made them round numbers so they’re easy to work with!)

Child is under school aged
Day care centre charge $100 a day for a 10 hour day
CCB maximum amount (100%) is $5 per hour
Parent has one child in care, CCB 100%
Parent qualifies for CCR and has opted to have the payment made direct to child care service
Child is in care 2 days per week

Child care fees for the week : $200

CCB for the week: 20 hours at 100% CCB ($5 per hour) = 20 x 5 = $100

Out of Pocket balance for parent to pay = fees – CCB = 200 – 100 = $100

CCR amount is 50% of Out of Pocket balance = 100 x 0.50 = $50

CCR paid direct to service is 85% of the total CCR = 50 x 0.85 = $42.50

Total bill for customer
= fees – CCB – CCR paid to service
= 200 – 100 – 42.50
= $57.50





The balance of the CCR, $7.50, will be held until tax time/reconciliation

[briggsy's girl]

EXAMPLE 2: the basic scenario (these numbers are NOT reflective on any current payment amounts – I have just made them round numbers so they’re easy to work with!)

Child is under school aged
Day care centre charge $100 a day for a 10 hour day
CCB maximum amount (100%) is $5 per hour
Parent has one child in care, CCB 50%
Parent qualifies for CCR and has opted to have the payment made direct to child care service
Child is in care 2 days per week

Child care fees for the week : $200

CCB for the week: 20 hours at 50% CCB (5 x 0.50 = $2.50 per hour) = 20 x 2.50 = $50

Out of Pocket balance for parent to pay = fees – CCB = 200 – 50 = $150

CCR amount is 50% of Out of Pocket balance = 150 x 0.50 = $75

CCR paid direct to service is 85% of the total CCR = 75 x 0.85 = $63.75

Total bill for customer
= fees – CCB – CCR paid to service
= 200 – 50 – 63.75
= $86.25




The balance of the CCR, $11.25, will be held until tax time/reconciliation

[briggsy's girl]

EXAMPLE 3: the basic scenario (these numbers are NOT reflective on any current payment amounts – I have just made them round numbers so they’re easy to work with!)

Child is under school aged
Day care centre charge $100 a day for a 10 hour day
CCB maximum amount (100%) is $5 per hour
Parent has one child in care, CCB 25%
Parent qualifies for CCR and has opted to have the payment made direct to themselves
Child is in care 5 days per week

Child care fees for the week : $500

CCB for the week: 50 hours at 25% CCB (5 x 0.25 = $1.25 per hour) = 50 x 1.25 = $62.50

Out of Pocket balance for parent to pay = fees – CCB = 500 – 62.50 = $437.50

Because the customer has opted to have the CCR paid to their own bank account, this is the amount they will pay to the childcare each week. When the childcare report the usage to FAO, the CCR will be calculated and paid to the customer, as below. For some childcare centres this will happen every week, for some it will be once a fortnight. There is no set day to expect this money in the bank

CCR amount is 50% of Out of Pocket balance = 437.50 x 0.50 = $218.75

CCR paid direct to customer is 85% of the total CCR = 218.75 x 0.85 = $185.94

Total weekly expense for customer
= fees – CCB – CCR paid direct to customer
= 500 – 62.50 – 185.94
= $251.56




The balance of the CCR, $32.81, will be held until tax time/reconciliation

[briggsy's girl]

EXAMPLE 4: the basic scenario (these numbers are NOT reflective on any current payment amounts – I have just made them round numbers so they’re easy to work with!)

Child is under school aged
Day care centre charge $100 a day for a 10 hour day
CCB maximum amount (100%) is $5 per hour
Parent has one child in care, CCB 0% (this may be by choice, or may be due to income estimate being over the CCB thresholds)
Parent qualifies for CCR and has opted to have the payment made direct to themselves
Child is in care 5 days per week

Child care fees for the week : $500

CCB for the week: 50 hours at 0% CCB = $0.00

Out of Pocket balance for parent to pay = fees – CCB = 500 – 0 = $500.00

Because the customer has opted to have the CCR paid to their own bank account, this is the amount they will pay to the childcare each week. When the childcare report the usage to FAO, the CCR will be calculated and paid to the customer, as below. For some childcare centres this will happen every week, for some it will be once a fortnight. There is no set day to expect this money in the bank

CCR amount is 50% of Out of Pocket balance = 500.00 x 0.50 = $250.00

CCR paid direct to customer is paid at the FULL 50% if CCB is at a zero rate – nothing is held until tax time

CCR paid to customer account = $250.00

Total weekly expense for customer
= fees –CCR paid direct to customer
= 500 – 250.00
= $250.00




If this same customer had opted for direct to service CCR, they would simply pay the same amount $250, to the child care centre. The calculation is the same

[briggsy's girl]

EXAMPLE 5: the basic scenario (these numbers are NOT reflective on any current payment amounts – I have just made them round numbers so they’re easy to work with!)

Child is under school aged
Day care centre charge $100 a day for a 10 hour day
CCB maximum amount (100%) is $5 per hour
Parent has one child in care, CCB 25%
Parent qualifies for CCR and has opted to have the payment made quarterly to themselves (this is the default option)
Child is in care 5 days per week

Child care fees for the week : $500

CCB for the week: 50 hours at 25% CCB (5 x 0.25 = $1.25 per hour) = 50 x 1.25 = $62.50

Out of Pocket balance for parent to pay = fees – CCB = 500 – 62.50 = $437.50

Because the customer has opted to have the CCR paid QUARTERLY to their own bank account, this is the amount they will pay to the childcare each week. When the childcare report the usage to FAO, the CCR amount is recorded and will be calculated every three months and paid to the customer, as below. For quarterly payments, there is no withholding – payments are made in October, January and April, with the final quarter (April to June) being held until taxes are done and reconciliation occurs

CCR amount is 50% of Out of Pocket balance = 437.50 x 0.50 = $218.75

This amount is held and paid in a lump sum every three months

dates can be found in this link
Child Care Rebate payment methods

[leckert]

BG or other centrelink gurus

Can you apply to get child care rebate/benefit for a new child online? I know I'm eligible for at least one of these as we get it/them for my DS1 already but I need to claim for DS2 who will be starting in August later this year. I can't seem to find it when I'm online

[briggsy's girl]

you can do a full new claim (so go online, apply for payment, make a claim, claim ccb for current financial year) - you can't just add a child to an existing payment though unless you phone up (and there are huge waits at this time of year).

it may take a couple of weeks to process, but will be backdated and granted from the date you submit the claim

[leckert]

Thanks for that BG; wasn't sure if I needed to put a whole new claim in as it wasn't clear on the website.

[Razzberry]

Yeah I rung this morning to talk to someone about the rebate and the estimated wait time was 90 mins!!! I just ended up going into the office!

[briggsy's girl]

just bumping this one as there have been several q's today about this topic

[Jewel]

I'm a single mother. Not working. Can I claim CCB?

It's all confusing me and I've been putting it off sorting it all out.
I feel so such an idiot for asking.

Thanks heaps.

xox

[Jaycee]

Just wondering if ccr is means tested??

[The[cookie]Doctor]

I'm a single mother. Not working. Can I claim CCB?

It's all confusing me and I've been putting it off sorting it all out.
I feel so such an idiot for asking.

Thanks heaps.

xox

I am not sure if you still needed an answer, but yes, you are eligible for up to 24 hours (normally two days) of CCB.
If you were working or studying, depending on the details you may be then entitled to 50 hours CCB and CCR also.

Just wondering if ccr is means tested??

No, CCR is not means tested, provided you meet the elgiiblity criteria to receive it. It is however capped at a maximum of $7500 per financial year and this amount is currently frozen from indexing.

[lestyrox]

Sorry to hijack the thread, just wondering if anyone has been paid their Quarterly CCR for January yet? The family assistance website says it'll be paid between 16th-29th January 2013. My next Centrelink payment is due on the 25th so I figure it will be paid with that but only my usual payment is showing up on my online services. Has anyone been paid there's yet? Thanks in advance

[briggsy's girl]

Sorry to hijack the thread, just wondering if anyone has been paid their Quarterly CCR for January yet? The family assistance website says it'll be paid between 16th-29th January 2013. My next Centrelink payment is due on the 25th so I figure it will be paid with that but only my usual payment is showing up on my online services. Has anyone been paid there's yet? Thanks in advance

Ccr won't show on payments until two days before you get it so if you are due to be paid 25th check tomorrow

[lestyrox]

Great, thanks for your help Briggsy's girl

[Astrid]

Question:
Currently DD2 is at childcare. They handle everything really well, deal with the CCB and CCR paid to them without hassle
DD2 will be starting after kinder care. I have just received the invoice and they have not taken into account CCB and CCR, even though I can them. They have said about getting a receipt off them and taking it to FAO.

So do I have to physically take this receipt to Centrelink to handle?? - Thanks

(Don't get me started on this as both childcare and after kinder care are council run, so why one can do the right thing and the other can't is beyond me)