The daily rate charged by the childcare service you intend to use

From 5 January 2026, the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) activity test is changing

Before we begin

Annual income is your and your partner’s adjusted taxable income for the whole financial year. For more information, visit 

Your income can affect Child Care Subsidy - Child Care Subsidy - Services Australia

Family's estimates annual income

From 5 January 2026, the CCS activity test is being replaced. Families will get at least 72 hours of subsidised care per fortnight. 

care for an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander child · have an exemption or experience exceptional circumstances

receive Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) child wellbeing, temporary financial hardship or grandparent payments. 

 includes paid work, study, training, volunteering. To find out more and lodge a claim, visit the 

Recognised participation

About this tool

This quick and easy Child Care Subsidy (CCS) calculator tool helps you find out what your family might pay for early childhood education and care. Use this tool to check your Child Care Subsidy.

For a more comprehensive estimate across a range of payments, including Child Care Subsidy, Family Tax Benefit and Income Support Payments, see 

Services Australia's Payment and Service Finder.

What is the Child Care Subsidy

Who can receive the Child Care Subsidy

Eligibility and entitlement

3 Day Guarantee

Recent changes

Find the right early learning service based on fees, vacancies, quality ratings and inclusions.

Looking for quality early childhood education and care?

Child Care Subsidy rates are changing soon. 

From 5 January 2026, all CCS eligible families can get at least 72 hours of subsidised care per fortnight. These changes are known as the 3 Day Guarantee.

The amount of Child Care Subsidy you get depends on your circumstances. These estimates are based on the information you provide. To learn more go to 

 Services Australia works out your final CCS amount. Changes to your circumstances throughout the year may affect how much CCS you get. To find out more, go to 

Child Care Subsidy – Services Australia

Your income determines your CCS percentage

 to work out your CCS percentage. They apply this percentage to whichever is 

 the hourly rate cap or your service’s hourly fee. Keep your income details up to date with Services Australia to ensure your CCS stays accurate.

your family income

How your hours of subsidised care are worked out


 determine how many hours of subsidised care you can get each fortnight.

 of subsidised care per fortnight. You may get up to 

care for an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander child

have an exemption or experience exceptional circumstances

receive Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) child wellbeing, temporary financial hardship or grandparent payments.

You won’t get CCS for any hours you use above your eligible amount.

how many hours of subsidised care you’re eligible for

You may get more CCS if you have more than one child in care

more than one child aged 5 or younger in care

, you may get a higher CCS percentage for one or more of them.

. They get the CCS percentage based on your family income.

. They may get a higher CCS percentage, up to 95%, depending on your family income.

the number of children in your care, and their ages   

What the hourly rate cap means for your fees

Different types of child care have different 

. This cap is the maximum hourly amount the government uses to work out your CCS.

If your service charges more than the hourly rate cap, you may have higher out-of-pocket costs.

The government updates the hourly rate cap each year in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

the hourly rate cap for your type of service  

How session length and days in care affect your costs

Some services charge a daily rate and offer different session lengths, such as 8, 10 or 12 hour sessions.

If the daily rate stays the same, choosing 

 can lower your hourly fee. A lower hourly fee means CCS may cover more of your costs, which can reduce what you pay out-of-pocket. However, you’ll need to make sure you have 

 to cover all the hours of care you use across the fortnight.

your session length and days in care  

 during the year. They do this to reduce the chance of overpayment. This amount can help cover any debt when your payments are balanced at the end of the financial year.

If you haven’t been overpaid, this money is returned to you.


At balancing, Services Australia checks your actual income for the year. You may:

You can change how much CCS is withheld through Services Australia.

a standard 5% withholding amount   

how much Child Care Subsidy (CCS) you may get 

how much you may need to pay out-of-pocket. 

Child Care Subsidy Calculator

Services are given a rating for each NQS quality area and an overall NQS service quality rating based on these results. The overall rating provides a snapshot of how the service is performing.

Learn more about the assessment and ratings process

Overall rating

Assessment and Ratings Process

Approved children's education and care services across Australia are assessed and rated by their state and territory regulatory authority. The NQS is part of the National Regulations and includes seven quality areas that are important to children's learning and developmental outcomes.

Service Quality Ratings

Last visited by regulatory authority

State and territory regulatory authorities visit services to undertake quality assessment and rating, support quality improvement, monitor compliance, and investigate complaints and incidents.

Regulatory activities

Conditions are an additional requirement that services or providers must comply with.

Conditions

Learn more about enforcement actions here

These are actions taken by the State or Territory regulatory authorities when a service is found to be not complying with National Health and Safety regulations. These actions range in severity and are designed to improve and ensure children’s safety and wellbeing.

What is an enforcement action?

The regulatory authority may amend the provider or service’s approval to operate.

Compliance notices or directions include formal instructions for a service to rectify compliance issues.

Conditions placed on a service or provider approval require the service or provider to undertake specific actions to be compliant.

 – Emergency action notices require immediate steps to be taken by the provider to address serious risks at a service.

 – Enforceable undertakings are legally binding agreements that can be made between a regulatory authority and an approved provider or an individual. They set out what that approved provider or individual agrees to do or refrain from doing to comply with the National Law.

 – In extreme cases, the provider or service may temporarily lose their approval to operate.

What are the different enforcement actions?

For more details, ask your service for their record of compliance with the Education and Care Services National Law.

Definitions

. They may be awaiting assessment rating under the National Quality Framework (NQF). To find out more, contact the service provider directly.

Out of scope

This service is not yet rated by the National Quality Standard (NQS).

This service does not operate under the National Quality Framework and is therefore not assessed against the National Quality Standard or receive a NQS quality rating. 

They may be subject to other regulatory systems or frameworks. To find out more, contact the service provider directly.

This service is not operating under the National Quality Standard (NQS).

For fee and inclusions information, please contact the service directly.

Fees

Fees over time

Shows if the service has vacancies this week. Please contact the service to confirm age group and permanent/casual intake.

General Vacancy

For vacancies information, please contact the service directly.

Vacancies

This service is approved to provide education and care to children from birth up to and including over preschool age, including school children.

Lady Ramsay Early Learning and Education Centre

Key information

Contact information

Provider information

Regulatory activities