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June 25, 2026
Last updated: June 2026
The Child Care Subsidy (CCS) is a payment from the Australian Government that reduces the cost of approved early childhood education and care, including long day preschools like Kings Road Preschool in Castle Hill. The subsidy is paid directly to your provider, which lowers the fees you are invoiced. How much you receive depends on your combined family income, the number of children you have in care, and, from 2026, a guaranteed minimum of 72 hours of subsidised care per fortnight, around three days a week, for eligible families. This guide explains who is eligible, how the amount is worked out, what the 2026 changes mean, and why families at higher-fee centres still pay an out-of-pocket gap.
Every figure below is current as at June 2026. Because rates and thresholds change each financial year, confirm the latest amounts against the official sources listed at the end before you budget.
The Child Care Subsidy is the main way the Australian Government helps families with the cost of childcare and preschool. Rather than paying you, the government pays the subsidy straight to your approved service, and your account is charged the reduced amount. To receive it you need to claim through your Centrelink online account, linked to myGov, and confirm your family's details each year.
CCS applies at services that are approved for it, which includes most long day care and long day preschools in Castle Hill. Sessional community preschools that run shorter, term-time hours are often funded differently, which is one reason the type of service you choose affects the support you can access.
To be eligible, you generally need to: be responsible for paying the childcare fees, have a child aged 13 or under who is not attending secondary school, use an approved childcare service, and meet residency and immunisation requirements. Your subsidy percentage is then based on your combined annual family income, with lower-income families receiving a higher percentage and the rate tapering down as income rises.
Families with more than one young child in care can receive a higher rate for younger children, which makes a meaningful difference for households with siblings in preschool at the same time. Because the exact percentages and income thresholds are set each financial year, the most reliable way to see your own rate is the official estimator linked below.
Your CCS amount is worked out from three things:
The subsidy is applied per hour, up to an hourly rate cap set by the government for each care type. For centre-based day care, the cap from 6 July 2026 (the 2026-27 financial year) is $15.19 per hour for a child below school age, up from $14.63 in 2025-26 (the school-aged rate is $13.30). If your provider's hourly fee is at or below the cap, the subsidy is calculated on the full fee. If the fee is above the cap, the subsidy only covers up to the cap, and you pay the difference plus your normal gap.
Your subsidy percentage itself is based on your family income. From 6 July 2026, families earning up to $88,520 receive the maximum standard rate of 90%, with the percentage tapering down as income rises and reaching zero at $538,520. Because these thresholds are indexed each financial year, the official estimator is the most reliable way to see your own rate.
From 5 January 2026, the activity test that previously limited subsidised hours for families who were not working or studying was replaced by a guarantee of at least three days, or 72 hours per fortnight, of subsidised care for eligible families. Families with more than 48 hours of recognised activity per fortnight can still access up to 100 hours per fortnight, and families caring for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child receive at least 100 hours.
This change particularly helps families with casual or irregular work, parents studying part-time, and those returning to work after parental leave, because access to three days no longer depends on meeting an activity threshold. We cover this in detail in our guide to the 3-day childcare guarantee, which is worth reading alongside this post.
The CCS rarely covers the whole fee. The amount you pay after the subsidy is called the gap fee, and it exists for two reasons: your subsidy percentage is less than 100% unless your income is very low, and the subsidy is capped at the hourly rate cap regardless of what your service actually charges.
This matters at Kings Road Preschool. Our hourly rate sits above the CCS hourly cap, which means the subsidy is applied up to the cap and the remainder is out of pocket. We are upfront about this because it shapes how you should compare centres: a lower headline fee is not always a lower gap once quality, hours, and what is included are taken into account. Our focus is on the quality of the education and the school readiness outcomes that justify the investment, rather than competing on price alone.
CCS is a Commonwealth payment that reduces your fees based on income. Start Strong is a separate NSW Government programme that provides fee relief for eligible preschool-age children. In a long day care setting like Kings Road Preschool, Start Strong is applied after your CCS to further reduce your fees, so the two work together.
For 2026, Start Strong fee relief in long day care has two rates:
Most families at a centre like ours receive the standard rate. You can read more on our Start Strong fee relief page, or talk to us about which rate applies to your child.
Your provider can help with the enrolment side, but the claim itself is made by the family through Centrelink.
Yes. CCS applies at approved services, which includes long day preschools like Kings Road Preschool. Some sessional community preschools are funded differently, so it is worth checking how a specific service is funded.
It guarantees access to subsidised hours rather than changing your subsidy percentage. If you previously received fewer subsidised hours because of the activity test, you may now receive more.
Because the subsidy is capped at the hourly rate cap. At centres whose fee is above the cap, more of the fee falls outside the subsidy and becomes out of pocket.
Yes, in most long day care settings. They are run by different governments and work together: your provider applies CCS first, then Start Strong reduces your fees further. Check your eligibility for each.
Use the official Services Australia estimator, which calculates your rate from your income and circumstances. Figures in general guides like this one change each financial year.
We help Castle Hill families understand their fees honestly, including the parts the subsidy does not cover. If you would like to talk through what preschool would cost your family, or see how our Learning for Life approach prepares children for school, we would love to show you around.
Book a tour or contact us and we will walk you through it.
