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Specific Child Care Subsidy (CCS) rules apply when family day care educators provide care to relatives.
CCS cannot be claimed when an educator provides care to a close family member. This includes the educator’s or their partner’s:
This is because care that would normally occur within a family is not eligible for CCS or Additional Child Care Subsidy. However, the service must still keep a record of the care provided.
What if an educator’s child attends another service?
In most cases, CCS cannot be claimed for an educator’s own child on a day they are working as a family day care educator, including when their child attends another family day care service. CCS may be payable if the child attends centre-based day care or outside school hours care, subject to eligibility and evidence requirements.
Educators play an important role by letting their service know when they are caring for relatives and communicating any changes to their circumstances. Approved providers are responsible for ensuring enrolments and session reports accurately reflect these arrangements.
For detailed information, visit the Department of Education website and videos about providing care to relatives.
Check your understanding:
Sarah is a family day care educator. Her 6-year-old daughter is present at the residence while Sarah provides family day care, and Sarah also provides care to her 8-year-old nephew every Tuesday and Thursday.
Can CCS be claimed for the care Sarah provides to these children?
Answer: CCS cannot be claimed for care Sarah provides to her daughter because she is Sarah’s own child.
However, her nephew is not included in the close family member categories listed above, so CCS may be payable for the nephew only if the less-than-50% rule and all other CCS requirements are met.
The service must still keep appropriate records and ensure that CCS is not incorrectly claimed for Sarah’s daughter.
As part of FDCA’s Rethinking Family Day Care series, we are sharing innovative models identified through the Australian Government-funded FDC Capability Trial.
Sometimes innovation emerges in response to unexpected challenges. Originally developed following the 2022 Northern Rivers floods, this dual educator model demonstrates how two educators operating independently from one approved venue can help maintain access to education and care while supporting educator collaboration and community resilience. It also reflects broader conversations about innovative family day care models that can respond to changing community needs.
This week’s story explores how Far North Coast Family Day Care transformed a community venue into an innovative dual educator model with benefits extending well beyond disaster recovery.
Click here to read the full story and consider - what could a dual educator model make possible in your community?
This concludes our Rethinking Family Day Care series. We hope these stories have encouraged members to consider how family day care can respond to local needs, create opportunities for educators and expand access to education and care.
FDCA members can also access the more detailed case studies in the Member Zone. These explore each innovative model featured throughout the series, including how each model was developed, implemented and established in practice.
The Australian Government Department of Education offers a range of courses through its online learning platform, Geccko. Geccko is tailored to the early childhood education and care sector. Among the available courses is ‘Fee Reporting’.
This course supports providers and educators to understand their responsibilities under Family Assistance Law.
In the course, participants will learn how to:
All Geccko courses are self-paced and can be accessed via tablet, computer, laptop or mobile phone. On completion of this course, you can download a certificate for your professional development records.
To access this course or to find out more about other free online courses provided by Geccko, you can register here.
A free national guide is now available to help early childhood services create positive food experiences for children from birth to five years.
The Best Practice Guide for Early Childhood Education and Care Food Environment includes practical guidance for family day care. Services and educators can use it to reflect on everyday practices such as mealtimes, conversations about food, working with families and supporting children with food allergies.
The Guide is organised into six modules, so you can explore the topics most relevant to your service or education and care setting.
Explore and download the Best Practice Guide here.
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