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

Before we begin

Recognised activity includes paid work, paid and unpaid leave and approved study. For more information, visit 

Recognised activities for Child Care Subsidy - Services Australia


You may be exempt from the Child Care Subsidy activity test if you are the principal carer of your grandchild, unable to work due to a disability or medical condition, or a Carer Payment recipient.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children may be entitled to a minimum of 36 hours of subsidised care, regardless of activity levels. Low income families may be entitled to a minimum of 24 hours of subsidised care per fortnight, regardless of activity levels.
To find out if any other Child Care Subsidy activity test exemptions apply, visit 

Exemptions and Activity level and subsidised care for Child Care Subsidy - Services Australia.

Recognised activities

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

About this tool

This quick and easy Child Care Subsidy calculator tool helps you find out what your family might pay for early childhood education and care.

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

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, the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) activity test is changing.

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 

Child Care Subsidy Calculator

To get Child Care Subsidy (CCS) you must:

care for a child 13 or younger who’s not attending secondary school, unless an exemption applies

be responsible for paying the child care fees

meet residency and immunisation requirements

It takes about 5 minutes to calculate your Child Care Subsidy. By answering our questions, we can display the cost you might pay after the subsidy as been applied.

The Child Care Subsidy (CCS) is a subsidy that the Australian government pays directly to your child care provider to reduce the fees you pay.

Would you like to calculate your Child Care Subsidy now?

You can select multiple if you have children of different ages that you'd like to consider.

What age is your child (or children)?

You can change this later on. Consider if you need to travel between homes, work or to pick up another child.

How far from your suburb are you willing to travel?

There are nine types of inclusions that you’ll find on StartingBlocks.gov.au. Here’s a quick guide on what they mean.

If your child has particular needs or dietary requirements, enquire with the service.

Optional - select preferred inclusion

Let's talk what's included.

Creating your recommendation

This could be close to home, work or where you might need to drop off another child.

What location best suits you?

All approved early childhood education and care services across Australia are assessed by their state or territory government regulatory authority and receive a quality rating.

They are assessed against the 7 quality areas of the National Quality Standard (NQS) to promote continuous improvement and help families make informed decisions about their child's education and care:

Some services are not rated by the NQF

Services may offer extra care types that aren’t assessed or rated by the NQF.

These may be run by qualified professionals who aren’t part of the centre’s regular educators. These services are called ‘out of scope’.

Examples of out of scope services

The 7 quality areas

Collaborative partnerships with families and communities

How ratings work

There are five quality ratings that a service can be awarded:

Excellent

Exceeding National Quality Standard

Meeting National Quality Standard

Working Towards National Quality Standard

Significant Improvement Required

Provisional - Not Yet Assessed

How the National Quality Framework (NQF) works

Let's talk about quality.

Your child is not school age, however you can still choose this option to compare

Requires a referral from Support Agencies

Service type

What type of service are you looking for?

Note that Before School and After School only apply to children of school age.

Session type

What type of session length are you looking for?

We've created a new tool aimed at explaining some of the key concepts and terminology used when finding early learning services.

This tool will guide you through gathering any preferences you have, as well as help you calculate your Child Care Subsidy if you are interested.

Understand the types of early learning services

Get a shareable link with easy to compare options

Guided service finder

Early childhood education and care providers are required notify the Australian Government about a range of matters including fees, vacancies, closures and changes to details. The information on display here is currently refreshed daily.

We know that vacancy information is really important to help parents and carers understand what services might be available.

Let's talk what's included.

Breakfast

Morning Tea

Lunch

Afternoon tea

Other Meals

Nappies

Excursions / Incursions

Education Programs

Transport