There’s strong research proving the positive impact that high quality early learning has on children, but in spite of a desire to give their children a head start in life, for many families child care has been financially out of reach.
The good news is that the Child Care Subsidy offers more generous support for many families – especially those on low and middle incomes.
You can get an estimate of the subsidy you could receive by using our Child Care Subsidy estimator. You may not only find that child care is now affordable, but some families who already use child care may be able to access an extra day for little or no extra cost.
Quality early learning guided by skilled and qualified educators makes a huge difference to outcomes for children. And at a time when one in five children are starting school developmentally behind their peers, access to early learning has never been more important.
We’ve recently published an article which outlines the full benefits of early learning for children, the key points of which include:
In a nutshell – the first five years matter, a lot.
For most families, yes, but it’s important to note that there are several factors that determine how much subsidy families are entitled to:
Understanding the Child Care Subsidy can be tricky at first. To help, we’ve created some case studies of typical family scenarios which show how the subsidy is calculated.
The good news is that the Child Care Subsidy offers more generous support for many families – especially those on low and middle incomes.
You can get an estimate of the subsidy you could receive by using our Child Care Subsidy estimator. You may not only find that child care is now affordable, but some families who already use child care may be able to access an extra day for little or no extra cost.
Affordable early learning is great news for children
Quality early learning guided by skilled and qualified educators makes a huge difference to outcomes for children. And at a time when one in five children are starting school developmentally behind their peers, access to early learning has never been more important.We’ve recently published an article which outlines the full benefits of early learning for children, the key points of which include:
- Research shows all children benefit from early learning, regardless of their background or family income.
- Children who do not attend preschool are 50% more likely to start school ‘developmentally vulnerable’, which means they’re starting school behind their peers – and children who start behind tend to stay behind.
- Children who attend three or more years of quality early learning perform better in year four maths, science and reading.
- The benefits of early learning are still evident in higher levels of literacy and numeracy understanding in children at ages 11 and 16.
In a nutshell – the first five years matter, a lot.
So is child care affordable with the Child Care Subsidy?
For most families, yes, but it’s important to note that there are several factors that determine how much subsidy families are entitled to:
- Family income
- The fortnightly hours of recognised activity undertaken
- The fees charged by your chosen child care provider.
Understanding the Child Care Subsidy can be tricky at first. To help, we’ve created some case studies of typical family scenarios which show how the subsidy is calculated.