Grandparents and carers may be missing out on Centrelink Child Care Subsidy support

Working parents affected by COVID-19, grandparents and other carers could be missing out of these Centrelink payments.

Working parents affected by COVID-19 could be eligible for up to 100 hours per fortnight of subsidised childcare.

Grandparents and other non-parent full-time carers may also be eligible to receive subsidies.

For parents to be eligible for the government payments, they need to prove they were doing more than 16 hours of recognised activity per fortnight between January 13 and March 22 this year and are now doing eight or more hours of recognised activity per fortnight.

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Parents affected by the pandemic are eligible for subsidised childcare.

They also need to not already have access to the 100 hours of Child Care Subsidy (CCS).

Parents are encouraged to talk to their childcare providers about the changes and apply as soon as possible as only 28 days can be backpaid in arrears.

There is Centrelink support for grandparents and other non-parent carers.

Parents receiving JobSeeker payments or a parenting support payment and are “transitioning to work” – such as undertaking studies or looking for work – are able to get up to 95 per cent of their childcare fees paid if they’re getting a childcare subsidy.

“It is really important to keep abreast of the sort of changes and talk to your childcare providers,” Services Australia general manager Hank Jongen said. “I would also encourage people to apply now for additional time.”

There is government support available for working parents, grandparents and full-time carers.

In addition, there are tens of thousands of grandparents and other non-parent carers like uncles and aunties, as well as foster carers, that can be eligible for the full range of benefits.

“We’re not talking about grandparents that provide babysitting or school pick-ups – we are talking about full-time care,” Mr Jongen said. “And often for grandparents, this happens quite suddenly, quite unexpectedly and at short notice.”

If these non-parent carers take care of children on a full-time basis, they could be eligible for government support including the Family Tax Benefits and Child Care Subsidy.

A service called the Grandparent Advisers is available to help grandparents and other non-parent carers navigate their way through the system.

Foster parents are also eligible to get subsidies through the Foster Health Care Card.

To find out more, visit the Services Australia website.