Changes if you get family payments
There are some changes that may affect you if you get family payments.
Cheaper Child Care
From 10 July 2023, if your family earns under $530,000, you’ll get increased Child Care Subsidy (CCS).
The CCS percentage you’re entitled to depends on your family’s income.
The income limit to get the maximum CCS is increasing. Families earning up to $80,000 will get an increased maximum CCS amount, from 85% to 90%.
If you earn over $80,000 you may get a subsidy starting from 90%. This will go down by 1% for each $5,000 of income your family earns. You’ll either get more subsidy or have no change to your entitlement.
If you have more than one child aged 5 or under, you can still get a higher rate for one or more of your children.
The low income limit for Additional Child Care Subsidy Transition to Work will also increase to $80,000.
f you already get CCS, you don’t need to do anything to get the increased rate. We’ll apply changes to your CCS automatically.
Child Care Subsidy activity test changes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
From 10 July 2023, there are changes to Child Care Subsidy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The changes mean that families can get at least 36 hours of subsidy per fortnight for each child attending child care. More information about these changes will be available soon.
Read more about changes to the activity test for families with Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children on the Department of Education website.
Paid Parental Leave scheme changes
The Paid Parental Leave scheme is changing from 1 July 2023. If your child’s birth or entry into care is on or after this date, these changes will affect you. If you’re a birth mother or the first adoptive parent you can claim up to 3 months before your child’s birth or adoption. However, other parents must wait until 1 July 2023 to claim under these changes.
On 1 July 2023, Parental Leave Pay and Dad and Partner Pay are combining into one payment. It will increase from 90 days (18 weeks) to 100 days (20 weeks). We’ll introduce a combined family income limit. If you don’t meet the individual income limit of $156,647, we’ll apply the combined family income limit of $350,000 instead. This will happen even if you’re single or partnered.
Parents can use Parental Leave Pay until a child turns 2. Parents can share their Parental Leave Pay with each other and they can even take days at the same time. This can be at the same time as paid leave, and between periods of paid work. This will give families more flexibility to manage their work and care arrangements. The birth mother or first adoptive parent must give approval to share any Parental Leave Pay days.
Part of Parental Leave Pay will also be reserved for each parent to use. Any unused portions of Parental Leave Pay days will be lost if not used before a child turns 2. This is to encourage both parents to access the payment. Single parents will be able to get the full amount of Parental Leave Pay.
There are more proposed changes to Parental Leave Pay which are subject to legislation passing. The proposed changes include the total Parental Leave Pay available to families increasing to 26 weeks by 2026.
Special circumstance exceptions to the work test
You may now meet the work test for Parental Leave Pay and Dad and Partner Pay. This is if your ability to work during the work test period was affected by any of the following:
- family and domestic violence
- a serious medical condition, for either you or an immediate family member you care for
- a natural disaster declared by the Commonwealth or a state or territory.