Fees

Child care fees

All child care centres will charge a fee to look after your child and this will vary depending on the amount of time your child is cared for and the service that the child care centre provides.

Child Care Benefit

You can get the Child Care Benefit if your child attends approved or registered care and you are liable to pay the child care fees. Most long day care, family day care, before or after school care, vacation care, some occasional care and some in-home care child care services are approved child care providers. Your child's child care service will be able to tell you if they are an approved provider.

To be eligible for the Child Care Benefit you need to meet the income test, and satisfy work, study or training commitment requirements.

The Commonwealth Family Assistance Office makes the payment and can supply you with the relevant information. For more information, see: Commonwealth Family Assistance Office or contact them on 13 61 50.

Child Care Tax Rebate

The Child Care Tax Rebate helps families who are working, studying or training with their out of pocket child care costs. It is not income tested.

For more information, contact the Child Care Access Hotline on 1800 670 305, or visit your nearest Family Assistance Office.

Kindergarten fees

The Victorian State Government provides funding to contribute to the cost of a minimum of 10 hours of kindergarten per week.

The Victorian Government provides funding to early childhood services – called the kindergarten fee subsidy – so that families on concession cards, health care cards, Department of Veterans' Affairs gold cards, refugees, special humanitarian entrants, those on asylum seekers visas, and triplets and quadruplets in the same year of kindergarten. All these people can send their child to a kindergarten program for 10 hours a week for free.

Kindergarten programs that operate for longer than 10 hours can charge fees for additional hours.

Fundraising activities may be held to allow for the purchase of extra equipment and you may be asked to contribute towards these activities.

You can apply for the kindergarten fee subsidy at any time during the year, even if your child moves to another kindergarten. The subsidy will be paid in full for the whole term, regardless of the date your child starts within the term.

For more information, see: Kindergarten Fee Subsidy

For information on funding available to Aboriginal families, see: Support for Aboriginal Children and Families