Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) grandparent gives grandparents on income support, who are the primary carer of their grandchild, extra help with the cost of child care.
On this page:
Eligibility
The grandparent subsidy is for grandparents who:
- are eligible for Child Care Subsidy (CCS)
- get an income support payment
- are the grandparent of the child
- have at least 65% care of the child
- make the day-to-day decisions about the child’s care, welfare and development.
A grandparent is a child’s biological grandparent or great grandparent. It can also be a grandparent or great grandparent that is related to the child through:
- adoption
- step parents, including former step parents
- artificial conception
- de facto relationships
- surrogacy arrangements.
Grandparents who don’t get an income support payment can still get CCS based on their income for 100 hours per fortnight.
Subsidy amount
Eligible grandparents won’t have to meet the activity test requirements. This means they can access up to 100 hours of subsidised child care per fortnight.
They’ll get the lower of either:
- 100% of the fee charged where it’s equal to or below the hourly rate cap
- up to 120% of the hourly rate cap where the fee charged is above the hourly rate cap.
The subsidy is paid directly to approved providers.
Time limits
The grandparent subsidy does not have a time limit.
Grandparents must tell Services Australia if their circumstances change.
How to apply
Grandparents can apply through their Centrelink online account or by visiting a Centrelink office.
Grandparents will need supporting documents when applying.
Grandparents can find more information on the Services Australia website.