In Home Care (IHC) is a flexible form of early childhood education and care where an educator provides care in the child's home. It is restricted to families who can't access other types of approved care.
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About In Home Care
IHC is a flexible form of early childhood education and care that takes place in the family home.
It is for families who can’t access other types of approved care. This could be due to:
- non-standard or variable work hours
- geographic isolation from other types of care
- complex or challenging needs
There are 3200 IHC places in Australia.
How In Home Care is delivered
In Home Care Support Agencies
IHC Support Agencies in each state and territory.
- assess family eligibility
- connect families with approved IHC services
- support a high quality and nationally consistent approach to IHC.
Learn more and find contact details for IHC Support Agencies.
Approved IHC services
IHC is delivered in the family home by approved IHC services with qualified educators.
Educators provide a tailored, individual education program based on a Family Management Plan agreed between the IHC Support Agency and the family.
Find detailed guidance about service and educator requirements in the In Home Care National Guidelines.
Learn how to gain approval to operate an In Home Care service.
Allocation of places
IHC is capped at 3200 places nationally.
The department distributes places to each state and territory and allocates places to approved services.
A single place is equivalent to 35 hours of subsidised care per week, per child.
IHC services may request to increase or decrease their allocation of places.
Eligibility and assessment
Families must meet eligibility criteria to access IHC.
Families apply to the IHC Support Agency in their state or territory to be assessed.
Learn more about family eligibility and how to apply.
Families should contact the IHC Support Agency in their state or territory to discuss their eligibility.
Interaction with Child Care Subsidy
Families must be eligible for CCS to access IHC. Eligible families can get up to 100 hours of subsidised care per child per fortnight, per the hourly rate cap.
CCS applies uniquely to IHC as sessions of care are provided per family, rather than per child. See how to get CCS for IHC sessions.
Change of circumstances
Families that use IHC must notify their IHC Support Agency of changes to their circumstances. See what to report and how to report it.
Program review
In March 2023, we commissioned an independent external review of IHC.
The review’s aims were to examine:
- access
- affordability
- quality
- future program arrangements.
In November 2023, we published the IHC final report.
The report:
- made 16 findings across 4 themes
- identified 14 key opportunities across 5 focus areas.
Read the final report from the In Home Care review
Find out more about the In Home Care review
Resources
The In Home Care Handbook provides detailed guidance on how the program operates.
The In Home Care National Guidelines details the legislative and policy framework for the program.
The In Home Care Eligibility Assessment Procedures outlines how IHC Support Agencies assess and determine family eligibility.
Families can use the In Home Care estimator to see how much CCS they may be eligible for.
Forms
For services
For IHC Support Agencies
For families
More information
If you need more information, please contact inhomecare@education.gov.au. Alternatively, contact the IHC Support Agency in your state or territory.