Child Care Subsidy and the 2023–24 Christmas–New Year period

CCS Helpdesk hours

The CCS Helpdesk will close over the Christmas–New Year period. The helpdesk will close at 12.30 pm AEDT Friday 22 December 2023 and reopen at 9 am AEDT Tuesday 2 January 2024.

If you need help during this period, please refer to the Early Childhood page on our website.

CCS payments

Families can only get CCS when your service is open and providing care, unless it is a public holiday or during a period of emergency.

Session reports

Session reports will continue to be processed throughout the Christmas–New Year period.

Session reports submitted on public holidays may experience short delays in processing or payment.

Remember – families can only get CCS when your service is open. You must not submit session reports if your service is closed, unless it is a public holiday which you charge for or during a period of emergency.

You must also report shorter sessions of care if you close early on Friday 22 December.

Absences

You cannot claim absences when your service is closed, except on a public holiday or during a period of emergency.

On a public holiday, you may only claim absences for children who would have otherwise attended care on that day.

Families have 42 allowable absences per child, per financial year. Families who have used their allowable absences can access additional absences if one of the additional absence reasons applies.

A public holiday is not an additional absence reason.

You must continue to collect the gap fee from families when claiming absences over the holiday period.

Service closures

You must tell us within 14 days if you close your service or change your operating hours. This is a requirement under Family Assistance Law.

Let us know via the Provider Entry Point (PEP) or your third-party software.

You also need to tell your state or territory regulatory authority.

If you close

If you close your service, you must not submit session reports unless it is a public holiday or during a period of emergency where your service would have been otherwise open.

The following table outlines when a service that closes over the Christmas–New Year period may submit session reports and claim absences.

If you only close for public holidays

If your service remains open, and only closes for public holidays, you may submit session reports as usual.

The following table outlines when a service that only closes for public holidays and weekends may submit session reports and claim absences.