That ICPA (Aust) advocate to the Federal Minister for Social Services to increase the In-Home Care (IHC) Child Care Subsidy (CCS) Hourly rate cap for rural and remote families.
Families in very remote and remote Australia access IHC as their only option for childcare. There is no other childcare option often within hundreds of kilometers of their homes. Due to these families locations they are currently paying 2- 4 times the out of pocket cost of families who can access centre based childcare.
An increase to the IHC Hourly Rate Cap is urgently called for to ensure childcare is able to be accessed at an affordable rate and educators are paid appropriately in line with the Children’s Services Award.
The current CCS IHC cap is $39.80/ hour/ per family. Average hourly casual wage for diploma level educator is approximately $50. Which means families gap payments are huge and make childcare unaffordable. This flow on effect for families runs in every facet of their lives- affecting decisions about their income, employment, care and education for their children.
This change is happening because the IHC Hourly Rate Cap hasn’t been updated to reflect the real cost of employing qualified educators. There have been numerous studies, reviews and advice identifying this problem and now urgent action to increase the CCS IHC cap is required.
Case Study:
Family 5, living in very remote NSW, children aged 7,4,3. Parents both working 40h/ week each. Means tested at 46.85 % CCS. Educator working 40h per week. Educator employed through Australia’s Leading Home Care Agency on Level 2 casual award rate for the Children’s Services Award.
At the beginning of 2026 the families gap payment was $1123.20, $53,913.60/ 48 week year.
In May the families gap payment is $1159.56 per week, $55,658.88/ 48 week year. This was increased in March when national wage reforms were introduced to the Children’s Services award.
In July the national wage reforms promises another 5 % wage increase and a 4.2 % CPI wage increase. Forecast families gap payment is $1,458.80 per week, $70, 022.40/ 48 week year. This is a weekly cost of $ 2223.20, CCS IHC contribution $777.20. This represents an increase in the cost of IHC childcare of $14, 363.52 within a 12 month period, noting that neither parent's salaries have increased in this same period.
If the family were accessing centre based care, the total weekly cost for all 3 children from July 2026 estimated to be $1800, and the gap would be $873.75 per week, $41,190/ 48 week year. Information from Starting Block, website recommended by Centrelink to work out costs for centre based care.
The remote based family using CCS IHC is going to be paying 41% more per year, almost $29 000 more than the same type of family accessing a town centre based childcare.
When the only choice for very remote and remote families is to use IHC the inequity and extra financial burden in paying for childcare is stark.
