Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) (grandparent) 007-17103153

Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) (grandparent) is intended to provide additional assistance with the cost of child care to principal carer grandparents receiving an income support payment.

This support provides eligible customers with:

• up to 100 hours per fortnight of subsidised care, and
• a subsidy equal to 100% of the fee charged, up to 120% of the hourly rate cap

ACCS (grandparent) is second in the hierarchy of ACCS payments.

A customer may be eligible for ACCS (grandparent) if they are first assessed as eligible for CCS and:

• meet the definition of grandparent
• receive an eligible income support payment, and
• have 65% or more care of their grandchild, and
• have substantial responsibility for the day to day decisions about the care and welfare of the child

If there has been a change in care and the gaining carer is a grandparent, see Eligibility for Family Tax Benefit (FTB) for grandparent carers for examples on requesting evidence to support the change in care.

There is no stand-alone verbal claim option for customers wishing to apply for ACCS (grandparent). Applications can be made:

• at the time of completing an online or staff assisted claim for Child Care Subsidy (CCS). The ACCS (grandparent) application is imbedded within the CCS claim. This means the ACCS (grandparent) question set will present if responses in the CCS claim indicate they may be eligible for ACCS (grandparent)
• via the customer’s online account. Customers current on CCS who receive an income support payment and have at least one CCS child in care with a relationship of ‘grandparent’, will be presented with the Grandparent menu option in their online services

There is no separate offline (paper) application for ACCS (grandparent), however the FA084 Claim for Child Care Subsidy form includes the option to apply for ACCS (grandparent).