Two services advertise different daily fees. Which one will cost your family less? You cannot make a fair comparison until you know the booked hours, the estimated subsidy and the amount left to pay.
The 3 Day Guarantee has changed access to subsidised hours, but families still need to understand how those hours fit their booking. A government assessment and a service fee schedule each explain only part of the picture.
We believe services should help families connect the two. A provider cannot decide your government entitlement, but it can explain its charges and the assumptions behind an estimate. Here is what to check before you commit.
What the 3 Day Guarantee actually provides
Since 5 January 2026, families eligible for Child Care Subsidy, usually called CCS, can receive at least 72 hours of subsidised care per child each fortnight. Some families qualify for 100 hours under the applicable participation rules or other circumstances. The guarantee does not remove the other CCS eligibility requirements. [1]
The important distinction is between subsidised hours and a childcare place. The 3 Day Guarantee does not reserve a vacancy at a service, make care free or promise that your preferred days are available. You still need an enrolment arrangement and may have a gap fee to pay. [1]
Before changing your bookings, check your current assessment through Services Australia. Ask the service how its session lengths would use your available hours over a fortnight. A name that mentions days can be confusing when the entitlement itself is expressed in hours.
Start with the fee you will actually pay
Services Australia considers factors including family income, the relevant hourly rate cap, approved hours and family circumstances when determining CCS. A subsidy percentage therefore does not always translate into the same percentage of the service’s full daily fee. [2]
For budgeting, we would ask for three separate figures: the full session fee, the estimated subsidy credited to the account and the expected amount the family pays. Ask which assumptions sit behind the estimate. A useful explanation should identify the session length and the assessment information used.
Consider a purely illustrative booking with a $150 session fee and an estimated $105 subsidy credit. The amount left for the family would be $45 for that session. Those figures are invented to show the arithmetic. They are not current fee benchmarks, a CCS calculation or an entitlement estimate for your family.
An example like this becomes useful when the service can reproduce it with your actual booking and explain why the final statement might differ. Keep the estimate so you have something specific to refer to later.
Check the whole fortnight
A weekly total can conceal a mismatch between booked hours and subsidised hours. Write down every booked session across the fortnight, including sessions at another service if relevant. For example, six 12-hour sessions use 72 booked hours; six 10-hour sessions use 60. This is a comparison of hours only, not a subsidy calculation. Then compare that pattern with your assessed hours.
Ask the provider to explain how the booking is reported and charged. Arriving later or collecting earlier does not necessarily change the session you agreed to purchase. The enrolment agreement and applicable subsidy rules matter, so get a clear answer before assuming that a shorter visit will produce a smaller bill.
It is also worth testing the booking against a normal working day. Include travel time, handover and the service’s opening hours. A cheaper arrangement that regularly leaves you unable to collect your child on time may not be workable. Affordability has to fit the family’s actual routine.
Questions to ask before you enrol
Use this table as a conversation guide. Ask for the current fee schedule and enrolment terms in writing, then check anything that remains unclear. The service should explain its charges; Services Australia is the place to confirm your CCS assessment.
| Ask the service | What you need to understand |
|---|---|
| What is included in the session fee? | Meals, supplies and activities, plus any separately charged items. |
| How long is the booked session? | The hours you purchase and how the booking uses subsidised hours. |
| What assumptions are in this estimate? | The assessment details and booking pattern used to calculate the expected gap. |
| What happens on public holidays or absences? | The service’s charging policy and where to check applicable subsidy rules. |
| What notice is needed to change days or leave? | Notice periods, deposits and any conditions affecting the final account. |
| How will you explain a fee change? | The notice process and a revised estimate for your booking. |
A clear answer may include something the service needs to check. That is preferable to an estimate presented as a promise. What matters is that someone takes responsibility for finding the answer and comes back to you.
Keep your information current
Your CCS assessment and your childcare account are related, but they are not the same record. Services Australia explains how to read an assessment, including the subsidy percentage and hours. Check the assessment itself when reviewing affordability. [3]
If your income, family circumstances or care arrangements change, check what needs updating with Services Australia and what the service needs to know. Do not assume that telling one organisation automatically updates the other. Keep a record of the date you made a change and any confirmation you receive.
For a family with irregular work, a useful habit is to review the budget when the roster changes rather than waiting for a surprising statement. You do not need to predict every dollar perfectly. You do need a realistic estimate and a way to spot when it is no longer reliable.
When the statement does not look right
Start with the specific line you do not understand. Ask the service to identify the session dates, full fees, subsidy credits and adjustments that produced the balance. Compare those details with your bookings and assessment.
If the question concerns the government assessment, take it to Services Australia. If it concerns a fee, booking or adjustment made by the service, ask the provider to explain that part. Separating the questions helps avoid a frustrating loop in which each party sends you back to the other.
Keep the conversation factual. A statement may need correcting, or it may reflect a change you had not understood. Ask for the explanation in writing if you need time to work through it. If payment is becoming difficult, raise it early and ask what arrangements the provider can discuss.
What providers can do better
We would like every family to receive a short explanation that connects the fee schedule to their proposed booking. It should state the assumptions, explain that the subsidy estimate can change and identify who can help with questions.
Teams also need a consistent way to handle uncertainty. An administrator should feel comfortable saying that a CCS question needs confirmation rather than offering an answer outside their role. Managers can review recurring questions and improve the information given at enrolment.
At Oiva, our expectation is that technology should make charges easier to understand and discrepancies easier to investigate. Families need a readable explanation, and staff need enough context to resolve the issue. An attractive account screen is useful only if the information behind it is accurate.
Make one clear comparison
Before deciding, compare services using the same booking pattern and the same assessment assumptions. Include fees, practical suitability and the quality of care. The lowest advertised daily rate will not tell you everything you need to know.
Take one proposed fortnight of bookings to the service and ask it to walk you through the estimated family payment. Then check the government assessment that supports the estimate. That gives you a firmer basis for a decision and a clearer starting point if something changes.
This article provides general information. Confirm your own eligibility and entitlement with Services Australia, and read the current terms of the service you are considering.
Sources and further reading
- Australian Government Department of Education. 3 Day Guarantee
- Services Australia. How much Child Care Subsidy you can get
- Services Australia. How to understand your Child Care Subsidy assessment
Sources checked 18 October 2026.