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Child Care Providers

This section of our website contains information for child care providers and people who plan to purchase or establish a child care service.

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Child Care Providers can now download these forms

If you Download this form
are an Approved Service Provider and your customers do not wish to apply for reduced fees Notification of full fee paying customers form
have a customer claiming increased eligible hours and/or Special Care Benefit because of Exceptional Circumstances Exceptional Circumstances – Claim for increased eligible hours and/or Special Child Care Benefit form
want to apply for increased eligible hours and/or Special Child Care benefit because you think a child is at risk of neglect and that risk can be reduced if the child attends child care Child at risk – Application for increased eligible hours and/or Special Child Care Benefit form
want to apply for the Child Care Benefit additional advance Application for Child Care Benefit additional advance form
have a customer already receiving or has applied to receive Child Care Benefit reduced fees Child Care Benefit Advice of family details form


These forms are current at time of publishing. To ensure that you are using the latest versions please check this page regularly. For help with downloading our forms go to PDF Hints.

Providing usage details to the Family Assistance Office

Approved child care providers are required to provide child care usage details to the Family Assistance Office (FAO) on a quarterly basis. Approved providers can use software to generate statements on a computer disk or complete the Child Care Benefit Statement for payment summary and Statement of child care usage forms.

When selecting a software package for the first time or upgrading existing software, providers should check that the software adheres to the Centrelink electronic standards. These standards describe the field format system requirements that will enable software packages to supply child care usage details. These standards do not cover other functionality that may be included in the software package.

To ensure prompt payment, it is important that data is provided in the correct format.

Phone us on 1300 367 676 to order disk labels (product number FAO28) to assist with the correct labelling of statements.

Centrelink electronic standards

You can view and download the latest copy of the Centrelink electronic standards.

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Information for software providers

New and current software providers should ensure that their software adheres to Centrelink's electronic standards. These standards are updated annually and describe the field format system requirements that will enable software packages to supply child care usage details to the Family Assistance Office (FAO). These standards do not cover other functionality that may be included in the software package.

Software providers can test their software by using the FAO Checker Tool. This tool is available by emailing the software helpdesk. It is updated annually in line with the electronic standards. Software providers can provide the FAO Checker Tool to child care providers to enable them to check their disks before forwarding to the Family Assistance Office for processing.

Child Care Management System

DEEWR is progressively implementing the Child Care Management System (CCMS), a new national child care computer system for the payment of Child Care Benefit. New and current software providers can find more information about the CCMS, including an Information Paper and draft Service Provider Interface Specifications by visiting the DEEWR Child Care Management System website.

More information

The DEEWR Child Care Support website contains useful information and resources for child care providers and people who plan to purchase or establish a child care service.

Did you find what you were looking for? You can also try the A-Z list, quick links, search, site help or send us feedback on how to make this a better website.

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