New year means CCS review, DHS says

The new year is the perfect time to encourage parents and families to review their income estimates for child care subsidy (CCS), to ensure they are getting the right percentage, the Department of Human Services (DHS) has said, in a statement issued on their website.

DHS reminded CCS users that their CCS percentage was calculated using their family income estimate, and that, because of this, estimates needed to be accurate and up to date.

If the income estimate was too low, DHS said, families may owe DHS a refund when payments are balanced against their actual income.

If families overestimate their income amount, and don’t get enough subsidy, DHS will pay any outstanding amount directly to the family, again, when balancing CCS payments received against actual income after the end of the financial year.

Even if a families income estimate was correct when given to DHS, ‘things change’ DHS said, adding that ‘It’s important to encourage families to regularly review their income estimates, to ensure they are up to date and include all  income.’

Updating income estimates, DHS said, was ‘easy to do and will only take a few minutes.’

Families wishing to review their income estimate should follow these steps, DHS said:

• Use their Centrelink online account through myGov or the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app.

• Review and update their income estimate

• Check their and their partner’s activity details at the same time.

More information about the CCS can be found here.