Families urged to make child care system switch

THE Turnbull Government is urging hundreds of thousands of families to make the switch to the new child care and early learning system or risk missing out on the new subsidies.

Education and Training Minister Simon Birmingham said new data revealed with just weeks to go until the new subsidy system starts on July 2, around 673,000 families have already made the switch.

“If you do not make the switch by July 2, you could miss out,” he said.

“Many families will be hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year better off under our reforms, but they need to make the switch to the new system.

“More support for more families is just weeks away, but the switchover to the new system is not automatic.”

Mr Birmingham said the reforms would benefit one million families with 230,000 families increasing their workforce participation.

“Our reforms include an extra $2.5b investment that will mean more subsidies for families working the most and for families earning the least, scrapping the annual rebate cap for most families as well as an hourly fee cap to keep downward pressure on fee increases,” he said.

Human Services Minister Michael Keenan said the government expected up to 489,000 families still need to update their details and switch over in time for the new system.

“We are seeing strong and consistent numbers of families making the switch every day, but as we hit the home stretch now is really the time for the remaining families to act,” he said.

“We encourage everyone to make the switch now so there is no disruption to their subsidy payments.”

Visit www.education.gov.au/childcare to update your details and make the switch.