CCS approval is what lets your centre receive the Child Care Subsidy and apply it to families’ fees. For almost every centre that subsidy is the single biggest source of income, and families can only use their subsidy at a CCS approved service. Without it, the money cannot reach you, and you cannot compete with the approved centres around you. Here is how to get it.
Who grants it
CCS approval comes from the Australian Government, through the Department of Education, under Family Assistance Law. That makes it separate from your provider and service approval, which come from your state regulator under the National Law. Different government, different rules!
Submit CCS and service approval at the same time
The most important timing decision is simple: lodge your CCS application at the same time as your service approval, not one after the other. Service approval can take up to 90 days, and CCS approval has no set timeframe of its own, so submitting them together lets the waits overlap and your subsidy starts sooner. For a new centre, budget a few months overall from submission to CCS flowing.
While your approval is pending, families pay the full fee. Once it comes through, the subsidy backdates to the day you submitted your CCS application, though each child’s subsidy only reaches back 28 days before that family lodged their own claim. So apply early, and tell families to claim promptly. The backdated amount is usually paid straight to the family by Services Australia, and from then on they pay only the gap fee.
How to apply, step by step
Register with PRODA: an individual account and RA number for each person with management or control (PMC), then an organisation account using your ABN.
Prepare your materials (checklist below).
Submit provider, service and CCS approval together through the NQA IT System.
Wait for assessment. New providers without a track record are increasingly likely to face a knowledge assessment or interview.
Once approved, enrol each child in the Child Care Subsidy System and submit session reports, and payments begin.
What you need: the checklist
PRODA individual account and RA number for each PMC
PRODA organisation account, registered with your ABN
Statement of Tax Record, issued no more than 30 days before you apply
Governance statement
PMC details: name, date of birth, position, phone, email, RA number
Background checks for each PMC, including a Working with Children Check
Each PMC’s childcare history for the past 5 years
Your ABN, bank account details for CCS payments, and provider name, address and contact details
How Childcare Ready can help
Provider, service and CCS approval come from different places, run on different rules, and have to be timed right. At Childcare Ready, we help you prepare a complete application and submit in the right order and at the right time, so you are not left approved to operate but unable to be paid. If you are setting up a centre, contact us today.
