Taking a close look at childcare fee policies

Paying for a day your child spent at home on the couch feels wrong, and most parents only work the rule out when the invoice lands.

Here's the truth: You'll usually be charged for childcare on days your child doesn't attend. Australian services charge against a booked place rather than against attendance, so sick days, public holidays and most closures still show up on your bill. The Child Care Subsidy takes the edge off, with 42 allowable absence days per child each financial year and no paperwork required to use them.

What varies is your service's fee policy, and that's where the money sits. Two centres in the same suburb can treat a make-up day, a holiday discount or an unplanned closure completely differently. Here's what you need to know.

Key takeaways

Fees are charged against a booked place, not attendance.
Each child gets 42 absence days a financial year with CCS still applying.
No evidence is needed for those 42 days, only a heads-up to your service.
Sick days and public holidays both count towards the 42.
Emergency closures bring extra absences and a possible gap fee waiver.
Every eligible family now gets at least three subsidised days a week.

Why you're charged when your child isn't there

You're paying to hold the place rather than to use it. Educators are rostered, ratios are held and meals are ordered against your child's booking, and none of that unwinds on the morning they stay home.

Fee policies are set by each individual service, so there's no single national rule. Yours will be part of your enrolment paperwork, and it should spell out how sick days, public holidays and closures are handled. Read it again before you sign, and ask again any time fees change.

Do you pay for sick days and public holidays?

Usually, on both counts. A sick day that falls on your child's regular booked day is still charged, though some centre directors will offer a make-up or swap day if there's room. Most services also charge for public holidays, so Monday and Friday bookings tend to cost you across Easter and the long weekends.

A few things soften the blow:

Ask about a make-up day. Plenty of services allow one when another child is absent and ratios permit it.
Ask about a holiday discount. Some offer a reduced rate for a set number of weeks each year, usually with written notice well in advance.
Think about which days you book. Wednesdays and Thursdays rarely land on a public holiday.

How many absence days can you claim in 2026?

Every child gets 42 allowable absence days each financial year, and the Child Care Subsidy still applies on those days. You can use them for any reason, including illness, family holidays and public holidays, and there's no need to supply a medical certificate or any other evidence.

A few rules shape how they work, according to the Department of Education's guidance on managing absences:

The 42 days belong to the child rather than to each parent, so shared care arrangements draw on the same pool.
Two sessions in one day, such as before and after school care, count as a single absence.
Absences only apply on days your child would normally attend, would be charged a fee, and would receive CCS.
Your service can't record the absence unless you tell them, so that quick call or app message really does matter.

Once the 42 days are used, additional absences are still possible for approved reasons like illness, an immunisation grace period, or a court-ordered arrangement. You'll need supporting documents, and your service will walk you through it.

What happens if your service closes unexpectedly?

It depends on the reason for the closure. When a service shuts for renovations, staffing or administrative reasons, it can't report absences and CCS can't be claimed for those days. Your service should explain how fees will work, and many will reduce or waive them.

Closures tied to a declared emergency work differently. When the Department of Education declares a CCS period of emergency for your region, families receive extra allowable absences automatically, so your annual 42 stay untouched, and services can choose to waive the gap fee. Bushfires, floods and major storms are the usual triggers. A break-in or a burst pipe at a single centre isn't one.

There's also a new closure worth knowing about. Since 27 February 2026, services can close for up to five hours a year so staff can complete mandatory national child safety training, and they can still claim CCS for that time. Closures can't start before 5pm, so for most families it means an early pick-up rather than a lost day.

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What the 2026 subsidy changes mean for your bill

Since 5 January 2026, every family eligible for CCS receives at least 72 subsidised hours a fortnight, which works out to three days a week, regardless of how much you work or study. Income thresholds and hourly rate caps were also indexed on 6 July 2026, so your subsidy percentage may have shifted a little since last year.

None of this changes what your service charges. It changes how much of that charge lands on you, which makes it worth running your numbers through the Child Care Subsidy Calculator again if you haven't since January.

Questions worth asking your service

Take these to a tour or your next chat with the director, alongside the rest of your centre tour checklist:

How are fees handled for sick days, and can we swap or make up a day?
Do you charge for public holidays that fall on our booked day?
Is there a holiday discount, and how far ahead do we need to apply in writing?
What happens to fees if the centre has to close?
How do we report an absence, and where can we check our absence count?

Fee policies vary far more than most parents expect, and the centre down the road may handle absences quite differently to yours. If you're weighing up options, the cost calculator shows how fees stack up suburb by suburb, which is a useful sanity check before you commit to a place.