Parents who keep their children at home during the Greater Sydney lockdown will not be charged for childcare they are not using.
The Federal Government has announced that from Monday, July 19, childcare centres will be allowed to not charge families gap fees while they still receive taxpayer subsidies when children are not present.
The gap fee is the difference between the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) the government pays to a service provider and the remaining fee paid by the family.
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The move enables Greater Sydney families to keep their children enrolled but not have to pay for care they are not using during the lockdown, which was extended yesterday for at least another two weeks.
The new measures are expected to help about 216,000 families across 3600 centres in Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong and Shellharbour.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the changes should ease pressure on families affected by the lockdown.
"When gap-fees are waived families will not have to pay any out-of-pocket costs for those days that their children are at home during the current stay at home period," Mr Morrison said.
"This is another measure that will make life easier for many families in Greater Sydney during these challenging times."
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Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge said previous lockdowns showed that parents preferred to keep their children at home even when childcare remained open.
"We are easing some of the pressure on families and encouraging them to keep their children enrolled, guaranteeing the continued flow of childcare subsidy to service providers," Mr Tudge said.
"Importantly, this means providers can keep their staff employed so business can continue as usual when the stay-at-home orders end."
Childcare has remained open in Greater Sydney during the lockdown for those families that require it.
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