PRESS RELEASE: 4 August 2009.
CHILD CARE REBATE: 22 PER CENT OF ELIGIBLE WORKING FAMILIES
POTENTIALLY MISSING OUT DUE TO APATHY AND CONFUSION OVER
ELIGIBILITY
A poll by CareforKids.com.au, the country’s leading online child care
search service, has revealed 22 per cent of working families who meet the
Child Care Rebate criteria are missing out on up to $7778 per child per
year, either over confusion over eligibility due to income thresholds or
because they simply haven’t got around to being assessed. The poll results
are highlighted in the August issue of CareforKids.com.au online newsletter.
The poll was conducted online with the CareforKids.com.au membership of
predominantly working parents and asked them questions on their
understanding of eligibility of Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate
(formerly Child Care Tax Rebate).
CareforKids.com.au spokesperson, Sophie Cross, said they had a suspicion
that thousands of working families with children in approved child care may
well be missing out on the rebate after the CareforKids.com.au annual child
care survey results in April showed confusion over Child Care Benefit and
Rebate following the changes in January 09:
“There was such confusion over the difference between Child Care Benefit
and the Child Care Rebate, said Sophie Cross. Parents just didn’t, and still
don’t understand that although the Benefit is means tested, the Rebate
isn’t, so as long as families meet the basic requirements for residency, work
or study and approved care, they are eligible for Child Care Rebate”.
The results of the poll conducted on 185 parents confirmed their suspicions:
Only 43 per cent of parents questioned said they were eligible for child
care benefit.
29 per cent said they were not eligible and 27 per cent didn’t know if they
were or not. However, 37 per cent had not been assessed either way by
Centrelink/Family Assistance to establish whether they were or were not
eligible, so a potential additional 10 per cent may well think they’re not
eligible when in fact they are!
Of those who had not been assessed by Family Assistance, 40 per cent said
they hadn’t been because they were not eligible due to family income
levels and 35 per cent because they had been too busy to go or hadn’t
got around to it yet…
“When we outlined the requirements for Child Care Rebate (which IS NOT
means tested, as opposed to the Child Care Benefit, which is), said Cross, a
huge 58 per cent of parents who had not been assessed, had no idea that
even if they are not eligible for Child Care Benefit (due to income
threshold), but meet residency requirements, have a child/ren in approved
child care and have worked or had work related or study commitments at
some time during the tax period, they ARE eligible for the 50 per cent Child
Care Rebate”.
In the final poll question, 66 per cent of parents not claiming child care
benefit or rebate said that now they understood the difference between
Benefit and Rebate, they were definitely missing out on the child care
rebate – up to $7778 per child per year.
This figure therefore represents 22 per cent of the total number of parents
who took the poll, which means that at least 22 per cent of working parents
are therefore missing out on at least $7778 per year, either because they
think it’s means tested or they haven’t got around to being assessed.
“This is particularly worrying considering our members are pretty proactive
and interactive with us on child care issues, said Cross, so you can only
imagine that the numbers may realistically be even higher than this”.
ABOUT CAREFORKIDS.COM.AU
Now with over 35,000 members, 65,000 monthly visitors to the site and over
12,000 registered child care providers on the database, CareforKids.com.au
is providing
a vital role in assisting parents to find the child care they need
and for providers to build and market their businesses. Last year alone over
800,000 parents visited CareforKids.com.au.
The online service also has an extensive Corporate Program, providing child
care assistance to employees of large institutions including Macquarie
Bank, Telstra, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Goldman Sachs JBWere,
Optus, NRMA, IAG and Coca-Cola Amatil.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITOR
For more information or comment please contact Sophie Cross at PR Chicks
on 0421 996810 or email sophie@prchicks.com.au
NEWS 
