Additional Child Care Subsidy - Child Wellbeing

Additional Child Care Subsidy is for children deemed at risk.

This Guide to the Additional Child Care Subsidy contains the following information.

• What is ACCS child wellbeing.
• How to access child wellbeing
• How to create ACCS certificate/determination
• What is ACCS enrolment type?
• What is 204K?
• What are the rules for certificates?
• What are the rules for determination?
• What are the rules for subsequent determination?
• Additional resources.

What is ACCS Wellbeing?

The ACCS is part of the Child Care Safety Net, to give the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children, as well as those from regional and remote communities, a strong start through access to quality early childhood education and care.

Types of ACCS

ACCS is a top-up payment in addition to the Child Care Subsidy (CCS). Except for the ACCS (transition to work), ACCS will cover all of a child’s child care fees in most cases.

Additional Child Care Subsidy - Child Wellbeing can be accessed for a child at serious risk of neglect. This is the equivalent of the old ‘CRK’ that could be claimed on an attendance.

Note the following:

Accessing ACCS - Child Wellbeing

• Create a CWA enrolment (not an ACCS enrolment) in Xap for the child in question with their CRN and submit it
• Go to the CCSS Interfaces & click on ACCS Wellbeing.
• Click on the green plus icon to query the ACCS percentage.
• Create the ACCS certificate for 6 weeks linking up the CWA enrolment
• Start submitting attendances as normal

Notes for the ACCS cert and determinations;

• Once the Enrolment is submitted, go to the CCS Interfaces --> ACCS Wellbeing.
• Click on the green plus icon to query the ACCS percentage and create the 6-week ACCS certificate
• Make sure the paperwork to support certificate/determination is ready on your computer. If the information required for ACC002 and ACC003 documents is in the one file, then load it up each time so you can select it twice. ACCS003 will state that a child needs care and ACCS002 will say why they should receive care.
• start date must be a Monday, on or before the first session attended
• end date must be a Sunday 6 weeks (or less) later
• initial certificate can be for up to 6 weeks
• once approved it will appear on the drop-down cert box for a new determination and the ACCS % will be on the enrolment
• When required, you can add a new determination to submit for approval under the CCS Interfaces, ACCS Wellbeing and link it to the 6-week ACCS certificate

ACCS Enrolment Type

Enrolments with a TYPE ACCS must only be used when you determined there is no one eligible to claim for the child and you the service provider will be the ‘parent’ for this enrolment. For more information on ACCS Enrolments see below.

Other types of ACCS are:

• Grandparent
• Temporary Financial Hardship
• Transition to Work

These types are applied for by the carer directly to Centrelink and show up in the subsidy calculations.

ACCS Enrolments

ACCS Enrolments are the equivalent of the old Service SCCB and are only to be used when no parent can be identified who is eligible.

A provider may identify a child at risk of neglect or abuse who meets relevant criteria but may be unable to identify a parent or carer - an individual or claimant - who is eligible for Additional Child Care Subsidy (child wellbeing). In these cases, as a last resort, the provider may enrol the child under an ‘Additional Child Care Subsidy (child wellbeing) - provider eligible arrangement’. This arrangement will end once the child is no longer at risk.

In this situation, the provider effectively becomes the individual concerning that child, although a different arrangement will apply to the enrolment.

Where a provider is making themselves eligible (where there is no individual), the system process is as follows:

• Create an ‘ACCS (Child Wellbeing) – Provider Eligible’ enrolment (the CRN field will be left blank) – not always
• Complete the ‘Request for a child’s Customer Reference Number (CRN)’ form and email this to the Child Wellbeing team at child.wellbeing@education.gov.au. The form can be provided by the helpdesk or the service can request for the form by emailing child.wellbeing@education.gov.au. The form is not public at this stage, however, it has been provided to services who were using the equivalent option under S-SCCB
• The Child Wellbeing team will request for a CRN from DHS. This will, on average take about two working days
• The Child Wellbeing team will update the child’s enrolment with the new CRN and services will receive an email to let them know this has been completed

204K Notice

If 204K notice details were not provided as part of the certificate, then Provider must update 204K notice within 6 weeks from the certificate start date.

204K notice to State/Territory body can be notified either at the time of certificate submission or 6 weeks from the date of effect of the certificate. 204K notice is taken to have been provided if provider was advised of the risk by an appropriate State/Territory body. Evidence of this advice must be attached. If a 204K notice is not provided within 6 weeks from a certificate start date, a breach will be recorded against the provider.

Certificate Rules

• Child must be uniquely identified, using either CRN or Enrolment ID. Note, enrolment ID will not be returned in any of the query services as it is merely another way to identify a child’s CRN.
• Child at risk must start on a Monday.
• Child at risk can be backdated for 28 days, 4 weeks.
• Evidence must be kept for all children at risk and should be provided upon request by DHS.
• Cancelling/revoking or varying a certificate/determination may trigger reassessments for session reports, which may adjust entitlement causing debt to be raised to the provider.
• A certificate can only be for a single child at a single service. This means:
• If a child attends multiple services from the same provider, a separate certificate must be submitted for each service.
• If multiple enrolments exist for the same child in service, a certificate would cover all enrolments for that service as long as the enrolment is linked to the CRN.
• Certificate can be for a maximum length of 6 weeks.
• Certificate start date cannot be in the future.
• Certificate periods for the same child/service cannot overlap.
• Certificate periods for the same child for different services can overlap.
• Details of the 204K notice can be provided when a certificate is first submitted.
• 204K notice is not required if the same provider has already given a 204K notice within 6 weeks of the certificate submission date for the same child under a different service.
• 6 weeks does not need to be used up in one certificate.
• Maximum of 6 weeks of certificate for a particular child/service can be submitted within 12 months.
• Request to cancel a certificate can be lodged any time after the certificate has been made.
• If cancellation is requested within 4 weeks from the start date of the certificate, it will auto-apply. Otherwise, a work item will be generated for staff to action.
• Provider/service cannot amend a certificate once it is submitted, hence no update certificate service available.
• Instead, provider can cancel the certificate needing amendment and create a new certificate, which will be known as a replacement certificate.
• A replacement certificate is identified if a new certificate has an overlapping at-risk period comparing to a cancelled certificate, for the same child/service.
• A replacement certificate cannot have a start date earlier than the original certificate start date. Instead, provider can submit a separate certificate to cover for the earlier period.
• A replacement certificate will not be accepted if the original certificate was cancelled by DHS staff. Instead, the provider needs to request a 109A review of the decision.
• If the child is no longer at risk, and It is within 4 weeks from the start date of the certificate, then provider must use the cancel service and submit a replacement certificate, otherwise “the no longer at risk service” must be used and a work item will be generated for staff to action if it is more than 4 weeks have elapsed from the start date.
• Australian Government/DHS staff will be able to vary certificates, with certain restrictions. Australian Government/DHS staff will be able to cancel certificates.
• Where staff has varied or cancelled a certificate, a notification will be sent to provider, via the messaging interface
• Evidence of child being at risk is optional as part of the certificate. The provider may be requested to show evidence at any time.

Determination Rules

• Child must be uniquely identified, using either CRN or Enrolment ID. Note, enrolment ID will not be returned in any of the query services as it is merely another way to identify a child’s CRN.
• Child at risk must start on a Monday.
• Child at risk can be backdated for 28 days, 4 weeks.
• Evidence must be kept for all children at risk and should be provided upon request by DHS.
• Cancelling/revoking or varying a certificate/determination may trigger reassessments for session reports, which may adjust entitlement causing debt to be raised to the Provider.
• Determination is in effect for the child. This means a determination will be in effect for all enrolments regardless of:
• Provider,
• Service,
• Liable party, and
• Enrolment type.
• Determination must start on a Monday.
• Determination made by other providers concerning children attending any of your services can be returned in the query determination service, depending on the request parameters. However, the only limited response will be returned.
• Application for a determination cannot be submitted unless 204K notice is provided. Where a provider has a certificate in effect for a child at any of their services, and the provider has already notified an S/T body under 204K concerning that certificate and the date of 204K notice is within 6 weeks from the application submission date, then they will be taken to have met the notification obligation
• Application can be for a maximum length of 13 weeks.
• Application and certificate periods for the same child/service cannot overlap.
• Application and certificate periods for the same child but different services can overlap.
• Provider cannot vary or revoke an application once submitted.
• If the child is no longer at risk, the no longer at risk service should be used and a work item will be generated for staff to action.
• Australian Government/DHS staff can vary a determination, with certain restrictions.
• Australian Government/DHS staff can revoke a determination.
• Evidence of child being at risk is mandatory for application.
• Cant have Yes for both has notice been provided and has notice been given question. No/NO, or Yes/No, or No/Yes.

Subsequent Determination

If the child continues to be at risk after the 13-week determination, a subsequent determination can be submitted.

The subsequent determination must be requested before the expiring of the active determination. Determination (original or subsequent) periods for the same child cannot overlap. Evidence is optional for subsequent determination. To assess determinations, the evidence is only valid for a maximum of 6 months, so although evidence is not enforced by the interface, it would be a good idea to obtain and provide up-to-date evidence where possible.

Additional Resources

• Child Care Handbook - ACCS
• ACCS Guide
• How to Manage ACCS Certificates in PEP
• How to Create a Determination in PEP
• Provider Entry Point (PEP)
• Guide to ACCS - Child Wellbeing
• What is the Additional Child Care Subsidy (child wellbeing)? Fact Sheet
• What is the Additional Child Care Subsidy (transition to work)? Fact Sheet
• What is the Additional Child Care Subsidy (temporary financial hardship)? Fact Sheet
• What is the Additional Child Care Subsidy (grandparent)? Fact Sheet

Updated on: 22/01/2026