Prescribed & Non-Prescribed Discounts

The Department of Education outlines specific rules for managing third-party payments—contributions made by entities other than families—to help cover early childhood education and care (ECEC) fees.

These rules ensure compliance with Family Assistance Law and maintain the integrity of the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) system.

Childcare providers are required to advise The Department via the Provider Entry Point (PEP), or their Third-Party Software such as Xap.

What is the difference between the Discounts?

Non-Prescribed

A Non-Prescribed Discount is a Fee Discount, i.e. It reduces the Session Fee before any CCS Entitlements, Discounts or Payments are applied.

• Marketing discounts
• Early Bird Booking fees etc.

Prescribed

A Prescribed Discount is a Gap Discount i.e. It reduces the gap after the Session Fee, Fee Discount and CCS Entitlement has been applied.

• This can also be in the form of a Third-Party Payments, such a State Kindy Payment.
• Three-Year-Old Preschool, ACT
• Start Strong Program, NSW
• Early start kindergarten, VIC
• Free Kinder, VIC
• Free Kindy, Queensland
• Kindy Family Tax Benefit Subsidy, Queensland
• Base Subsidy Fee Reduction, Queensland
• Staff discounts

Quick Points

• All Discounts need to be categorised as Fee Discount (Non-Prescribed) or Gap Discount (Prescribed)
• XAP feature All Discounts need to be created as a Discount Configuration to be automatically applied as a rule or manually applied by a user.
• XAP feature All Third-Party Payments need to create as a Discount rather than a Payment.
• All Discounts will be reported to CCS via the weekly session report submission.
• Change to a Fee Discount that adjusts the Discount Amount will require a mandatory Vary to Session Reports.
• Changes to Gap Discount do not require a mandatory Vary if the Amount has changed due to a change to CCS Entitlements.

Updated on: 10/02/2026