Articles on: Discounts

NSW Government Fee Relief - Start Strong Funding


NSW Government Fee Relief - Start Strong Funding



The Start Strong program provides fee relief to families with children in Early Childhood Education and Care services and Community Preschools


To view further information about the Start Strong program see: NSW Government - Start Strong



3-5 year old children in community, mobile and public preschools.


  • The fee relief will be calculated based on the number of hours your child is enrolled.
  • Families may save up to $4,347 a year for eligible 3-5 year old children in eligible community and mobile preschools in 2025
  • The program will provide community and mobile preschools and public preschools with sustainable long-term funding to deliver 600 hours of low, or no cost, preschool to eligible children.


For example:

  • If a child attends 600 hours a year (15 hours a week) or more, they will be eligible for $4,347 a year in fee relief.
  • If a child attends fewer than 15 hours a week, the amount of fee relief will be scaled proportionately.


4 and 5 year old preschoolers in Long Day Care


Families will save in eligible preschool programs in long day care.:


  • up to $2,174 a year for 4-5 year-old children
  • up to $515 a year for children aged 3 years old


For example:


Your service is open 50 weeks a year, you will pass on a reduction of:


  • up to $43.48 each week for children who are at least 4 years old on, or before, 31 July 2025
  • up to $10.30 each week for children who are 3 years old and not yet 4 years old on, or before 31 July in 2025.


How fee relief will work with the Child Care Subsidy


The different level of payment per child in long day care services recognises that most families in long day care services are eligible to receive the Australian Government’s Child Care Subsidy (CCS).


The CCS does not apply to community and mobile preschools or Department of Education preschools.


Creating the NSW Funding Gap Discount


  1. Apply Child Tag's e.g. 4YO Kindy Funding 2026
  2. Setup Gap Discounts by Rules
Note: It is important to add the child Tags on prior to creating a Discount by Rule, to allow the Discounts to automatically be applied. If the Tags are added on AFTER the discount is created, use the direct apply discounts for the child/ren. see: Apply Direct Discounts


Step 1: Applying Tag's


Tags are a powerful way to identify specific children and scenarios within Xap. They provide flexibility for organizing information and can be used as filters in reporting.

Additionally, tags can be applied to manage discounts, making them a useful tool for both administration and billing.


To apply Tag's


  1. From within your Families Screen, select the Children Tab
  2. Select the Filter icon
Note: For children attending multiple centres or with split families, remove the standard tag and apply a specific tag then use direct discount instead.

  1. Apply Filters as required, to identify the child/ren, in this example by Age, Room & Bookings from details.
  2. Select Update Search



  1. Select the child/ren
  2. Select Bulk Action
  3. Select Add Tag



  1. Select/Create the required Tag
  2. Select Save



Step 2: Create the Gap Discounts


  1. Within the Settings screen, select the Discount Setup icon

  1. Select the Green + Add button

  1. Select the Centre name if you are in Enterprise mode
  2. Add the Discount name
  3. Select Gap Discount
  4. Select the Discount Category
  5. Add a Description
  6. Select Rules
  7. Set Bookings from Date, a Bookings to Date can be added if required. You can set them up by term. (For 2026, this allows you of time as they only need it ready by the start of Term 1).
  8. Select the Discount Rule as Discount applied Weekly



  1. Select the filters to automatically apply the Discounts to, e.g., Child Tag - VIC 3YO Kindy 2026
  2. Additional Filters can be applied to refine who the Discount is applied to. For example, the Kindy children are in specific rooms. e.g Kindy children are grouped into 3–5 Kindy or 4–6 Prep.
  3. Select the Day/s the Children can be booked to apply the Discount
  4. Leave Bookings at least section blank
  5. Add the Discount amount
  6. Leave up to bookings blank
  7. Select Save



New South Wales Fee Relief State Funding on Family Statement


Statement screen



Downloaded Statement


Downloaded Statement -Summary page


Downloaded Statement -Discount Breakdown page



New South Wales Fee Relief State Funding on Bookings


Bookings Screen



Discount view per booking



Applying the NSW Fee Relief in Xap


Note: The manual payments are only to be applied for prior to the Discount release on the 17/11/25. Any new NSW Discounts should be added via a Gap Discount. see: State Funding - Gap Discounts


The NSW Government Fee Relief can be applied to children who meet the criteria as a credit.


Step 1 - Viewing the NSW Government Fee Relief Transaction Category


There is a default Transaction type created under Payment type - NSW Government Fee Relief


The Transaction category can be located in:


  1. Select the Settings screen
  2. Select Payments & Billing Settings icon



  1. Select the Service name
  2. Select Transaction Categories



Scroll down under the Payments section.

  1. The NSW Government Fee Relief Transaction type will be displayed.
Note: If you have created your own NSW Fee Relief transaction type and used this option to apply the credits to Children, this information will not populate on the NSW Fee Relief report.



Step 2 - Applying the NSW Government Fee Relief Credit


The NSW Government Fee Relief can be added to the required Child/ren via:


Warning: The NSW fee relief report will not populate if the NSW fee relief credit has been added to the payment account instead of against the child.


  1. Select the Payments & Billing Screen
  2. Select the Payments Tab
  3. Select the Green + Add Button
  4. Select Bulk Add Payment(s)
Note: The Add Payments option won't allow you to select the child/ren on the Family only the Payment Account. The Bulk Add Payments option needs to be used to allow you to select Child which is the NSW Govt requirement for reporting.



Note: The Bulk Add Payments option can be used if the credit amount is the same per child. Otherwise the credit can be applied individually per child using the Bulk Add Payments option.


  1. Select Payment is added to - Children
  2. Select Advance Search
Note: The advance Search will allow you to apply further filters, eg. Tags, Rooms, Sessions etc.



  1. Select the Bookings From Date
  2. Select the Bookings To Date
  3. Apply other filters eg. Rooms or Sessions/Fees, Days of attendance
  4. Include or Exclude Children with selected Tag(s)
  5. Select Search



  1. Select the Filtered list of Children
  2. Select Fee/Other Payments
  3. Select the Payment Date
  4. Select NSW Government Fee Relief from the Transaction Category drop-down list
  5. Add in the $ amount to be credited to the selected child/ren
  6. Select Save



To view the Transactions for the reporting see: NSW Fee Relief Report and to assist you further with the process see the video: Managing NSW Government Fee Relief

Updated on: 15/12/2025

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