How many days can my child be absent from care with CCS still paid?

42 days per child per financial year. Includes sick days, family vacation, public holidays the centre is closed for, and any other day the child's enrolled spot isn't filled. CCS continues to pay for those 42 absent days as if the child attended. From the 43rd day onwards, you pay the full daily fee with no subsidy.

Do public holidays count toward the 42-day allowance?

Yes — public holidays where the centre is closed but the child's enrolled spot remains held count as absent days. Typical year has 10-12 public holidays, so they consume a quarter of the 42-day allowance just on calendar effects. Plan accordingly.

Can I get more than 42 absent days if my child is sick a lot?

Additional absences are possible in specific circumstances — long-term illness with medical certificate, hospitalisation, death of a parent, court orders, natural disaster. Apply through the centre to Services Australia with evidence. Approved additional absences don't count toward the 42-day limit.

What happens on day 43+?

You pay the full daily fee with no CCS subsidy. The centre still gets paid (because the spot is held), but the cost shifts from CCS to your pocket. For a $180/day centre that's a $180/day extra cost from day 43 onwards.

Should I "save" absence days for vacation?

Worth thinking about. Public holidays (~12/year) and sick days are unavoidable. That leaves ~30 days for discretionary absences like family vacation. If you take 4 weeks of summer vacation = 20 weekdays, plus a few sick days plus public holidays, you can comfortably stay under 42. Pushing it to 5-6 weeks of vacation starts to get close.

CCS absences — the 42-day allowance and what happens when you go over

Q: What counts as an "absent day"?

Any day the child is enrolled but doesn't attend the full session. Counted in daily blocks — a child who attends for 30 minutes of a 10-hour day is still attending; a child who's a no-show for the day is absent. Specific to enrolled days — if the child's only enrolled Tue/Wed/Thu and is absent on a Friday, that doesn't count (not enrolled).

Each child gets 42 absence days per FY where CCS still applies. Sick days, vacation, public holidays all count. Going over costs you — you pay the full daily fee for absent days beyond 42. Here's the rules and the planning angles.

Each enrolled child gets 42 absent days per financial year where CCS continues to pay even though the child isn't there. Sick days, family vacations, public holidays — all count. It's a generous allowance for most families, but tight if you have a kid who gets sick often or you want extended family vacations. Going over costs you — from day 43, you pay the full daily fee with no subsidy.

This guide walks through the rules and the planning angles.

The 42-day rule

Per child, per financial year (1 July to 30 June), CCS continues to be paid for up to 42 days the child is absent from their enrolled care.

Why 42 and not 365? The CCS payment to providers is daily — designed to compensate the centre for holding the spot regardless of attendance. The 42-day cap balances this provider compensation against an obvious budget concern (otherwise families could enrol but never attend and still get subsidy).

The 42 days reset each FY on 1 July. Used absences don't carry forward.

What counts as an "absent day"

A day where the child is enrolled but doesn't attend the full session. Counted in daily blocks.

Counted as absent

Sick days when the child stays home
Family vacation weekdays
Public holidays when the centre is closed but the spot is held
Centre closures for staff training days, deep-cleaning, building work (some count, depends on notice)
No-shows without notice
Suspension days if the child is suspended (rare)

NOT counted as absent

Days the child wasn't enrolled (e.g. Friday for a child only enrolled Mon-Thu)
Sessions where the child attends part of the day (counted as attended)
Days before enrolment starts or after it ends
Approved additional absence days (see below)

The grey zone — centre closure days

Public holidays where the centre is closed but the spot is held = absent day. This is the surprise for many families — Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Easter Friday, Labour Day all consume the 42-day budget.

A typical year has 10-12 public holidays. If your child's enrolled on a day that's a public holiday, it's an absent day.

Common scenarios

Pattern 1 — typical family, child enrolled 4 days/wk

Sick days: 8 (typical)
Public holidays: 8-10 (those falling on enrolled days)
Family vacation: 10-15 (2-3 weeks summer + 1 week winter)
Total: ~30 days — comfortably under 42

Pattern 2 — child with frequent illness

Sick days: 15-20
Public holidays: 8-10
Family vacation: 10-12
Total: ~35-42 — at the limit

Pattern 3 — family that takes extended vacation

Sick days: 8
Public holidays: 8-10
Family vacation: 20-25 (4-5 weeks)
Total: ~40-43 — at or just over the limit

Pattern 4 — multi-child family

The 42 days is per child — each child has its own allowance. Family of 3 kids in care = 126 absent days total budget across the family. Multi-child families rarely hit the limit unless one child has a specific health issue.

What happens at day 43

The next absent day after the 42nd doesn't get CCS. You pay 100% of the daily fee. For a $180/day centre, that's a $180/day extra cost.

You can attend that day to avoid it being absent — but if the child's actually sick, that's not possible. And the daily fee continues whether the child attends or not, so the financial penalty is real.

The provider doesn't get any less — they get paid by you instead of by Centrelink. From your end, the cap is felt as a sudden jump in your out-of-pocket cost.

Approved additional absences — the exception

For specific reasons, additional absences beyond 42 are approved with evidence. The categories:

Long-term illness or hospitalisation of the child (medical certificate)
Death of a parent, sibling, or close relative
Court orders preventing attendance (e.g. shared-care disputes)
Natural disaster (bushfire, flood, declared emergency)
Centre temporarily closed by health/safety authority

The centre lodges the additional-absence request with Services Australia on your behalf. You provide the evidence. Approval typically takes a week or so.

Approved additional absences don't consume the 42-day allowance — they're separate.

Planning angles

Spread vacation across the FY boundary

FY runs 1 July to 30 June. If you take 4 weeks vacation in June and 2 weeks in July, that's split across two FYs — each gets its own 42-day budget. Schools' summer holidays helpfully straddle the FY boundary (Dec-Jan).

Skip enrolment on regular non-attending days

If your child only needs care 3 days/wk but they're enrolled 5 days, you're absorbing absent days for the 2 non-attending days × every week × 52 weeks = 104 absent days. Far exceeds the 42 budget.

Better — enrol for only the days you actually attend. Each non-enrolled day doesn't consume the allowance.

Multi-child families — rotate sick patterns

If two kids tend to get sick at similar times (which is normal — younger siblings catch from older), the joint absent days can stack up fast. Worth tracking each child separately.

Use centre closure days you can avoid

If your centre announces a closure day (training, deep-clean), check whether they offer to swap to another day. Some do. Avoiding the absent-day count on those is worth it.

Tracking absences

Your CCS statement (in MyGov → Centrelink → Child Care Subsidy) shows absences year-to-date per child. Check it quarterly to know how close to 42 you are.

Centres also track this — many show absences on the parent app or invoice statements.

How NestWise helps

The free CCS calculator doesn't currently model absences (it assumes attendance for the full year). The paid dashboard view tracks YTD attendance via your saved care arrangement and surfaces a remaining-budget figure.

Try the free CCS calculator →