What is the 3 Day Guarantee?
The 3 Day Guarantee is a new change to the Child Care Subsidy (CCS). From January 5, 2026, all CCS-eligible families are guaranteed at least 3 days of subsidised childcare per week or 72 hours per fortnight, regardless of their work, study, or volunteering status.
This Australian Government initiative aims to increase accessibility of childcare for families across Australia.
Families can still access up to 100 hours per fortnight if they work, study, train, or volunteer for 48+ hours per fortnight, or have a valid exemption.
First Nations families will automatically receive 100 hours per fortnight.
To be eligible for CCS families must be earning under $533,280 annually (2024–25 threshold) and meet immunisation requirements.
How can your family benefit?
If your family does not currently meet the activity test requirements for study, work or volunteering hours per week, you could benefit from 3 days of subsidised childcare under the new 3 Day Guarantee. This increase in subsidised care reduces your out-of-pocket childcare fees.
If your family is looking to extend their days from 0, 1 or 2 days to 3 days, you can enjoy 3 days per week of government-subsidised childcare under the 3 Day Guarantee from January 2026.
Why is the 3 Day Guarantee important?
The 3 Day Guarantee extends subsidies to more families and offers families greater consistency and access to early education and care.
How can the 3 Day Guarantee assist different families?
If you are a family receiving jobkeeper income support, you may have previously been eligible for 36 hours per fortnight of subsidised childcare. Under the 3 Day Guarantee changes in January 2026, your family would be guaranteed 72 hours of subsidised care per fortnight or 3 days per week.
If you are a parent at home with young children and are studying on a part-time basis, you may not have previously met the activity test requirements to receive subsidised childcare. Under the CCS 3 Day Guarantee you may be eligible for 3 days of subsidised care per week, providing more support and time to complete your studies.
If you are a parent on parental leave, you may have previously only qualified for a minimum amount of subsidised care. Under the 3 Day Guarantee, this would increase to 3 days per week for CCS eligible families, providing greater childcare support for parents on parental leave.
If you are a family with one parent who works full-time and one parent who stays at home, you would previously have not met the CCS activity test requirements. This would have limited your childcare subsidy. From January 2026, under the 3 Day Guarantee, CCS eligible families with one stay-at-home parent will be able to access 3 days of subsidised care per week.
If you are a family with a casual work schedule that fluctuates weekly, you may have often struggled to meet activity test requirements. The 3 Day Guarantee now offers CCS eligible family a consistent minimum of 3 days subsidised care per week, regardless of their work schedule, offering stabilised support to assist with families changing work weeks.
If you are a family where one person works full-time and one works part-time for under 4 hours per week, your eligibility to subsidised care under the current Child Care Subsidy would have been 36 hours per fortnight. Under the 3 Day Guarantee, your subsidised care will increase to 72 hours per fortnight, offering increased childcare support.
An Example of the 3 Day Guarantee
Taylor and Matt have two children, Jay and Nadine. Both currently attend early education and care for 2 days per week. Jay is 4 years old. His parents would like Jay to attend the highly regarded kindergarten class at their childcare centre for 3 days per week to help him develop school readiness.
Nadine is 1 years old. Taylor and Matt have seen her make great progress developing her early learning milestones and would like Nadine also to benefit from 3 days of early education and care per week to continue this development.
Presently Taylor does not meet the number of work or study hours per week of the CCS activity test, so they do not have the resources to send Jay and Nadine for 3 days per week.
Under the 3 Day Guarantee in January, Jay and Nadine would receive CCS for 3 days per week which would allow them to attend their early education centre of choice for 3 days per week.
Next steps
If you would like more information on how you can take advantage of the new CCS 3 Day Guarantee, contact your local early school.
FAQs
What qualifications do your staff hold?
What types of food do you provide? Do you cater for dietary, cultural and medical needs?
What are the room routines?
How are fees paid?
Does the Early School follow a curriculum?
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, waters, and skies where we work and live across Australia. We pay our respect to Elders past and present. We celebrate the stories, culture, and traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders of all communities, who work and live on this land.