Preschool Fee Relief in NSW: How Much You Can Save on Long Day Care in 2026

If you've got a three or four-year-old in long day care, you've probably heard other parents mention "fee relief" at pickup without really explaining what it means. It's not a discount code and it's not the same thing as the Child Care Subsidy, even though the two often get mixed up. It's a separate, state-funded payment designed specifically to bring down preschool costs for families in the year or two before school starts.

For a lot of parents, this is the difference between preschool feeling affordable and feeling like a stretch. So here's what preschool fee relief actually covers, what it's worth in 2026, who can get it, and what the process looks like once you decide to apply.

What Is Preschool Fee Relief?

Preschool fee relief is funding from the NSW Government, delivered through the Start Strong for Long Day Care program, that reduces the fees families pay for eligible three and four-year-olds attending long day care. Rather than being paid to parents directly, the money goes to the long day care service, which then passes it on as a reduction on your invoice.

It exists because the two years before a child starts school matter a lot for their development, and cost has historically been one of the biggest barriers to families enrolling their child in a quality early learning program during that window. The NSW Department of Education runs the scheme on a calendar-year basis, and the rates and eligibility categories are reviewed annually — which is why the numbers you might remember from 2023 or 2024 look different now.

It's worth separating this from two other things it often gets confused with:

• Child Care Subsidy (CCS): a federal payment, means-tested against family income and activity levels, that applies to childcare fees generally. Most long day care families already receive this.
• Start Strong for Community Preschools: a related but separate NSW program for standalone community and mobile preschools, with its own funding structure.

Fee relief for long day care sits on top of the Child Care Subsidy, not instead of it. Families typically see CCS reduce their fees first, and then fee relief further reduces what's left.

How Much Fee Relief Can You Get in 2026?

The amount depends on your child's age and which of two eligibility categories they fall into. For 2026, the NSW Department of Education has set the following annual rates for long day care:

These figures are annual totals, scaled down proportionally if your child attends fewer hours, and they're applied as a weekly credit on your fees rather than paid out as a lump sum. In practice, that means a family with a four-year-old on the maximum rate might see something in the order of $50 knocked off their weekly invoice, spread across the year — noticeably more useful than a single once-off payment when you're budgeting month to month.

Who Qualifies for the Maximum Rate?

The maximum rate isn't automatic — it's reserved for children who meet at least one of the higher-need criteria set by the Department, which generally include:

• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children
• Children attending a service in a regional or remote area
• Children attending a service located in an area of greater socio-economic disadvantage
• Children attending a service operated by an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation

If none of those apply, your child is still eligible for the standard rate as long as the general eligibility rules below are met. Nobody misses out entirely just for not qualifying for the top tier — the standard rate still puts real money back in the household budget.

Am I Eligible for Preschool Fee Relief?

Broadly, a child qualifies for fee relief in NSW long day care if they:

1. Are at least 3 years old on or before 31 July 2026
2. Are enrolled in an eligible, approved long day care service in NSW
3. Have a confirmed Child Care Subsidy enrolment
4. Aren't already receiving fee relief through another service

That last point matters more than people expect. Fee relief can only be paid through one nominated service at a time, so if your child splits their week between two centres, you'll need to choose which one receives it on your behalf.

One detail that surprises a lot of families: citizenship and residency status don't affect eligibility. All NSW families with a child who meets the age and enrolment criteria can apply, regardless of visa or residency situation.

Fee Relief vs Child Care Subsidy: How They Actually Work Together

This is where most of the confusion happens, so it's worth walking through with a concrete example.

Say a long day care service charges $152 a day for a preschool-aged child. The Child Care Subsidy is applied first, based on your family's income and approved activity hours — this is the subsidy that shows up on almost every Australian childcare invoice, not something specific to preschool-aged children. Once CCS brings the daily fee down, Start Strong fee relief is applied on top, as a further weekly reduction for eligible 3 and 4-year-olds.

The two programs are assessed separately and paid separately, but families generally only need to interact with one extra piece of paperwork to unlock the second one: the fee relief declaration form (more on that below). You don't need to reapply for CCS or change anything about your existing subsidy arrangement.

How to Claim Preschool Fee Relief: Step by Step

The process is more straightforward than it sounds, and your long day care provider does most of the heavy lifting once you've nominated them.

1. Confirm your child's enrolment details with your long day care centre, including their date of birth and CCS enrolment status.
2. Request a fee relief declaration form. Every family needs to complete one for each service their child attends, even if they're only enrolled at one.
3. Nominate your service. The declaration form asks you to name the specific long day care centre you'd like to receive fee relief from — this is the one commitment you're locking in, since it can only be one service at a time.
4. Submit the completed form back to the centre. They lodge the relevant details with the Department on your behalf; you're not required to deal directly with a separate government portal for this step.
5. Watch for the reduction on your invoice. Once processed, fee relief typically appears as a recurring weekly credit rather than a one-off adjustment.

If your child changes centres partway through the year, you'll need to complete a new declaration form for the new service and formally withdraw the nomination from the old one — the funding doesn't automatically follow the child.

Mistakes That Cost Families Money

A few patterns come up again and again with parents navigating this for the first time:

• Assuming fee relief is automatic. It isn't. Even fully eligible families won't receive it until the declaration form has been submitted and processed.
• Confusing it with CCS and skipping the paperwork. Some parents assume that because they already receive the Child Care Subsidy, they're automatically covered for fee relief too. The two are separate systems with separate forms.
• Not checking the age cut-off date carefully. Eligibility is tied to a child's age on 31 July of the relevant year, not their age when they enrol or when the form is submitted. A child who turns 4 in August, for example, is assessed as a 3-year-old for that calendar year.
• Leaving it too late in the year. Fee relief isn't backdated indefinitely, so the earlier in the year the declaration is lodged, the more of the annual entitlement a family typically benefits from.

What This Looks Like in Practice at a Long Day Care Centre

At Dee Why Kindergarten, we work through the Start Strong fee relief process with families directly rather than leaving them to figure it out from a government PDF. When a family enrols a three or four-year-old, part of the conversation covers whether they're already receiving fee relief elsewhere, what the declaration form involves, and roughly what it will mean for their weekly fees.

It's also worth knowing that fee relief and CCS aren't the only ways long day care costs can come down. Many centres, ours included, apply sibling discounts for families with more than one child enrolled, and daily fees already include things like meals, nappies, and sunscreen rather than charging for them separately — worth factoring in when you're comparing the headline daily rate between services, since a lower sticker price sometimes hides extra charges elsewhere.

If you're weighing up long day care options on the Northern Beaches and want to know exactly what your out-of-pocket cost would look like after CCS and fee relief are both applied, that's a conversation worth having with a centre directly rather than trying to estimate it from rate tables alone — every family's activity hours and income situation change the final number.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is preschool fee relief the same as the Child Care Subsidy? No. The Child Care Subsidy is a federal payment based on income and activity levels, available for childcare generally. Preschool fee relief is a separate NSW state government payment specifically for eligible 3 and 4-year-olds in long day care, applied in addition to CCS.

Do I need to apply for fee relief every year? Yes. Because eligibility and rates are reviewed annually and tied to your child's age on a specific date each year, a new declaration form is required for each calendar year the child is enrolled.

Can I get fee relief at more than one centre if my child attends two? No. Fee relief can only be paid through one nominated service at a time, even if your child is enrolled across multiple centres during the week.

What if my child turns 3 partway through the year? Eligibility is based on their age on or before 31 July of that calendar year, so a child who turns 3 in, say, September wouldn't be assessed as eligible until the following calendar year.

Does fee relief apply to family day care or only long day care? The Start Strong for Long Day Care stream applies to long day care, occasional care services, mobile education and care services, and Multifunctional Aboriginal Children's Services. Community and mobile preschools sit under a separate but related Start Strong stream with its own rates.

Will fee relief affect how much Child Care Subsidy I receive? No. The two are calculated independently, and receiving fee relief doesn't reduce or otherwise change your existing CCS entitlement.

Getting Started

Preschool fee relief won't cover the full cost of long day care, and it's not designed to. What it does is take a meaningful bite out of the fees for exactly the age group where consistent, quality early learning matters most — the year or two before school. If you're not sure whether your child qualifies or what it would mean for your particular fees, the fastest way to get a real answer is to contact your long day care centre directly and ask them to walk you through the declaration form for your situation.