The 3 Day Guarantee Explained
The 3 Day Guarantee for childcare means every family eligible for the Child Care Subsidy can now get at least three days of subsidised care a week, whatever their work or study hours. It started on 5 January 2026, it applies automatically if you already receive the subsidy, and for some families it has cut the weekly cost of three days by hundreds of dollars. Here is who it covers, what it is worth and what it does not do.
This guide is for families who have heard about the guarantee and want to know if it changes anything for them: parents at home with a younger sibling, parents working a day or two a week, students, job seekers, and families already receiving the subsidy. It covers what the guarantee is, who is eligible, what it replaced, the dollar difference at a St Ives centre, when it applies, who misses out and what to do to make sure you get it.
For how the rest of the subsidy works, including percentages and hourly caps, see our plain-language CCS guide.
What the 3 Day Guarantee is
The 3 Day Guarantee is an Australian Government change to the Child Care Subsidy that sets a minimum of 72 subsidised hours per child in every two-week period for all eligible families, roughly three days of care each week. Since it took over from the activity test at the start of January 2026, a family's work or study hours no longer decide whether they get any subsidised care at all.
You may see it written as the three day guarantee or the 3 day childcare guarantee. They all describe the same rule, set by the Australian Government and run through Services Australia.
The name describes the outcome rather than the mechanics. The government counts hours, not days, and 72 hours a fortnight is what three long day care sessions of around 12 hours each would use.
It was announced as a way to make sure children can attend early learning regularly, even when a parent's work is irregular or has not started yet. Regular attendance is what builds friendships and routines, which a day here and there cannot.
It does not change how much subsidy you get per hour. Your percentage still comes from family income, and it still applies up to the hourly rate cap.
For centres, nothing changes in how fees are set. The guarantee is about what the government pays toward each family's hours, so our daily fee and what it includes stay exactly as they were.
It is also not free childcare. The guarantee subsidises three days; it does not pay for them in full, and most families still pay a gap fee for each day.
A higher level of 100 hours remains for families where both parents clear 48 hours of work, study or similar each fortnight, and for some other groups described below.
It reaches every kind of CCS-approved care, from centres like ours to family day care educators, before and after school programs, vacation care and in home care.
In one line
- What
- 72 subsidised hours a fortnight
- Who
- Every CCS-eligible family
- From
- 5 January 2026
- Not
- Free care, or a guaranteed place
From the Department of Education, 3 Day Guarantee.
A floor for everyoneWho is eligible
Every family who is eligible for the Child Care Subsidy is covered by the 3 Day Guarantee. If you care for your child, pay fees at an approved service, meet the residence rules and your child's immunisations are up to date, you receive at least 72 hours; some families receive 100. Follow the steps below to see where you land.
Eligible for CCS?
If yes, you are covered. If you have never claimed, you must claim first.
Over 48 hours each?
Where both parents clear 48 hours of work, study or similar across two weeks, the answer is 100.
Special case?
First Nations children, an exemption, or certain Additional Child Care Subsidy payments also mean 100.
72 or 100 hours
Everyone else eligible gets 72 hours per child each fortnight, or three days a week.
Take three St Ives families. One has a parent on parental leave with a new baby and a three year old in care. Another has a parent studying nursing part time. A third has a parent between jobs. All three now receive the same 72 hours for their child, where under the old rules they could have received anything from zero to 100.
Work hours no longer matter for the first 72. A parent at home full time with a younger child, a student, a job seeker and a part-time worker all receive the same three days.
It also helps families returning to work gradually. A parent planning to start two days a week in a few months can settle their child into care now, on three subsidised days, before their own work begins.
Hours are per child. A family with a toddler and a preschooler in care has 72 hours for each of them.
The 100-hour group includes families receiving Additional Child Care Subsidy for child wellbeing, temporary financial hardship or grandparents, as well as those with an approved exemption such as a disability that prevents work.
Nothing in the guarantee depends on where you live or which centre you choose. A family in St Ives receives the same hours as a family anywhere else in Australia.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families receive 100 hours if they tell Services Australia the child is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Telling them is voluntary; without it, the child receives 72 hours.
How it replaces parts of the activity test
The guarantee replaces the bottom three levels of the old activity test with a single floor of 72 hours, and keeps the top level of 100 hours for couples who each log over 48 hours of participation a fortnight. Where the old test could give a family zero, 24, 36 or 72 hours, the new rules give nobody less than 72.
For families, the practical change is certainty. You no longer need to predict your roster or worry that a quiet month will cut your subsidised days, because three days a week are secure as long as you remain eligible.
Recognised participation still exists. It now decides only one thing: whether your family moves from 72 hours up to 100.
The same types of participation count as before, including paid work, study, training, looking for work, volunteering and caring for someone on Carer Allowance.
What the guarantee did not replace is the income test. A family on a high income still gets a low percentage, so three subsidised days can still cost a lot. The guarantee fixes the number of hours, not the size of the subsidy per hour.
The old rule that couples are assessed on the parent with fewer hours still applies to the 100-hour level.
Balancing for periods before 5 January 2026 still uses the old test, so families who were on low hours last financial year may see that reflected in their end-of-year assessment.
Our guide to the old activity test sets out every level and what counts as participation.
Old test vs guarantee
- Under 8 hours
- 0 then, 72 now
- 8 to 16 hours
- 36 then, 72 now
- 16 to 48 hours
- 72 then and now
- Over 48 each
- 100 then and now
No more zeroWhat it means in dollars for a typical family
For a family that used to fall into the lowest activity levels, the guarantee can mean hundreds of dollars a week. On our $170 daily fee, a household earning $95,000 with one parent at home now pays about $65 a week for three days, instead of the full $510 they would have paid under the old test.
| Family | Old rules | From 5 Jan 2026 | Weekly difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| $95,000 income, one parent at home | 0 hours: $510.00 a week | 72 hours at 88.70%: $65.37 | $444.63 less |
| $150,000 income, one parent working 12 hours a fortnight | 36 hours: $297.55 a week | 72 hours at 77.70%: $120.51 | $177.04 less |
| $150,000 income, both parents working full time | 100 hours: $120.51 a week | 100 hours: $120.51 | No change |
How the numbers work: the subsidy covers your percentage of $15.19 an hour, the government cap, across each 11-hour day. Under the old rules, hours beyond a family's entitlement were charged at the full fee, which is why the second family paid so much more for the same three days.
Picture a typical week for the first family. Their three-year-old comes to Lead on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while a parent is home with a new baby. Before January, those three days cost $510. Now each day costs them about $21.79, and the same three days come to $65.37.
The third family shows what did not change. Families where both parents work full time already had 100 hours, so their bill for three days is identical. The families who gain most are those with a parent at home or on very few hours.
Figures are before the default 5% withholding and do not include NSW Start Strong fee relief, which lowers the gap further for eligible children aged three and over.
For a household on the maximum rate, the three-day gap at Lead comes to about $58.86 a week. Across a 48-week year, that is under $2,900 for three days of early learning every week, compared with $24,480 at the full fee.
To test your own situation, use our childcare cost estimator, which applies the current percentages and cap.
When it applies
The 3 Day Guarantee has applied since 5 January 2026, the first CCS fortnight of that year. Families who already received the subsidy were moved onto at least 72 hours automatically from that date. Families who claim later receive it from the start of their CCS, once Services Australia finds them eligible.
It applies every fortnight you are eligible, with no end date announced.
It takes effect from the start of your claim. Because a claim reaches back no more than four weeks, a family starting care this term should lodge theirs as soon as they accept a place.
For a family starting mid-year, the timing is simple: once your claim is approved and your child's enrolment is confirmed, the 72-hour floor applies from your first subsidised fortnight.
Hours reset each fortnight and do not roll over. A family who books two days one week and four the next still has 72 hours to use across that fortnight, and any hours beyond it are charged at the full fee.
School holidays make no difference to the guarantee. If your child is in long day care all year, the same 72 hours apply every fortnight, including over summer, as long as you are booked in.
If your circumstances change mid-year, for example both parents start working more than 48 hours, update your details and your hours move up to 100 from then.
Hours are counted in whole-session terms by your centre. At Lead, each booked day uses 11 hours of your entitlement whether your child stays for eight hours or the full day, because the session is what you are charged for.
Policies can change with future budgets. We will update this page if the rules change, and the Department of Education page is the official reference.
Key dates
- 5 January 2026
- Guarantee starts
- 6 July 2026
- First CCS fortnight of 2026 to 27
- Your claim date
- Up to 28 days backdated
Already in effectFamilies it does not cover
The guarantee only reaches families who are eligible for the Child Care Subsidy. It does not help families who fail the CCS eligibility rules, such as the residence or immunisation requirements, and it does not apply to care that is not CCS-approved, such as community preschools, nannies or informal care by relatives.
Community and mobile preschools in NSW are funded differently, through the state's Start Strong program, so the guarantee does not apply there.
Families earning $538,520 or more have a 0% subsidy rate, so 72 hours of subsidised care is worth nothing to them in dollars.
Grandparents who care for grandchildren but are not responsible for the fees cannot claim on the child's behalf; the person who pays the fees must be the one who is eligible.
It does not guarantee a place. You still need to find a centre with room on the days you want.
It does not cover a fourth or fifth day unless you qualify for 100 hours, and even 100 hours does not fully cover five 11-hour days.
A family earning between roughly $400,000 and $538,520 receives a small percentage, so the guarantee helps a little, but the gap on each day stays close to the full fee. For those families, Start Strong fee relief in the preschool years may make a bigger difference.
Children whose immunisations are overdue lose the subsidy altogether until records are brought up to date, guarantee or not.
Not covered
- Families not eligible for CCS
- Care that is not CCS-approved
- Community preschools
- A guaranteed place
- Days beyond your hours
Know the limitsHow to make sure you receive it
If you already receive the Child Care Subsidy, you do not need to do anything: the guarantee was applied automatically. If you have never claimed, make a CCS claim through Centrelink in myGov, and confirm the enrolment we send through when your child starts with us. The guarantee applies as soon as you are found eligible.
If you are starting care soon and have not yet claimed, allow a few weeks for assessment. Lodging early means the guarantee is ready on your child's first day rather than backdated later.
Check your hours in your Centrelink online account. They should show at least 72 per child each fortnight.
If you care for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child, you can tell Services Australia to receive 100 hours.
Keep immunisations up to date, as an overdue record stops the subsidy completely.
Look at your fortnightly statement from the centre, which shows how many hours were subsidised. If it shows fewer than you expected, check your details in myGov first, then talk to us.
Book days that fit your hours. Three regular days a week at Lead fits within 72 hours with a little to spare.
New to CCS? Our step-by-step guide to applying for the Child Care Subsidy walks through every screen. For help choosing days, call (02) 7238 8668, or explore our St Ives centre.
Make sure you get it
- Claim CCS if you never have
- Confirm your child's enrolment
- Check 72 or 100 hours in myGov
- Keep immunisations current
- Book days within your hours
Nearly automaticThe 3 Day Guarantee, answered
Do both parents need to work?+
No, neither parent needs to work to receive the guaranteed three days. The three-day floor is the same for a parent at home, a student and a full-time worker, provided the family is eligible for the subsidy. Both parents only need more than 48 hours of recognised participation each fortnight if you want the higher level of 100 hours.
Does it apply to preschool programs?+
It applies to preschool programs run inside CCS-approved long day care, like our preschool room, but not to community or mobile preschools. Those services are not CCS-approved in NSW and are funded through the state's Start Strong program instead, so the guarantee does not affect their fees.
Is it automatic?+
Yes, if you already receive the Child Care Subsidy, the guarantee was applied automatically from 5 January 2026. If you have never claimed, you need to make a CCS claim first, because the guarantee only applies once Services Australia has found you eligible. You can check your hours in myGov.
Does it mean three days of free childcare?+
No, the guarantee subsidises three days a week but does not make them free. Your subsidy percentage still depends on family income and applies up to the hourly rate cap, so most families pay a gap fee. On our $170 day, even the highest subsidy rate leaves a gap of just under $20.
Put your three days to work
Tour Lead and see what three subsidised days a week would look like for your child.