90% maximum subsidy up to $88,520 family income, tapering to zero at $538,520
MELBOURNE, 6 July 2026 – Australia’s updated Child Care Subsidy rates take effect today, and a free new calculator lets families see in 60 seconds what they’ll actually pay out of pocket, including the honest answer most comparison tools won’t give them.
The calculator, built by Melbourne au pair agency 99aupairs, is the first in Australia to price every main care option side by side under the new rates: a childcare centre after subsidy, family day care, a private nanny, an au pair, and a mixed option combining subsidised centre days with home help. For most families, its verdict is blunt: the childcare centre wins.
“We built a tool that tells most of the people who use it not to buy from us,” said Irene Becker, founder of 99aupairs. “The subsidy is genuinely good for most families. But nobody was showing bigger families and higher income families the point where the maths flips.”
The flip point the calculator reveals: because home based care is one flat cost for a whole family while centres charge per child, the lines cross for larger families as income rises. Using today’s new rates, a family on around $200,000 with three children in full time care, or around $300,000 with two, can pay more out of pocket at a centre than the total cost of an au pair, before counting sick days, waitlists or 6:30pm pickup dashes.
The calculator applies the full 2026-27 rules that start today: the 90% maximum subsidy rate, the higher rate for second and younger children, the new 3 Day Guarantee that replaced the activity test in January, hourly rate caps and the 5% withholding. Every figure is sourced from education.gov.au and Services Australia, with sources cited on the page.
It also states plainly what many families don’t know: au pairs and nannies are never eligible for the Child Care Subsidy.
Independent research underlines why flexible options matter. Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute has found more than 700,000 Australians live in “childcare deserts” with little or no access to a centre at all.
“Families deserve their real numbers, not averages,” Ms Becker said. “If the answer is daycare, our calculator says so. If you’re the family the subsidy has quietly stopped working for, you deserve to know that too.”
The calculator is free, requires no sign up to see the result, and is available at https://99aupairs.au/childcare-calculator/.
Weekly out of pocket cost after subsidy (5 days a week, $160/day centre fee, rates from 6 July 2026; au pair total $565/week at 30 help hours, covering all children):
| Family income | 1 child | 2 children | 3 children |
| $90,000 | Centre $153 | Centre $267 | Centre $382 |
| $150,000 | Centre $239 | Centre $363 | Line-ball $486 |
| $200,000 | Centre $312 | Line-ball $534 | Au pair wins ($757 at centre) |
| $300,000 | Centre $456 | Au pair wins ($749) | Au pair wins ($1,042) |
| $400,000 | Line-ball $600 | Au pair wins ($1,200) | Au pair wins ($1,800) |
Centre figures shown after subsidy and 5% withholding. Sources: education.gov.au, Services Australia, July 2026. Table free to republish with attribution.
About us:
Founded in 2017, 99aupairs has matched more than 1,000 Australian families with live-in au pairs nationally, facilitating over $2 million of care. Families typically host for two to three years.
