2.1.1.11 Regular Care Child

Summary

A regular care child of an individual is a child who:

• is in the individual's care for at least 14%, but less than 35%, of a care period, and
• would be an FTB child of the individual but for the child being in the individual's care for less than 35% of the care period.

For CCB, a regular care child is also a child determined by the Secretary under specified provisions to be a regular care child.

Act reference: FAAct section 3(1)-'regular care child', section 25A Effect of FTB child being in individual's care for less than 35% of a period

Policy reference: FA Guide 2.1.1.10 FTB child

Payments or concessions for a regular care child

An individual who has care of a child for less than 35% of the time will not be eligible for the child components of FTB.

Instead of receiving the child components of FTB, a parent who has care of a child between 14% to less than 35% of the time will have the costs of the child taken into account in working out how much child support the parent will pay. This level of care is called regular care and will be counted as meeting 24% of the costs of raising the child for child support purposes.

For FTB applicants/recipients with regular care of a child, they will continue to be eligible for the RA component of FTB Part A and other government benefits, if they meet eligibility requirements. The benefits include:

• CCB and CCR - if child care fees are paid to an approved child care service provider, the applicant/recipient may be eligible to receive CCB and CCR,
• CCB - if child care fees are paid to a registered carer, the applicant may be eligible to receive CCB,
• a HCC (if income does not exceed the income free area for the maximum rate of FTB Part A,
• the lower threshold for the Medicare safety net in certain circumstances,
• additional RAA paid with social security income support payments (e.g. NSA).

A parent who has shared care of a child for 35% to 65% of the time will be eligible for a share of the child components of FTB. This includes fortnightly or lump sum payments as well as supplements. If an applicant/recipient has more than 65% care of an eligible FTB child, they will receive 100% of the payment.

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Last reviewed: 1 October 2010