Childcare Subsidy Available to a Large Portion of Families

Written By Motu Esson

Find out how you can get a childcare subsidy

Are you struggling to juggle work and family life but want your child to have a great time before and after school and in the school holidays? Have you not signed up because you believe out of school care is something that your family simply cannot afford?

Luckily, the Out of School Care and Recreation subsidy is available to a large portion of families in New Zealand, so regardless of your financial situation, your child won’t have to miss out on such a great opportunity during their upbringing.

This subsidy helps with the cost of before and after school care for up to 20 hours a week and with the cost of school holiday programmes for up to 50 hours a week.

The exact amount you can get subsidised depends on your family’s size, income, and how many hours your child spends at the childcare provider. At Fun Zone, we have seen 100% of some of our families’ fees paid for; however, this will depend on your personal situation.

The criteria for eligibility are as follows:

  • Your family is on a low or middle income,

  • You are a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident.

You also need to be in one of the following situations:

  • Working, studying or on an approved training course,

  • A shift worker who works nights,

  • Seriously ill or disabled.

Your child needs to:

  • Be at school,

  • Be under 14, and

  • Attend an approved OSCAR programme for at least 3 hours a week, including before school, after school, and school holiday programmes.

It is important to note that if your child’s other caregiver can take care of them, you likely won’t get the OSCAR subsidy.

The subsidy needs to be reviewed regularly, at the start of every new term, to see if your family is still eligible for government support.

The most common situations where we have seen the subsidy being paid out are for single-parent families or cases where the grandparents care for them.

At Fun Zone, we would love to welcome your child to our family regardless of their home environment and have utilised an internal process for application, making it easier for our families to make an application for the subsidy.

Our experienced team will explain the application process and ask you for a few details that we will keep on record for future reference. We will send the application to the Ministry of Social Development on your behalf and keep track of its review and allow you to focus on other more pressing matters.

We encourage all our families in this situation to apply, as everyone gets a fair chance at receiving the subsidy. Fun Zone will support your application in any way we can to ensure that we continue seeing your child at our program or welcome them as a new member of our family!

If you would like to learn more about the OSCAR subsidy and find out if you are eligible for it, click here. You can also contact us at Fun Zone, where our team will explain the process and create the application for you!

Motu Esson