Start Strong for families
The Start Strong program provides fee relief to families with children in preschool.
What this means for families
Children in community and mobile preschools
Fee relief will continue into 2024. Families may save up to $4,220 a year for eligible 3-5 year old children in eligible community and mobile preschools in 2024.
Children in long day care
Fee relief will continue into 2024. Families may save up to $2,110 a year for eligible children aged 4 and above and up to $500 a year for children aged 3 in eligible long day cares in 2024.
This is in addition to Australian Government Child Care Subsidy payments, which most families in long day care services are eligible to receive (the CCS does not apply to community and mobile preschools or public preschools).
How is fee relief calculated?
Community and mobile preschools
If your child attends an eligible community or mobile preschool, the fee relief will be calculated based on the number of hours your child is enrolled.
For example, if your child attends 600 hours a year (15 hours a week) or more, you will be eligible for $4,220 a year in fee relief. If your child attends fewer than 15 hours a week, the amount of fee relief will be scaled proportionately. Talk to your service for more information.
Preschool programs in long day care
If your child is enrolled at an eligible long day care, your service will spread the annual fee relief across the number of operating weeks for the calendar year and apply it as a reduction to your child’s weekly fees.
For example, if a service is open 50 weeks a year, they will pass on a reduction of:
- up to $42.20 each week for children who are at least 4 years old on, or before, 31 July 2024
- up to $10 each week for children who are 3 years old and not yet 4 years old on, or before 31 July in 2024.
Talk to your service for more information.
How to access fee relief from 2023
You must complete a fee relief declaration form for every service your child is enrolled in and nominate which service you would like to receive fee relief from. You can only access fee relief from one participating community preschool or long day care service at any given time. It is your choice which service you would like to receive fee relief from.
Fee relief will be passed on to you by your service as a reduction to your fees. Services will let you know a fee relief reduction has been made to your fees, such as via a regular invoice, statement or other means.
Services that do not issue invoices or statements have been encouraged to provide fee reduction information through newsletters, their website, or letters to families.
Start Strong supports preschool education for all children in NSW. It is also the program through which the Preschool Reform Agreement is delivered. The Preschool Reform Agreement supports important reforms for the preschool sector, including boosting enrolment, supporting quality uplift, accessibility to high-quality preschool education and trialling new outcomes measures for preschool.
Download the families flyer
Download our 2024 Start Strong families flyer for a summary of the information on this webpage:
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my child is attending a participating community preschool or long day care service?
Ask your service if they are participating in the Start Strong program.
No, you can only access fee relief from one participating community preschool or long day care service at any given time.
All parents or caregivers are required to complete a declaration form that nominates which service you are choosing to receive your fee relief from. Your service can assist with this process.
The choice of which service to nominate is up to you. Consider the number of hours your child attends each service and the fees each service charges. Ask your services to provide you with the relevant information to help you make the choice.
The fee relief is linked to enrolment, not attendance. If your child is sick and does not attend on one of their enrolled days, your fee relief amount does not change. You will still receive a reduced fee from your service.
If your child starts long day care later in the year, your weekly fee reduction does not change.
Services will spread the fee relief across the number of weeks they are open and apply the fee relief as a reduction to weekly fees for each child.
For example: if a centre is open 50 weeks a year, they will pass on a reduction of:
- up to $42.20 each week for children who are at least 4 years old on, or before, 31 July 2024
- up to $10 each week for children who are 3 years old and not yet 4 years old on, or before 31 July in 2024.
If your child enrols in a long day care service in June, then you will receive fee relief of up to $42.20 or up to $10 from the week your child’s enrolment starts at that long day care service.
If you have concerns that you are not receiving the full fee relief, we encourage you to discuss this with your service.
Yes, you can change which service you have nominated to receive fee relief from throughout the year. To change you must follow the below steps:
- Complete a new declaration form that informs the relevant service to stop giving fee relief to you. Give the service this form.
- Complete another new declaration form that informs your other service to start giving you fee relief. Give the service this form.
You can change which service to receive fee relief from at any time, however if you need to change your fee relief nomination multiple times in 2024, we encourage you to discuss this with your service.
More information
Contact your service to find out more about accessing the Start Strong fee relief.