Pregnancy, Birth and Baby home

Payments for families

Key facts

  • The Australian Government provides many different payments to support families.
  • If you are a parent or carer of a child, there are payments you might be able to apply for.
  • Payments are available to help you take time off work after having a baby or adopting a child.
  • Other payments help with child care costs and living expenses such as rent.
  • Each payment has its own rules and requirements, so check if you are eligible.

    • Family Tax Benefit (FTB)

    Family Tax Benefit is a 2-part payment that helps with the cost of raising children. To receive this payment, you must:

    For more information about Family Tax Benefit (Opens in new tab), visit the Services Australia website. (Opens in new tab)

    Parenting Payment

    Parenting Payment is the main payment you can claim while you're caring for a young child.

    To receive this payment, you must:

    • care for a child under 14 years of age if you're single, or under 6 years of age if you have a partner
    • meet income and asset test rules
    • meet principal carer (Opens in new tab) rules
    • meet residency rules
    • confirm your partner is not currently receiving a Parenting Payment

    If you are single and your youngest child is 6 or over, you must meet the mutual obligation requirement (Opens in new tab), unless you get an exemption.

    Only one parent can claim this payment. It can't be claimed before the birth of a child.

    For more information about the Parenting Payment (Opens in new tab), visit the Services Australia website (Opens in new tab).

    Parental Leave Pay

    Parental Leave Pay is a payment that helps families take time off work to care for a newborn or recently adopted child. The amount of the payment is based on the national minimum wage. The amount of time covered by the payment depends on the date of your child's birth or adoption.

    To receive this payment, you must:

    • be caring for a newborn or newly adopted child
    • meet an income test
    • not be working on your Parental Leave Pay days (Opens in new tab), except for allowable reasons
    • have met a work test
    • have registered or applied to register your child's birth with your state or territory birth registry, if they're a newborn

    The number of Parental Leave Pay days you can get depends on when your baby was born or a newly adopted child came into your care.

    Child's date of birth or adoption:

    Maximum number of Parental Leave Pay days your family can get:

    1 July 2023 – 30 June 2024

    100 days, or 20 weeks based on a 5-day work week

    1 July 2024 – 30 June 2025

    110 days, or 22 weeks based on a 5-day work week

    1 July 2025 – 30 June 2026

    120 days, or 24 weeks based on a 5-day work week

    1 July 2026 onwards

    130 days, or 26 weeks based on a 5-day work week

    Child Care Subsidy

    This payment helps families with the cost of child care. It's for children aged 13 years and under. It's also available to help support children aged 14 to 18 years if they have a disability or can't be left unsupervised.

    The subsidy is paid directly to your child care provider, to reduce the fees you pay.

    To receive the Child Care Subsidy (Opens in new tab) payment, you must:

    • care for a child aged 13 years or younger who's not attending secondary school, unless an exemption applies
    • use an approved child care service
    • be responsible for paying the child care fees
    • meet residency (Opens in new tab) and immunisation requirements

    What are recognised activities?

    The subsidy is available to parents doing recognised activities (Opens in new tab). These activities include:

    • paid work
    • training
    • volunteering
    • actively looking for work
    • paid or unpaid leave
    • unpaid work, such as work experience

    For more information on Child Care Subsidy (Opens in new tab), visit the Services Australia website. (Opens in new tab)

    What other payments may I be entitled to?

    There are other payments available to help you with:

    Special considerations

    There are many different payments for people caring for children in special circumstances.

    These situations include if you:

    These payments have different eligibility requirements, and time limits may apply.

    Resources and support

    Check the Australian Government Services Australia page for current information about payments and services available when raising kids (Opens in new tab).

    You can find, estimate and compare payments and services you may be eligible for by visiting Centrelink's Payment and Service Finder (Opens in new tab).

    Services Australia has information in languages other than English (Opens in new tab).

    Services Australia has information in many Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander languages (Opens in new tab).

    Speak to a maternal child health nurse

    Call Pregnancy, Birth and Baby to speak to a maternal child health nurse on 1800 882 436 (Opens in new tab) or video call. Available 7am to midnight (AET), 7 days a week.

    Last reviewed: September 2025

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