Family money you can claim: what's open now, and what closes next

Six payments, vouchers and waivers are open to Australian families right now, and the first closes on 13 October. What you can claim depends less on what you earn than on where you live: the family of a Canberra high-school student can claim $750 towards school costs this year, while the same family in Sydney has $100 in activity vouchers and no statewide school payment at all.

This page lists what is open, what it is worth and when it closes, soonest first. Every figure below was read at the scheme's own government page on 25 Sept 2026.

Key takeaways

• Closing first: Victoria's Get Active Kids voucher, up to $200 a child, closes at 10am on 13 October — and the round can close earlier if its budget runs out.
• The largest amount with a deadline is dental. A child whose first Child Dental Benefits Schedule visit fell in 2025 has up to $1,132 for the two-year period, and whatever is unused lapses on 31 December. A child whose first visit fell in 2026 has $1,158 and until the end of 2027 — nothing to do this year.
• Your postcode matters more than your income. For school costs: $750 in the ACT, a full fee waiver in South Australia, $400 a student in Victoria, $200 in the Northern Territory, nothing statewide in New South Wales.
• The biggest money has no deadline at all. The Child Care Subsidy, the Family Tax Benefit supplements and Carer Allowance are claimable whenever you qualify — which is exactly why they get missed.
• Family costs are rising at about twice the headline rate: child care 7.3% and secondary school 6.6% over the year to July 2026, against 3.5% for everything.

Why this page exists

Every one of these schemes is announced once, reported for a day, and then sits on a government page that nobody revisits. The amounts change on different dates — the childcare subsidy indexes in July, Carer Allowance on 1 January, pension-linked payments on 20 March and 20 September — and the state vouchers open and close in rounds that have nothing to do with each other. There is no single place that says what a family can claim this week.

That is what this page is. It is not an article that was true on the day it was published: it is kept, and the dates at the top say when it was last checked. When a round closes, the row leaves. When a new one opens, it appears.

What's open right now

Two of those carry a catch worth knowing. Queensland's date is "unless exhausted earlier" — the department reserves the right to close the round when the money runs out, so December is a ceiling, not a promise. And Victoria's round can close early for the same reason, which is why it sits at the top of this list rather than the bottom.

New South Wales issues two $50 vouchers a child each year, not one. The row above is voucher 1, which expires on 31 December. Voucher 2 was released on 15 July 2026 and runs to 14 July 2027, so it is not on this list — but a family that has claimed only one is leaving $50 unclaimed, and the two can be used together.

Tasmania and the Northern Territory also run kids' activity voucher schemes. Their round dates move through the year, so check Ticket to Play (Tasmania) or the NT Sport Voucher Scheme directly, or ask the club, before you pay a registration.

The money that doesn't close

Some of the largest amounts have no deadline at all — they are either automatic once you qualify, or claimable at any time. These are the ones families most often miss, because there is no round to prompt them.

Child Care Subsidy. Pays up to 90% of your fee, and it reaches further up the income scale than most parents expect — the subsidy only reaches zero at a family income of $538,520. Since 5 January 2026 every eligible family gets at least 72 hours a fortnight subsidised regardless of how much work or study they do. The hourly cap is $15.19 below school age and $13.30 for outside-school-hours and vacation care, which is worth knowing in the holidays: 72 hours is generous across a term but covers only about three full days a week when school is out.

The Family Tax Benefit supplements. Part A pays a supplement of up to $970.90 a child for 2026–27, and Part B $478.15 a family — but only once your income is confirmed after the end of the financial year, and Part A's supplement only if your family's adjusted taxable income is $80,000 or less. If your 2025–26 income is being balanced now, the rates that apply to that year are $938.05 and $459.90.

Child Dental Benefits Schedule. $1,158 a child across two calendar years for check-ups, x-rays, cleaning, fillings and extractions. If the dentist bulk-bills, the law requires them to accept the benefit as full payment, so there is nothing to pay on the day.

Carer Allowance, if a child needs daily extra care. $162.60 a fortnight, not taxed and not assets-tested, plus two automatic July payments — the Child Disability Assistance Payment of up to $1,000 and the Carer Supplement of up to $600. That is up to $5,827.60 a year for one child, from three payments that are almost never listed together. The qualifying condition list is broader than most parents assume.

Western Australia's KidSport runs all year rather than in rounds: up to $300 a financial year a child, and it can be split across more than one club.

Where the vouchers can actually be spent

A sport or activity voucher only helps if there is somewhere near you to spend it. The state voucher schemes pay registration and membership fees at clubs and providers — not one-off tickets — so the useful question is how many of those your state actually has.

These are the kids' activity providers listed in our directory today, by state. The count refreshes with the page.

Two things worth knowing before you spend one. Most schemes require the provider to be registered with the scheme, which is not the same as being a real club — check the state's provider list before you enrol. And the order matters: some sports will not apply a voucher to a registration you have already paid for, so get the voucher code first, then register. Victoria is the exception right now — it also runs a reimbursement path for activities already paid for.

If your family doesn't qualify

Most of the state schemes above are card-tested: they need a Health Care Card or a Pensioner Concession Card, and a family just over the line gets nothing from them. Three things still apply.

• The federal payments use income tests, not cards. The Child Care Subsidy reaches families earning up to $538,520, and the Family Tax Benefit Part A supplement is paid at incomes up to $80,000 — well above where the card schemes stop.
• Ask the school directly. Every state system requires schools to help with the cost of mandatory excursions and activities in cases of hardship, and the request is routine and confidential. In New South Wales, which has no statewide payment, this is the main route.
• Free is a real option. Council libraries, playgrounds and school-holiday programs cost nothing, and many providers offer a free first class so a child can try a sport before a term is paid for.

How we checked

Every figure on this page was read at the scheme's own government page on 25 Sept 2026, and the page is reviewed on a schedule — the dates at the top say when.

Primary sources: Services Australia (Child Care Subsidy, Family Tax Benefit, Child Dental Benefits Schedule, Carer Allowance); getactive.vic.gov.au (Get Active Kids); qld.gov.au (Play On!); service.nsw.gov.au (Active and Creative Kids); cits.wa.gov.au (KidSport); act.gov.au and the Education Equity Fund round (ACT); education.sa.gov.au (School Card); and the ABS Consumer Price Index, Australia, July 2026, released 26 August 2026, with child care and preschool figures from its table 640103.

Two notes on sourcing, because they affect what you should trust elsewhere. Western Australia's former department page is still online and still says KidSport is worth $500; the current department puts it at $300, and $500 was a temporary boost that ended in June 2025. And Victoria's general voucher landing page currently shows a closed round from a previous year — the program's own application page is the one to read.

Related reading

• Kids' sport and activity vouchers in every state — the full eligibility rules and how to claim each one
• Help with school costs, state by state — the back-to-school payments and fee waivers
• Child Care Subsidy and Free Kinder — the income test and what each state funds
• Family Tax Benefit — rates, thresholds and the supplement families miss
• How much kids' sport costs in Australia — what a voucher is actually offsetting