FamilyBoost majorly boosted – many more families will benefit from reduced childcare costs

“Today’s announcement means more families can access support with their costs, and increase children’s ability to access quality childcare, potentially for longer than before for families who were struggling” said EarlyChildhood Council CEO Simon Laube.

“Adjusting the thresholds also means the payments households get from IRD are nearly doubling after today’s changes.”

“I’m pleasantly surprised how much more generous FamilyBoost has become, it’s sure to stimulate great interest from parents.”  

The changes announced today by Minister Nicola Willis will mean families receive much higher FamilyBoost payments, and more familieswill now be eligible for the scheme as of 1 July 2025.

The long term ECE funding shortfall means many families are finding rising centre fees unaffordable, so boosting FamilyBoost should help.

“Including FamilyBoost in the Funding Review’s scope is a very wise move. We need the whole system to work together to address the real challenges facing families who need childcare, our rising expectations inNew Zealand about the quality of ECE services that should be provided and the current shared-cost model between government subsidies/schemes and families’ ability to pay.”

“We welcomed FamilyBoost from the start, and have supported IRD with its changes. If you were sitting on the fence aboutFamilyBoost, today’s announcement makes it so much more attractive – we strongly recommend parents with children in ECE register to access the rebates.Remember you can still claim FamilyBoost for childcare costs from last year as well,” said Simon Laube.

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