Skip to main content

End-of-year closedown Our offices and phone lines will close down over the holiday season but you can still contact us online. Find out more

What
Arrangements intended to be in place for 4 months or more
Who
Qualifying carers of children
When
You share the care of a child or children with another person

You may qualify for Working for Families payments if you have a shared care arrangement which is intended to be in place for 4 months or more and your child is in your care, on average, at least one third of the time (Over a year, this is at least 122 days a year or five days every fortnight).

If you have a formal shared care agreement or Court Order we look at what is actually happening or has happened day to day.

If there is a dispute the other person in the arrangement needs to confirm the shared care agreement. When you register for Working for Families payments you can attach a letter signed by both of you, or other documents such as a court order.

When care arrangements change during the year, you need to tell us about the change as soon as you can as it can affect your payments. We may need to increase, decrease or stop your payments.

Working for Families and child support have different rules for shared care. Call child support if you want to talk about your child support shared care.

Child support - contact us


Was this page helpful?

What did you like about this page?

Please tell us how we could improve this page?

Thanks for sharing your opinion! Your feedback has been received.

Sorry there was an issue submitting your feedback, please try again later.

Last updated: 14 Apr 2021
Jump back to the top of the page