Care Percentage
Care percentage is the share of time a parent looks after a child over a care period. It is almost always based on the number of nights the child stays with each parent.
The percentage of care feeds into the child support formula, determining how much of the child’s costs each parent is treated as meeting through care.
Definition
The percentage of care is used in the child support formula to take into account the amount of time a parent or non-parent carer is responsible for providing care for the child.
A parent’s or non-parent carer’s care percentage is the percentage of care of the child the person is likely to have over the care period. A care period is generally a 12-month period, but may be shorter or longer in some circumstances.
A person’s percentage of care for a child will generally be determined according to the actual care that they have of the child. The actual care may be reflected in care arrangements agreed upon by the parents, including non-parent carers. This agreement might take the form of a written agreement, parenting plan or court order in relation to a child’s care.
In limited circumstances where care is disputed, a person’s percentage of care for both child support and FTB purposes may be determined according to a written agreement, parenting plan or court order for an interim period, rather than being based on actual care.
Definition source: Guides to Social Policy Law, Child Support Guide, Version 4.97, released 20 March 2026, Percentage of care.
Role in the formula
Care percentage determines how much of the child’s costs a parent is treated as meeting through time spent caring. It is converted into a cost percentage, which is then compared to the parent’s share of income.
This comparison produces the child support percentage, which drives whether a parent pays or receives child support and by how much.
Care percentage is usually calculated from overnights across a 365-day period. For example, 182 nights equals about 49.8% care, not 50%. The system then applies rounding rules when assigning the final percentage used in the formula.
Where the calculated care percentage is below 50%, it is rounded down to the nearest whole percentage. Where it is 50% or above, it is rounded up. This affects which care band applies and can change the resulting assessment.
In most cases, nights are the best measure of care. Where night-based counting does not reflect the real arrangement, the Registrar may use hours of care instead and convert those hours into a percentage.
Care bands
Once care percentage is determined, it is placed into a care band. Each band assigns a fixed share of the child’s costs that the parent is treated as meeting through care.
14%–34% → 24% of costs
35%–47% → 25%–49% of costs
48%–52% → 50% of costs
53%–65% → 51%–75% of costs
66%–86% → 76% of costs
87%–100% → 100% of costs
These bands are fixed ranges. Moving across a threshold can change the recognised share of costs even if the change in nights is small.
The labels often used for these bands are below regular care, regular care, shared care, primary care, and above primary care. The label itself does not affect the calculation, but the band it represents does.
Example
Alex has care of one child for 5 nights per fortnight, and Priya has care for the other 9 nights.
Services Australia annualises that pattern as 5 × 26 = 130 nights for Alex, and 235 nights for Priya. That gives Alex 35% care and Priya 65% care. Services Australia describes 5 to 9 nights a fortnight as shared care.
At 35% care, Alex’s cost percentage is 25%. In the same case, Priya’s cost percentage is 75%.
Priya: 65% care → 75% cost percentage
Those percentages are then compared with each parent’s income percentage to work out who pays child support and at what rate.