Free Family Day Care tool
Family Day Care Fee-Setting Calculator
Setting fees is one of the hardest parts of running a Family Day Care business. Many educators set an hourly rate by looking at what others nearby charge, then discover it does not cover the real costs of running care from their home.
This free calculator works the other way around. You start with what your business actually costs to run and what you need it to provide for you, and it shows an indicative hourly fee that would support that.
What this calculator helps you work out
You enter your monthly business and household running costs — rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, food and consumables, vehicle costs, resources, scheme levies, training, accounting, compliance and anything else you add. You then add provisions for yourself: superannuation, sick and annual leave, and the additional amount you would like to earn. Alongside your working pattern — weeks you operate each year, average fee-paying children and billable hours in a typical week — the calculator returns your monthly and yearly totals, a weekly figure, a per-child weekly figure and an indicative hourly fee, including any hourly administration amount you add. A 'what if' view lets you see how changes to your pattern would shift the fee.
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How it works
The calculator takes about fifteen minutes if you have your figures nearby, and everything happens in your own browser. No amounts are saved or sent anywhere.
- 1. Enter your running costs. Work through the monthly business and household categories, adding your own lines where you need them. Blank fields simply count as nothing.
- 2. Add provisions for yourself. Include superannuation, leave and the additional amount you would like your business to provide, so your own income is planned rather than left over.
- 3. Describe your working pattern. Add the weeks you operate, your average fee-paying children and billable hours, then read your indicative hourly fee and try a 'what if' before you download or print it.
Why sustainable fee setting matters
A Family Day Care service is a small business run from a home, and its costs are real: utilities, food, insurance, vehicle use, resources, levies, training and compliance. A fee that does not account for those costs — or for superannuation, leave and time away from work — quietly comes out of the educator's own income and rest. Understanding the numbers is part of sustainable professional practice: it supports fair conversations with families and your scheme, and helps you stay in the work for the long term.
Where to go next
This is an educational planning tool only. It does not provide financial, taxation, accounting or business advice, and it does not take your individual circumstances into account. Figures are indicative and based only on the information you entered. Please speak with a qualified accountant, registered tax agent or business adviser before making financial decisions.