The Department of Human Services has been forced to apologise to parents seeking childcare benefits, after it asked them why they were not prepared to leave their 10-year-old children at home alone.

It sparked concerns among some parents on social media, including from people in Queensland where it is against the law to leave a child under 12 unattended for an unreasonable period of time.

People were updating information on Centrelink's myGov website ahead of the switch to the Government's Child Care Subsidy package, replacing the Child Care Benefit and Child Care Rebate programs.

As part of the requirements, children must be under 13 years old, not 10.

Department apologises for 'design issue'

The department apologised for any confusion, clarifying there had been no change to government policy.

Additional questions were included for children aged 10 because some children aged 11 may be attending secondary school.

But a spokesperson for the department said a website design flaw, "led to a small number of people" being asked to provide a statutory declaration for their primary-school-aged children.

The spokesperson said people who were asked for a statutory declaration for their 10-year-olds did not need to take further action.

The mistake was corrected on April 9, the day after the issue was noticed.

Labor's spokeswoman for early childhood Amanda Rishworth said the oversight added to what she labelled a chaotic transition.

She said the Government was encouraging families to update their details on a website that had a glitch, calling it a debacle.

The new package takes effect from July 2.