Worker retention payments for early child education and care providers

Overview

Funding is available from the government to help ECEC services increase their workers wages.

The payment will run for 2 years, from 2 December 2024 to 30 November 2026.

Through the worker retention payment, the government intends for all participating providers to receive funding to cover:

• a 10% wage increase for all eligible staff in the first year
• an additional 5% wage increase for all eligible staff in the second year
• a minimum of an additional 20% funding to contribute towards eligible on-costs (calculated against your base funding).

Check if you can apply

To be eligible for the payment, providers must:

• be approved for Child Care Subsidy (CCS)
• operate Centre Based Day Care (CBDC) or Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services
• engage workers through a workplace instrument that meets the grant conditions
• limit fee growth by a set percentage from August 2024
• agree to pass funding on to all eligible workers though increased wages.