Free services to access the government-funded 15% pay rise for early childhood and OSHC

The National Long Day Care Multi- Employer Agreement is a new workplace agreement for employers and employees in the long day care sector. It has been negotiated with representatives across the sector including CCC and CELA representing community managed and small providers, and others representing private providers and large providers. 

It provides a simple and straight forward way for long day care providers to comply with the requirement to have a workplace instrument to deliver funded ECEC wage increases. 

For more information on the ECEC Multi-Employer Agreement: https://www.fwc.gov.au/hearings-decisions/major-cases/early-childhood-education-and-care-supported-bargaining-agreement 

The Professional Childcare Standard (PCS) is an existing multi-employer agreement for community managed long day care services. Originally made in Victoria, any long day care service is eligible to join this agreement. 

The PCS has supported community managed services to offer improved pay and conditions since 2008. This Agreement will be renegotiated to ensure it complies with the conditions of funding required for the Worker Retention Grant. This process is already underway, and will likely be concluded in the coming months. 

Supporting the workforce to provide high quality early childhood education and care is a priority for the Australian Government. Central to this is ensuring educators are valued as professionals and fairly remunerated for the critical work they do. 

• The Worker Retention Payment, ceasing 30 November 2026, is an interim measure while the Fair Work Commission finalises its gender undervaluation priority awards review and the Government charts a course towards a universal ECEC system. 

• The Australian Government is committed to ensuring the cost of fair wages for ECEC workers is not passed on to families through higher fees. 

A provider may request an alternative fee growth cap for one or more services in exceptional circumstances. 

• The provider must demonstrate that the standard fee growth cap would seriously impact a service's financial viability. 

• A provider can submit a request for each impacted service while completing the grant application, or separately at any time. 

• You will need to provide each service's current and proposed fees schedule and financial information including current and anticipated revenue, expenditure and profit/loss. 

The Department will process complete and accurate alternative fee growth cap requests as quickly as possible. 

The funding review process supports providers for whom the standard payment calculation method is not appropriate. A provider must be approved for the Worker Retention Payment and smooth funding across services before requesting a funding review. 

The provider must operate services that: 

• have a unique staffing profile, or 

• have stand-alone jurisdiction-funded preschool rooms, or 

• are First Nations, remote or very remote, or 

• receive the Community Child Care Fund and have a unique operating model, or 

• cannot be provided consistent and smoothed funding by the provider across a financial year 

To apply, contact ccshelpdesk@education.gov.au to request a funding review. You will be given access to an application form in SmartyGrants, to be completed by a person with management or control. 

The fee growth cap is 4.4% for the period from 8 August 2024 to 7 August 2025 and 4.2% from 8 August 2025 to 7 August 2026. 

If a provider has increased their fees by more than 4.4% since 8 August 2024, they can still make an application for an alternative fee growth cap. However, approval is only granted in exceptional circumstances where the standard fee growth cap would have seriously impacted financial viability. 

As of 1 December 2025 services/providers who were previously excluded from applying for the grant can now do so provided they meet the following conditions: 

• Fees were/are increased no more than 8.6% in total for the two-year grant period, and; 

• Fees are increased no more than 4.2% for 2025/2026 

Services can now qualify if: 

• your total fee increase is no more than 8.6% over the two-year period from 8 August 2024 to 7 August 2026, and 

• your fee increase is no more than 4.2% from 8 August 2025 to 7 August 2026.  

Providers can apply for funding for these newly eligible services from 1 December 2025. 

**Please note: these services will not receive funding for the first year of the program.