As a Worker Retention Payment grant recipient, one of your obligations is to complete an annual declaration. This requirement is so the Department of Education can assess how much WRP you have received relative to how much you spent on implementing the payrise.
Given the complexities of payroll after the gender-based undervaluation changes, this years annual declaration has been simplified to assist providers with their reconciliation.
You will have until 09 October 2026 to complete and return this declaration to the Department but we recommend commencing it ASAP. This article will provide guidance on what the FY25-26 declaration will require and how best to complete it.
Please note: this years annual declaration came with a Notice of Waiver from the Department – more on this below.
The Department have emailed all WRP grant recipients on 24/07/2026 a link to their annual declaration.
If you cannot find this email, we recommend you log in to your SmartyGrants portal, navigate to "My Submissions" & click your WRP agreement number.
Once you click the relevant WRP agreement, you should find a link to "Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Annual Reporting 2025-2026" - see below for how it should appear.
The Notice of Waiver
For FY25-26, the Department have simplified reporting requirements for providers and by doing so, have waived their right to collect detailed financial WRP expenditure information.
The notice of waiver you received is notifying you of these changes to reporting requirements. You do not need to sign or return this to the Department – it is only a notification.
The form primarily requires you to report on WRP expenditure at a provider level, by answering the below two questions:
- Amount of FY2025/26 WRP funds expended on worker wages
- This question is asking you to report how much of the WRP grant money you spent on paying the WRP entitlement to all eligible employees at your service between 1 July 2025 - 30 June 2026
- If you need assistance with reconciling your FY25-26 WRP expenditure, access our reconciliation guidance spreadsheet here.
- Amount of FY2025/26 WRP funds expended on eligible on-costs
- This question is asking you to report how much of the WRP funding you spend eligible on-costs. These are defined by the Department for the purpose of the WRP as being superannuation contributions, employee entitlements, leave loading, workers’ compensation insurance and payroll tax
- You only report how much money was spent on the uplift to your eligible on-costs increased because of the WRP, not the entire amount you expended on them. Remember that your WRP funding only provides 20% toward funding eligible on-costs.
The below sections will be pre-populated by the Department:
- WRP Funds received FY2025/26
- Amount of FY2025/26 WRP funds not yet expended.
In addition to your annual financial statement, the form will also query:
- The number of workers you have covered by the grant agreement (eligible employees)
- The percentage of employees covered by your workplace instrument (MEA/IFA)
- Whether you have abided by the fee constraints
It is important to account for the impact of the gender-based undervaluation changes when reconciling your WRP expenditure and completing your annual declaration.
For employees covered by the Children’s Services Award, grant expenditure may include both:
- the funded increase to the employee’s base rate of pay arising from the gender-based undervaluation changes to the Award post 1 March 2026; and
- the separate Worker Retention Payment allowance payable in addition to the employee’s updated base rate.
You should therefore ensure that the figure you provide for “Amount of FY 25/26 WRP funds expended on workers wages” captures the full amount of grant funding passed on to eligible employees, rather than recording only the separately identified WRP allowance.
