The Australian Government has confirmed it will commit $3.6 billion to extend the Worker Retention Payment, supporting wage increases for ECEC workers through to 30 June 2028.
Keep reading to see an overview of the announcement.
The Department announced that the hourly fee growth cap for period 8 August 2026 to 07 August 2027 will be increased to 5.8%.
This means that services who are already WRP grantees will need to keep any hourly fee increases during the above period below 5.8% to remain compliant with the grant guidelines.
Any services intending to join the program, including eligible FDC and IHC services, will also be required to keep fee increases below 5.8% between 17 June 2026 and 7 August 2027.
As part of the extension, Family Day Care (FDC) and In Home Care (IHC) services will also become eligible for the Worker Retention Payment.
Eligible services seeking to apply will need to meet the same grant conditions, including:
limiting fee growth by 5.8% for period 08/08/26 – 07/08/26
engaging workers under a compliant workplace instrument
meeting all other grant requirements.
Eligible FDC and IHC services may also be able to seek payments backdated to July 2026.
We anticipate further information about applications for FDC and IHC services to be released soon by the Department.
The Government has also announced that child safety requirements will be increased through the WRP extension.
From July 2027, services that are not rated as Meeting Quality Area 2 under the National Quality Standard, may not be eligible to receive/continue receiving WRP funding.
Services currently receiving the Worker Retention Payment should review any planned fee increases to ensure they are compliant with the new 5.8% fee growth cap.
Services that may wish to join the program soon should begin considering their eligibility, fee settings and workplace arrangements ahead of further application information being released.
Our free WRP support service will continue to monitor updates from the Department of Education and provide with further information as it becomes available.
We acknowledge that services will be seeking further detail about how the extension of the WRP will operate in practice.
We are currently waiting on further information from the Department on the logistics of the extension, including new applicant processes, how the expanded eligibility for FDC and IHC services will be implemented and updates to general grant procedures moving forward.
As further information becomes available, we will update our communications and provide clear information to support future planning.
You can stay up to date with the Department's latest announcements on the WRP here.
