Workplace Instruments
- pay rates
- penalties and loadings
- working hours
- leave entitlements.
This is a document that applies one-on-one between employee & employer. There is no set format to create an IFA – it just needs the relevant information within it.
An IFA cannot cover more than one employee and has to be signed by both employer and employee.
An employer cannot make entering into an IFA a condition for employing someone.
Using one or more IFAs as part of your workplace instrument to be eligible for the grant could be burdensome if you have a large staff and a high turnover. (The other instruments are more administratively practical for large staff numbers.)
The MEA is an agreement which has eventuated from the multi-employer supported bargaining process.
In October 2023, members of the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA), along with other early learning employer groups and the United Workers Union (UWU), the Australian Education Union (AEU) and the Independent Education Union (IEU) began negotiations for government-funded pay rises and better working conditions for workers in the Long Day Care (LDC) segment of the early learning sector.
This process has now been finalised and has resulted in a Multi-Employer Agreement (MEA).
Whilst an award is a workplace instrument in legal terms, the award does not currently comply with the grant guidelines as it does not set out the minimum rates of pay as specified in schedule A of the grant agreement.
An employer can be covered by more than one enterprise agreement. However, only one enterprise agreement can apply to a specific employee at any given time (see s 58 of the FW Act). To determine which EA applies to a particular employee, we need to have regard to its scope and coverage provisions.
For example – an employer might have an EA covering its administration staff and one covering its manufacturing staff, or different EAs applying to employees who work at their sites in different states. There may also be a group of employees who aren’t covered by an enterprise agreement at all, even where there are a number of agreements covering the employer – for example, management/administration staff are often not covered but the “blue collar” workforce is.
When considering whether to approve an enterprise agreement, the Fair Work Commission must firstly consider whether the group of employees covered by the agreement was “fairly chosen” (s 186(3)) and then secondly, if the agreement doesn’t cover all of the employees of an employer (which is usually the case), then in deciding whether the group of employees covered was fairly chosen, take into account whether the group is geographically, operationally or organisationally distinct (s 186(3A)).
So when you’re looking at a business that has a number of enterprise agreements and working out what to do moving forward, one of the things we need to consider is whether we will be able to convince the Fair Work Commission that any new or replacement agreement covers a “fairly chosen” group of employees.
In essence, this means you can’t just draw an arbitrary line around a group of employees who are covered and exclude others – there needs to be some sensible justification for where (and why) we have drawn that line.
No - you can't opt out of the MEA. At the end of the two year period, the MEA will either be renegotiated or expire after two years.
If the MEA is renegotiated and your staff vote to remain in the agreement, then you are bound by the MEA.
With the MEA, if you opt in before June 30 2025 and are approved for the grant it will be back paid top 2 December 2024.
You cannot terminate the MEA once you have adopted it. The MEA will remain as your workplace’s instrument until it’s nominal expiry date of 30 November 2026.
If you wish to terminate your IFAs, either party must provide 13 weeks notice or they can be terminated immediately upon mutual agreement between both parties.
Eligibility - Service Providers & Employees
The grant is intended to cover employees of CCS Approved centre-based day care (CBDC) and outside school hour care (OSHC) services who work directly at a service. This includes employees working at a service under either the Educational Services (Teachers) Award (ESTA) or the Children’s Services Award (CSA) and can be classified in schedule A of the grant guidelines.
At a practical level this includes cooks who are employed under the children’s services award, centre directors and unqualified staff and trainees employed under the CSA.
Services who are council run and not for profit services who are CCS approved and either CBDC or OSHC are also eligible.
Administration staff employed under the clerical award, cooks employed under awards other than the Children's Service Award (CSA) and trainees employed under the national trainee wage are not covered in the grant guidelines.
If they have a compliant workplace instrument that covers them and they work, then they should receive funding.
- Worker Retention Payment funding must be passed on to workers as increased wages
- The payment cannot be used to cover agency fees
- Agencies are required to apply the minimum payment rates as outlined in the grant guidelines.
We also recommend collecting one of the following formats from your labour hire agency, to serve as evidence they are passing on the Worker Retention Payment to workers:
1. A formal written declaration, which could include:
Worker names that are receiving funding
Funding provided to each worker (hourly rate + super)
Period covered by funding and any backpay
Relevant contract updates, inclusive of relevant clauses and effective dates
OR
2. Invoices or supplementary invoice reports, showing the payment has been passed on. It could include:
Line item for Worker Retention Payment
Detailed breakdown for each eligible worker (name, hours, amount)
Line item for any backpay claimed
As part of your annual reporting, you must show that all funding has been passed on to workers. There is no requirement to confirm whether the labour hire agency has a compliant workplace instrument.
Further, new workers hired during the grant period will be eligible for the WRP if they:
Meet general eligibility criteria
Are covered by a compliant workplace instrument
If you have questions or need support, please reach out to our ACA WRP team at wrp@childcarealliance.org.au.
If you would like to read more about this update from the Department, you can do so here, under the heading "Who the payment covers".
Additionally, you can view our blog post here to learn more here.
If they are accessing being Paid Parental Leave via Services Australia, then these payments are not eligible for WRP.
If they are in receipt of any employer paid entitlements such as annual, personal or long service leave or any employer funded paid parental leave then typically yes, they would be considered eligible to receive the WRP.
For further guidance, please contact our Free WRP Support Services to discuss further.
No. The WRP is not payable where an employee’s income is funded through workers’ compensation weekly benefits.
The WRP supplements wages paid by the service. Where an employee has no work capacity and is receiving workers’ compensation weekly benefits, their income is funded by the workers’ compensation scheme rather than as wages funded by the service (even if processed through payroll). As a result, the WRP is not payable for that period.
Application
- Service providers can opt in by applying for the grant via the GrantConnect website.
- You can download the ECEC Worker Retention Payment application preview form here.
- You can download the 27-page Grant Opportunity Guidelines document here.
- If you eventually decide to apply, you will need to log in to the GrantConnect website here.
It is our understanding that each legal entity will need to make an application for the number of services you choose to apply for connected with each entity. Applications are linked to CCS approvals.
The Department of Education has explained that this is an interim process while the Federal Government waits on the outcome of the gender evaluation process, plus assess the recommendations of the Productivity Commission’s Final Report from their inquiry into the early learning sector.
At this stage, it is not possible to predict what will be put in place beyond the two years of this funding program, particularly given there is a federal election before the end of the funding period.
Application for the Worker Retention Payment close on September 30, 2026.
However if you would like to backdate the payment to apply from 2 December 2024 you will need to have applied with a complete application by 30 September 2025.
Please note that historical leave liabilities were only able to be claimed for applications lodged prior to 30 June 2025.
Funding Reviews
- Total approximate Child Care Subsidy (CCS) hours claimed for all children at the services which require a funding review
- Modern award classification levels under the Children’s Services Award or the Educational Services (Teachers) Award applicable to staff across these services
- Total paid staff hours recorded at the services which require a funding review. Supporting evidence should be submitted as a summary report extracted from a payroll system, which shows the quantity of paid hours undertaken by each eligible employee and the earning types (for example, ‘ordinary hours’, ‘annual leave’, ‘sick leave’).
To lodge your funding review application:
1. Reconcile WRP funding received against actual WRP wage costs. If you are underfunded, make note of how much by.
2. Email ccshelpdesk@education.gov.au requesting a WRP Funding Review, quoting your WRP grant agreement number, the amount you are underfunded by and a brief overview of why you may be underfunded (unique staffing profile, etc).
3. The CCS Helpdesk will review your request and if appropriate, email you back to notify you that a Funding Review application is being made available to you via SmartyGrants.
4. Login to SmartyGrants and navigate to the "My Submissions" page. You should see a Funding Review application ready to populate.
5. Fill in the Funding Review form as accurately as possible and submit when complete. Contact our Free WRP Support Service if you have any issues doing this.
6. As applications are processed on a case-by-case basis, there is no timeline of when you may receive an outcome. However, if your WRP underfunding is causing serious financial viability issues, get in touch with our team to discuss ASAP how we can best assist.
7. The Department will notify you of your Funding Review outcome via email when their assessment is complete.
For more detailed guidance, view our WRP funding review article.
Funding Formula
The payment will be based on the number of charged session hours at your service. For example if you have a 100 children attending your service daily with an average session length of 10 hours you will receive a payment based on 1000 hours per day or 5000 hours per week or 20,000 hours per four weeks.
This will lead to a formula looking something like this:
20,000 hours x $x =
We do not know the $x and how this is determined.
Whilst we are unsure of how the formula has been determined, the Department of Education is confident that its calculation will adequately cover a range of staffing arrangements for the majority of services.
It is our understanding that the Federal Government has modelled a range of different service offerings in developing its formula and determined an expected labour cost. We have been advised that this is not set at minimum ratios and is expected to be generous enough for a broad range of circumstances.
Whilst we hope that this is indeed the case, we are unable to provide with certainty the methodology or amounts involved.
We have been informed that if the rate calculated doesn’t meet the figure required for your service to remain financially viable, that you are encouraged to apply for additional funding based on your staffing costs via funding review.
For more information on funding review eligibility and how to apply, click here.
- Superannuation
- Workers Compensation Insurance
- Payroll Tax
- Leave Loading
- Accrued Leave Liabilities (a single payment)
Payments & Admin
Standard WRP payments are made in arrears every 4 weeks, generally in the third week of each month. For example, a payment made in January 2025 relates to December 2024.
For the Department’s full timeline of WRP and other payment types, see: When we make payments – Department of Education.
Yes - the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (ETA) states that electronic signatures (often called e-signatures) are just as valid as traditional paper or ‘wet ink’ signatures for most Commonwealth processes.
However you will need the consent of the employee to use this format.
You can read more about electronic signatures on the Australian Attorney General’s website here.
Above Award Payments
- Employee is a level 3.1
- The award rate is $27.17
- Their current pay rate including above award payment is $30.00
- They will need to receive a pay rise of $2.72
- Their new pay rate will be $32.72
No - If you are receiving the grant you cannot absorb above award payments.
The 10% above award rule only affects the AWR increase, not the requirement to pay WRP.
Fee Growth Cap
If your fee increase took effect after 9 August 2024, it must still comply with the 4.4% fee growth cap under the grant guidelines — even if notice was given earlier.
If the increase pushed you above the cap, your service would not meet the WRP eligibility rules unless you apply for (and are approved for) an Alternative Fee Growth Cap (AFGPC) through the Grants Portal. You can apply for an AFGPC:
at the time of your initial WRP application,
while your application is pending (via a variation request form), or
during the grant term (also via a variation request).
Approval requires showing financial viability concerns at both provider and service level, along with a proposed alternative cap. For help lodging a variation request, contact the CCS Helpdesk (ccshelpdesk@education.gov.au).
The fee increase cannot be rounded up if it exceeds 4.4%.
Yes. Where a service is acquired or subject to a change of ownership, the service remains subject to the same fee growth constraints as existing services participating in the WRP. Any fee increases applied by a previous owner during the relevant period are taken into account when assessing eligibility. A change of ownership does not reset the fee growth cap.
If the service exceeded the standard fee growth cap prior to acquisition, the provider may need to seek approval for an alternative fee growth cap in order to participate in the WRP.
- Keep total fee increases within 8.6% across both years (08 August 2024 to 07 August 2026)
- Stay under 4.2% from 08/08/2025 to 07/08/2026
- Services that exceeded the cap in Year 1 remain ineligible for Year 1 funding but may receive WRP from December 2025 onwards.
- All other services remain subject to the existing annual fee growth cap unless they also exceeded the cap in Year 1.
- You may still request an Alternative Fee Growth Cap if financial viability is impacted.
- The fee growth cap is based on hourly service fees.
- A new SmartyGrants form reflecting these updates will be live from 1 December 2025.
Opting out of the WRP
We don't know at this stage.
Yes, this is correct.
Managing Your WRP Payments & Bookkeeping
No — a detailed remittance is not issued. Providers can view payment amounts and dates in the Provider Entry Point. The total received reflects submitted staffing and leave data, but no breakdown is provided.
Yes — best practice is to display WRP separately on payslips to support transparency and record-keeping.
For more information, please see our blog on ‘Setting Up WRP in Your Payroll: A Practical Guide for Providers’
No — HLL funding also includes Personal/Carer’s Leave, provided it was accrued before 2 December 2024 and paid out after that date at the WRP-compliant rate. HLL is calculated as a lump sum (70% of 10% of the total leave value as at 2 December) and is intended to help cover the higher cost of paying out leave at increased rates. It is not calculated per employee and can be disbursed as needed through payroll.
WRP must be included when calculating leave loading. This means the 17.5% loading is applied to the employee’s hourly rate inclusive of WRP.
Example: Base Award rate $30.00 + WRP $3.00 = $33.00 → Leave loading (17.5%) = $5.78 → Total annual leave rate = $38.78.
No — the WRP amount will not increase. Gender undervaluation increases are absorbed into existing WRP amounts.
You were required to include Long Service Leave, Annual Leave, and Personal/Carer’s Leave balances in your application snapshot as of 2 December 2024.
Yes — you must continue collecting compliant IFAs to maintain 95% organisational compliance. A letter is not sufficient. Employees must consent and understand the agreement, and records must be kept.
Tax should be applied using the current tax rates at the time of payment. Payroll systems like Xero should automatically adjust.
The super rate at the time of payment applies. If backpay is made in July 2025 or later, the 12% rate applies — even if the work occurred in the prior year.
The majority of industrial instruments were entered into when the EWRP had to form part of the base rate upon which the casual loading is calculated. While the Dept have now said a provider can chose to apply the EWRP before or separately to the casual loading we recommend applying it before the casual loading as this is likely to be what your industrial instrument says and aligns with the original intent of the Guidelines.
The ACA July 2025 Pay Summary document includes detailed rates for full-time, part-time, and casual employees. Please contact our team if you would like a copy.
Alternatively, we have recently launched our WRP Wage Calculator which hosts all relevant WRP rates and more - it is available to access here.
No — there is no additional admin payment provided to services under the WRP.
You must split the backpay across the relevant classification periods (e.g. 3.1 to 3.2) and apply the correct WRP rate for each.
This is at your discretion — either method is acceptable. WRP must be clearly itemised on the payslip, and any changes in classification or Award Wage Review must be accurately reflected.
Large backpay may affect PAYG withholding due to tax brackets. Payroll software should adjust this automatically, but consult your accountant if needed.
Yes — leave liabilities must be recorded per employee as of 2 December 2024 to support your HLL funding claim. However, the HLL payment is made as a lump sum to the service and is not allocated per individual.
The 2024–25 Annual Declaration only applies if you received a WRP payment before 30 June 2025 (including Historical Leave Payments).
- If you did, the form must be completed in the Grants Portal by 10 October 2025 by the Person with Management or Control (PMC).
- If your first payment was after 30 June 2025, you don’t need to report until August 2026.
- Only providers who received an email request from the Department need to complete it.
For more information, see our blog: Understanding the WRP Annual Declaration Form.
This isn’t handled through a standard funding review. It will depend on the provider ABN:
If the new service is under the same provider ABN, you can usually contact the CCS Helpdesk to have the centre added to your existing WRP application.
If the new service is under a different ABN, this is treated as a new provider and a separate WRP application will be required.
Please see our ACA Fact Sheet: New Business Takeover for more details, available here.
The WRP pay increase forms part of staff wages and may count toward their overall remuneration.
However, visa salary thresholds have strict rules, especially around base rates of pay. We recommend seeking advice from a migration agent or lawyer before relying on WRP funds for visa compliance.
The Historical Leave Payment was a one-off payment to cover leave accrued up to 2 December 2024.
- If you claimed it, keep the funds aside in your accounts to cover staff annual leave, personal leave and long service leave when it’s taken.
- It is not a bonus for staff but funding to meet leave liabilities.
- Applications closed on 30 June 2025.
Yes.
The DEWR has confirmed that the Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System Guidelines - Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Government have been recently updated so that employers can apply for and, if eligible, receive both the ECEC Worker Retention Payment and the Priority Hiring Incentive.
Gender-Based Undervaluation
The Fair Work Commission updated the Children’s Services Award by:
simplifying the classification structure into eight core levels, and
introducing staged increases to award wages over time.
Translation and transitional arrangements apply to ensure employees are not disadvantaged as the changes are implemented.
Further detail on the award changes is set out in the Fair Work Commission’s determination, available here.
From 1 March 2026, the first stage of gender undervaluation changes applies. While some classifications receive an initial increase at that time, others have increases phased in over a longer period, consistent with the Fair Work Commission’s implementation schedule.
The changes apply to roles covered by the Children’s Services Award 2010, including educators, room leaders, educational leaders and some leadership classifications. The impact differs across classifications, with changes phased in over time rather than applied uniformly.
No. Whether an individual educator sees a change depends on their classification, current pay rate, and workplace arrangement (for example, whether they are already paid above award).
For services receiving WRP, the gender undervaluation increases are designed to be managed within the WRP framework, rather than automatically resulting in higher total wages being paid on the commencement date.
Generally, no immediate increase in total wages is required on 1 March 2026 for services already paying WRP. The total WRP-supported rate remains the same, although how it is structured changes.
It means that the award base rate increases, but the total WRP-supported pay rate remains unchanged at that point. The increase is reflected in the award component rather than increasing overall pay immediately.
It depends on the service’s circumstances. For services not receiving WRP, existing above-award payments may be able to absorb the gender undervaluation increase, provided the updated award minimums continue to be met. For services receiving WRP, the total WRP-supported rate does not increase on commencement; however, how the award and WRP components are structured may change. Services should review their specific arrangements to ensure ongoing compliance.
Not automatically. Where a service is covered by an MEA or enterprise agreement, wages are governed by that instrument for its nominal life. Gender undervaluation changes are reflected through the award, not by overriding existing agreements.
Services should review employee classifications and pay arrangements and seek advice if needed. Further ACA guidance, FAQs and webinars will be available soon, however providers may also wish to obtain independent workplace relations advice. In the meantime, ACA has published a Summary Fact Sheet: Gender Undervaluation for Educators found here, which services can provide directly to staff to help explain the changes in clear, plain language.
