Childcare worker retention payment checker

Check an early childhood education and care service against the worker retention payment conditions: service type, the 15% workplace instrument, the 5.8% fee growth cap and Quality Area 2.

Figures checked 5 November 2026. Free to use, no sign-in.

Your service

Child Care Subsidy approval?
Grant status

Pay

For example an enterprise agreement. The uplift must also count in penalties, loadings, leave, termination payments and super.

Fees and quality

%

Cap 5.8%. Leave blank if not known.

%

Cap 4.2%. Leave blank if not known.

Grant conditions

Worker retention payment

No failed conditions, 1 to confirm

8 conditions checked, 1 to watch.

Conditions

  • Service type

    Met

    Centre based day care and outside school hours care services can apply.

  • Child Care Subsidy approval

    Met

    The provider must hold Child Care Subsidy approval.

  • Workplace instrument

    Met

    Your instrument obliges pay at least 15% above the Applicable Award rates, counted in penalties, loadings, leave, termination payments and super, until at least the end of the grant period.

  • Instrument approval for the extension

    Watch

    If you extend your grant agreement beyond 30 November 2026, the department must approve your workplace instrument by 28 February 2027.

  • Workers covered by the instrument

    Met

    All directly employed eligible workers are covered by the instrument.

  • Fee growth, 8 August 2026 to 7 August 2027

    Met

    4.5% is within the 5.8% cap.

  • Fee growth, 8 August 2025 to 7 August 2026

    Confirm

    The cap for that period was 4.2%.

  • Quality Area 2 (children’s health and safety)

    Met

    Rated Meeting or above for Quality Area 2.

  • The worker retention payment funds a wage increase for early childhood workers and runs to 30 June 2028. Eligible workers are those covered by the Children’s Services Award 2010 or the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2020, or doing that work under another instrument; head office and administration staff are not eligible.
  • Check the current grant guidelines and the minimum rates schedule before relying on this. The department can stop or withhold payments, or require repayment, if a condition is breached.

General information, not legal or grant advice.

How this works

Each answer is checked against the Department of Education’s eligibility and conditions for the payment, updated for the extension to 30 June 2028. Conditions are marked Met, Not met, Watch (met now, but with a date or risk to manage) or Confirm.

Fee rises are compared with the cap for the period: 5.8% for the current period, and 4.2% for 8 August 2025 to 7 August 2026 if you already had a grant agreement.

“Not sure” and blank answers are listed to confirm. They never count as a failed condition.

Legal basis

Checked against these sources on 5 November 2026. Spotted a figure that looks wrong? Tell us.

Questions

How long does the worker retention payment run?

The government extended it to 30 June 2028, announced on 17 June 2026. Family day care and in home care services that engage all their educators as employees became eligible under the extension.

What is the fee growth cap?

Services already receiving the payment must not raise hourly fees by more than 5.8% between 8 August 2026 and 7 August 2027. Services joining must keep increases to 5.8% between 17 June 2026 and 7 August 2027. The earlier cap was 4.2% for 8 August 2025 to 7 August 2026. Increases count from when families are first charged the higher fee.

Is paying the award enough?

No. Workers must be engaged under a workplace instrument, such as an enterprise agreement, that obliges pay at least 15% above the Applicable Award rates in the grant guidelines. A higher rate in contracts alone doesn’t meet the condition.

What changes for Quality Area 2?

From July 2027, services not rated Meeting for Quality Area 2 (children’s health and safety) under the National Quality Standard may have their funding cut or suspended. Services rated below Meeting should address the findings and ask the regulator for reassessment by 31 March 2027.

What about labour hire staff?

Eligible workers engaged through a labour hire agency are covered. The payment must reach them as higher wages, it can’t be used to pay agency fees, and you should keep records showing it was passed on.

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Questions the calculator can’t answer?

Workfloor answers pay, award, leave and termination questions for your team, with the Fair Work Act section or award clause behind each answer.

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