WA Government offers $1 million in grants to support regional ECEC staffing challenges

The West Australian Government has announced $1 million in grants to help regional early childhood education and care (ECEC) services to attract and retain staff following both the South Australia and Victorian Governments who have already committed sizeable incentives for similar initiatives (see here and here.)

The grant funding is being made available over four years, with the hope that by attracting and retaining sufficient staff, service providers will be able to offer more ECEC places, allowing parents and carers in regional communities to return to work, or take on more shifts. 

“Parents and carers in regional areas sometimes face long waiting times to get places in childcare services, with the number of places often dependent on the availability of staff,” explained Community Services Minister Simone McGurk.

“This is especially important in regional towns where there are greater challenges in finding workers and the choice of early childhood education and care services on offer can be limited.”

Payments of up to $25,000 are available for individual Local Government Authorities to deliver a range of initiatives to attract and retain childcare workers in the regions, including offering subsidised accommodation, covering relocation costs, funding intrastate travel and providing training and professional development.

Many ECEC services in regional WA face unique challenges in attracting and retaining qualified staff, a Departmental spokesperson explained. Access to suitable facilities is often through arrangements with local governments, hence the funding allocations being directed to the Local Government Authorities.

For more information on the grants and to make an application please see here.