Funding growth, falling birth rates, rising breaches; Highlights from 2023/4 ROGS 

The Productivity Commission has released the early childhood education and care (ECEC) component of its Report on Government Services (ROGS) 2023/2024 series in which a complete snapshot of the ECEC sector’s performance in areas such as participation, funding, costs, compliance and more is presented.

As always with the ROGS report there are some highpoints and low points, with the following key highlights notable: 

• Record rises in ECEC funding driven mostly by Federal CCS related expenditure
• A second consecutive fall in Federal contributions to the Preschool Reform Agreement
• A small increase of one per cent in overall long day care (LDC) attendance but falls in under 2YOs segment
• A record 50.4 per cent of all children under five years of age attending centre based care
• 89.1 per cent of all children in the year before school enrolled in a preschool program 
• A 4 per cent decrease in the total number of under 1YO children in Australia 
• Record levels of confirmed breaches and serious incidents reported
• A small increase in children from low income backgrounds enrolled in preschool programs

A more detailed summary of key categories has been outlined below. To review the Productivity Commission’s data see the link at the end of the article:

Total funding – Total Government funding, (both Federal and State based) for ECEC in 2023-24 increased 17 per cent to $17.9 billion, a substantial increase boosted by the Cheaper Child Care Bill implementation. State and Territory spend increased substantially for the second consecutive year, up 19 per cent to $3.8 billion.  

Universal Access funding – The Commonwealth funding contribution under the Preschool Reform Agreement fell again in 2024, down 1 per cent to $473 million, after a more meaningful 8 per cent fall the year before. 

Recurring Government expenditure per child – The Federal, State and Territory expenditure on ECEC services per child reached another new high in 2024, up 17 per cent to $11,384 with the Northern Territory leading the pack with a spend per child of $15,354 followed by Victoria at $11,723 per child. 

Children using approved child care services – 2024 saw a modest increase of 0 to 5 year old children using ECEC services, with a 1 per cent increase to 919,563. The modest increase in numbers was also captured by relative gains with 50.4 per cent of all children five years of age and under now attending a centre based care service, a new record. 

Children using approved child care services by age groups – Although attendances overall across the 0 to 5 cohort rose, the number of children attending in the one year and under bracket fell by a very substantial five per cent ,which will more than likely be a function of falling birth rates and potentially cost of living issues as well. The two year old cohort showed strong growth this year, up five per cent, with enrolment numbers for 3 to 5 year old children growing around 2 per cent. 

Proportion of children enrolled in a preschool program – The percentage of children enrolled in a preschool program in the year before school rose very slightly to a five year high of 89.2 per cent. The largest gainers in 2024 from a state and territory perspective were VIC up 1.1 per cent to 93.1 per cent, NT up 0.9 per cent to 84.8 per cent and QLD up 0.7 per cent to 87.8 per cent. 

Proportion of children enrolled in preschool programs across types in YBS – The only pre-school type to see increases in relative attendances were non-government pre-school services, which now account for 20.2 per cent of children in the year before school (YBS) attending. Both Government pre-schools and preschool programs in LDC services saw marginal falls to 13.3 per cent and 41.8 per cent respectively.

Hours of attendance per week – LDC hours of attendance rose to another new record of 33.8 hours on average per week with the highest attendance levels being recorded in the NT, at 38.7 hours, and QLD at 36.5 hours. Family day care (FDC) attendance rose slightly to 25.2 hours per week and Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) was the same at 10.1 hours per week. 

Confirmed breaches at NQF approved ECEC services –  Confirmed breaches as a class of actions under the National Quality Framework (NQF) rose again, recording a 7 per cent increase, with LDC and OSHC showing an 11 per cent increase in breaches but FDC a very substantial drop of 27 per cent increase

Serious incidents at NQF approved ECEC services – Serious incidents rose again across the sector with 26,219 cases reported, up 9 per cent. There were increases across all categories with a rise of 7 per cent for emergency services attending a centre, up 15 per cent where a child was locked in/out or taken away and 8 per cent for injury/trauma/illness. Serious indecent reports are now up a massive 62 per cent compared to 2019. 

To access the ROGS findings relevant to the ECEC sector please see here.