Staff waivers continue their free fall recording eighth consecutive quarter of falls ACECQA snapshot show

The proportion of long day care (LDC) services with staffing waivers has fallen for the eight consecutive quarter according to ACECQA’s latest NQF Snapshot with all states and territories reporting levels lower than last year. 

The data shows unequivocally that the very tight early childhood educator and care workforce conditions that began to take hold after the COVID-19 pandemic and peaked in mid 2023 are now well and truly over.

As at September 2025, 11.0 per cent of LDC services had a staffing waiver in place, down from 14.9 per cent in September 2024 and 17.4 per cent in September 2023.

At current levels the waivers outstanding are just 2.4 per cent higher than that recorded in December 2019, the last full quarter of data prior to the COVID-19 pandemic beginning to take hold. 

Across all settings, staffing waivers averaged 6.8 per cent, with comparatively low levels in outside school hours care (2.0 per cent), family day care (0.7 per cent) and preschool services (2.3 per cent).

On a state and territory basis, all jurisdictions recorded year-on-year reductions in LDC staffing waivers, with Tasmania, the ACT, Queensland and South Australia recording the largest declines of 5.0 per cent or more. 

Western Australia continues to record the highest proportion of waivers, which is consistent with the relatively high growth rates in new LDC services opening across the state.

The key standout in reductions over time is Queensland which has seen the percentage of staffing waivers outstanding more than half since the third quarter of 2023, 24 months ago and Victoria, the ACT and Northern Territory are now at pre-COVID 19 levels. 

The latest ACECQA NQF Snapshots can be accessed click here.