Almost 400 ECEC services to share $106.9 million funding boost

Almost 400 early childhood education and care (ECEC) services across Australia will share in $106.9 million in Federal Government funding, with around two-thirds of successful services located in regional, rural and remote communities.

Minister for Early Childhood Education Senator Dr Jess Walsh announced the funding as part of Round 5 of the Community Child Care Fund (CCCF) Sustainability and Capital Support program, with 386 services set to receive support.

The funding will be delivered over three years from 2026–27 to 2028–29 and is designed to support the ongoing availability of early learning in communities where maintaining access can require different approaches and additional support. 

Around 66 per cent of services receiving funding are located in regional, rural and remote Australia, placing these communities firmly at the centre of the latest funding round.

“Communities across Australia don’t all look the same, and neither should the early learning services that support them,” Minister Walsh said.

“Around two thirds of the services receiving these grants are in regional, rural and remote Australia, reflecting our commitment to supporting children and families wherever they live.”

“We want more children in more places to have the benefits of quality early learning.” 

A significant feature of the latest funding round is the length of the funding period.

Grants will be provided across three years, from 2026–27 through to 2028–29, following the Government's decision announced in October 2025 to extend the grants from two years to three.

The Government said the longer funding period would give providers greater certainty to plan for the future. 

For services operating in communities where maintaining sustainable ECEC provision can be challenging, longer-term funding provides an important degree of certainty around forward planning and service delivery.

The Community Child Care Fund forms part of the Australian Government's broader approach to supporting ECEC services in communities where additional assistance may be required to maintain access to early learning.

The Sustainability and Capital Support program is particularly focused on helping services remain viable and supporting the continued availability of care in communities experiencing disadvantage or vulnerability.

The latest funding allocation places a strong emphasis on regional, rural and remote Australia, where geography, workforce availability, operating costs and smaller populations can create very different conditions for delivering ECEC compared with metropolitan communities.

In some locations, the sustainability of an individual service can also have broader consequences for a community, particularly where families have limited alternative options for accessing early education and care.

The $106.9 million investment will operate alongside the Australian Government's $1 billion Building Early Education Fund.

According to the Government, the two initiatives are helping to build an early learning system that can respond to the different needs of communities across Australia. 

The announcement also comes during a significant period of reform and investment across ECEC, as governments continue to grapple with questions of access, affordability, workforce capacity, service viability and the availability of early learning in underserved communities.

For regional and remote Australia in particular, access remains closely connected to whether services can establish and maintain sustainable operations over the longer term.

While much of the national early childhood reform conversation has focused on affordability and increasing participation, access depends on something more fundamental, having viable services available in the communities where children and families live.

For providers operating outside major metropolitan areas, the challenges of delivering ECEC can look markedly different.

A funding model that recognises those differences is therefore an important component of expanding access to early learning.

The fact that approximately two-thirds of the 386 services receiving support are in regional, rural and remote Australia reflects the Government's acknowledgement that a single approach will not necessarily work across every community.

As Minister Walsh put it, communities across Australia do not all look the same, and the early learning services supporting them should be able to respond accordingly.

With $106.9 million committed over three years, the latest Community Child Care Fund round will now provide hundreds of services with additional support to continue delivering early learning where it is needed.

Read the Minister for Early Childhood Education's announcement.