Impact of Worker Retention Payment revealed in Government report response

The Australian Government has provided some high level details on the impact that the Worker Retention Payment program has had on the availability of educators and fee rises since its introduction in 2024. 

The details were revealed as part of the Government's response to the inquiry, and subsequent recommendations, from the Senate Education and Employment References Committee after their report into the quality and safety of Australia’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) system was released. 

Although it is possible to track the individual metrics the Government notes in the report, the reference to them as part of their formal response to the Senate Committee legitimises their veracity and provides clarity on what is being tracked by policy makers. 

Progress in four key areas highlighted by response 

Since the worker retention payment was announced in 2024 there has been progress across four key areas of educator numbers, job vacancies, staff waivers and fee increases with the Government noting the following:  

- there are around 20,000 more ECEC workers, about an 8 per cent increase

- job vacancies have decreased by around 30 per cent

- the percentage of services with a staffing waiver is down from 8.9 per cent to 4.3 per cent

- fees at centres receiving the payment grew at half the rate of centres that are not in WRP

The consensus amongst policy makers is that the WRP has been successful which in turn led to an extension of the program. A further $3.6 billion was committed over a two year time horizon on 17 June 2026 to continue funding the wage increases for the ECEC workforce.

Looking ahead, renewal of the WRP is likely to become a key election issue in 2028 as the timing of the expiry of the current program will coincide roughly with that of the next Federal Election. 

Until then the policy will continue to support pay equity in the ECEC sector.