Frequently Asked Questions

Worker Retention Payment Grant

Frequently Asked Questions

Background

What is the Worker Retention Payment?

The worker retention payment is a grant from the government to help increase employees’ wages in ECEC and OSHC services through to June 2028. Providers must apply for the grant. Employees do not have to be paid under the Children’s Services Award to be eligible.The worker retention payment is an interim measure while the Fair Work Commission implements changes to the Children’s Services Award (and other awards) and the Australian Government reviews the current ECEC funding model.

What period does the Worker Retention Payment Grant run?

While the grant was initially for 2 years - from 2 December 2024 to 30 November 2026, it has now been extended to June 2028. More details on the extended program will be available soon.

What is gender undervaluation?

On 16th April 2025, the Fair Work Commission found that the Children’s Services Award, along with a number of other awards that are female dominated, has historically been undervalued and underpaid due to gender.

The ECEC workforce is 90% female.
The decision means there will be changes to the Award to better reflect the true value of this work.
From 1 March 2026 there was a restructure of the Award classifications into just 8 levels, as well as the first 5% increase due to Gender Undervaluation.
Further increases will be implemented on 30 June each year for up to 5 years.
The Union has indicated it will pursue similar increases for ECEC educators paid under other awards.

Our employees don’t get paid under the Children’s Services Award?

OSHC employees in CCS approved services are eligible if they are doing similar work to those employed under the Children's Services Award, even if employed under a different award or enterprise agreement (EA). As long as the award or EA has a provision for using an Individual Flexibility Arrangement (IFA), you can use this tool to pay the staff the worker retention payment. Queensland P&C Services use a variation of the Award as their workplace instrument and do not require an IFA. NOSHSA can assist you – contact us.

We don’t have an EA to use as a ‘workplace instrument’?

The easiest way for OSHC services to implement the wage increase is through an Individual Flexibility Arrangement (IFA) as the workplace instrument. You don’t need to be under an EA or develop an EA. An IFA is a written agreement between the employer and each employee to pay the higher wages. NOSHSA has an IFA template which can be used immediately with all employees as the compliant workplace instrument for the grant purposes.

Already paid above the award?

You can still get a funded increase on top of your current above award rate. However, you cannot use the grant money to fund your existing above award rate commitments and the amount of WRP is based on the rate of your classification level under the Children’s Services Award – not your actual above award rate.

New Applications

How do I apply?

To get funding, providers must:

engage workers through a compliant workplace instrument
limit fee increases
pass funding on to eligible workers
meet safety standards (from July 2027).

Go to this link: To apply

1. Workplace Instrument

Email NOSHSA to request our free IFA template which is a compliant workplace instrument for the purposes of the WRP grant. To be eligible for the grant, at least 95% of all eligible employees must have a valid signed IFA at all times. At the time of application you must upload these IFAs or submit one sample IFA and the IFA audit log which contains details of all employees who have signed an IFA. After the application process, you must continue to collect signed IFAs from new employees (but not upload them).

The IFA links to the relevant pay tables on the NOSHSA website, outlining the total rate, including WRP. Please note that the WRP 15% is applied to the 1 December 2025 rates (increased by 4.75% due to the 2026 Annual Wage Review Decision).

These amounts can be confusing for employees, as the WRP is designed to absorb the Gender Undervaluation increases, so the 15% WRP is not applied on top of the Current Award rates. As part of the IFA toolkit we provide a template letter you can adapt, to provide to employees explaining this, as well as a government issued fact sheet on workplace instruments you must provide.

The following resources explain how the WRP interacts with the Award increases:

Option 1 or Option 2

Under the guidelines you can choose how much WRP casuals are paid. Option 1 (you will see this on our pay tables) is where the WRP is paid on the total casual rate, including the casual loading. Option 2 is a more conservative approach for the employer, where WRP is paid only on the base rate - not the casual loading. You must choose one option and always use that for our pay tables and other resources. (The IFA is inclusive of both.)

Exception- QLD P&C Services use Schedule 9 of the P&C Association Award as their Workplace Instrument and do not require an IFA.

2. Limit Fee increases

You must limit fee growth by a set percentage. This is known as the fee growth cap.

For services that apply for funding from 1 December 2025 to 30 November 2026, the fee growth caps are:

8.6% between 8 August 2024 and 7 August 2026*
no higher than 4.2% between 8 August 2025 and 7 August 2026
5.8% between 8 August 2026 and 7 August 2027.

For services applying for funding from 1 December 2026, the fee growth cap is:

5.8% between 17 June 2026 and 7 August 2027.

If you have exceeded the fee growth cap previously, you will need to wait to apply for the new grant program that is applicable from 1 December 2026.

NOSHSA IFA toolkit includes:

IFA template
IFA audit log to record all employees IFAs
Govt issued fact sheet on workplace instruments
NOSHSA template letter to provide to employees to explain how the WRP works

3. Pass funding onto eligible workers

You can only use the worker retention payment to:

pay eligible workers a wage increase
cover eligible on-costs.

You cannot use funding for any other purpose. This includes:

reducing your current wages and replacing them with the worker retention payment (unless you’re required to pay an uplift to the Children’s Services Award 2010 as required by the Fair Work Commission’s gender-based undervaluation proceedings)
costs incurred preparing your application
administrative or support costs for the wage increase such as accounting, legal fees or financial advice
costs related to joining or developing a workplace instrument.

4. Meet Safety Standards (from July 2027)

From July 2027, services that do not meet Quality Area 2 of the National Quality Standard may have their funding cut or suspended. There will be more information coming soon regarding this requirement.

How do I find the correct CRN for the application?

The provider has one unique CRN. It is different to the service CRNs. A CRN is 9 numbers and ends with a letter. For example, 123456789A.

Find your provider CRN:

on the top left of your CCS approval letter
in the CCS System via the PEP or your third-party software.

Children's Services Award

Does the WRP increase by 4.75% due to the Annual Wage Review Decision?

Yes, the WRP increases by 4.75% in line with the Annual Wage Review Decision. However, now that the Award has changed due to Gender Undervaluation and the WRP is based on the old Award rates and classifications, we recommend following the NOSHSA pay tables so that you can be assured you are paying the correct rates.

What is the Children’s Services Award restructure?

The Award Classification restructure was introduced on 1 March 2026. All services were required to reclassify staff at that time. Because the WRP is based on the old award classifications, we recommended that services retain both the old and new classifications on the payroll system until the WRP ends.

Please refer to the following fact sheets:

Do the Gender Undervaluation increases to the Award get paid on top of the Worker Retention Payment?

No, the first 15% increase due to Gender Undervaluation will be absorbed by the WRP. Services not applying for the WRP Grant must still apply Award increases.

Services receiving the WRP should follow the NOSHSA pay tables, and not the Fair Work pay tables, as the Fair Work rates do not account for WRP.

Services not receiving the WRP must pay the minimum as per the Fair Work pay tables.

Which columns do I use from the NOSHSA pay tables?

There are two different approaches to pay the WRP as seen in the graphic below. We recommend Approach 1 which use the two green columns in the NOSHSA pay tables . It uses the old 2025 wage that the 15% WRP is based on (increased by 4.75% for the Annual wage increase) + 15% WRP amount. Columns 4 + 7 = Column 6 (check you are using the right columns). The reason we promote this approach, is that it makes the WRP identifiable at all times, so that you can report it accurately to the Department in your Annual Declarations. (You claim the full WRP amount in column 7).

If you use Approach 2 (red columns) which uses the current Fair Work Award rates, you then must couple it with Column 9, which is the WRP top up amount to get the correct wage. If you use this approach, then you have to manually and separately calculate how much WRP you are paying out to employees to complete the annual declaration to the Government. This is column 7. In approach 1, you can just run a payroll report to calculate this figure, as you have separated the full WRP amount in the payroll software.

So, you will need to devise a separate spreadsheet in addition to our tracking tool (as this just keeps track of WRP costs and income overall) to list each employee and how many hours they did and multiply it by the column 7 amount for their classification.

It can be confusing for employees seeing unusual amounts on their payslips, so we have drafted template letters you can adapt and give to each employee. There are also NOSHSA branded FAQs you can distribute to employees and a fact sheet explaining the WRP.

There is no legal requirement on what the amounts look like on a pay slip – as long as you are paying at least the minimum award amount, or higher.

Payment of the WRP

We have been approved – what next?

Identify the date your employees are eligible to receive WRP and generate a backpay for that period if relevant.
Set up payroll software so that employees are paid the WRP correctly (see FAQ on which columns to use) and you can identify the full WRP component for reporting purposes.
Ensure you collect signed IFAs from all new employees and add them to the IFA Audit Log (do not upload to the portal). See Steps for New Employees in the FAQs.
Monitor any fee increases to ensure no fee goes over the Fee Growth Cap for the relevant period.

What oncosts are included in the Worker Retention Payment?

The Grant guidelines specify the following wage oncosts to be paid from the grant money”

Superannuation
Workcover
Payroll tax
Leave loading

Does Worker Retention Payment (WRP) apply to leave and leave loading?

Yes, WRP must be paid on all leave under the National Employments Standards, including long service leave, personal leave and annual leave. Leave loading of 17.5% is also applied to the WRP.

Is WRP paid to staff on Centrelink Parental leave payments?

No, this is a separate scheme and WRP is not applicable.

Does WRP get paid on allowances, such as broken shift allowance?

No, the WRP was not established with allowances in mind.

However, if the service has identified surplus grant funds (after regular tracking of income and outgoings) the Provider may choose to pay WRP on other eligible employee wage costs, such as allowances e.g. Educational Leader, Broken Shift, First Aid. Similarly if an EA requires it to be paid on allowances, then it must be paid accordingly.

Note: If paying WRP on allowances creates a deficit, the service cannot request a funding review.

Does WRP attract Super?

Yes, superannuation must be paid on WRP as it forms part of Ordinary Times Earning. The grant includes an additional 20% funding for wage on-costs, including Superannuation, Workers Comp, payroll tax etc.

Do we pay 12% Super on Backpay?

Yes, backpay processed after 1 July 2025, attracts 12% Super, even if it relates to an earlier period.

Is the WRP paid on overtime hours?

Yes, WRP must be applied to overtime in line with Award rules

Example under the CSA

Permanent staff: time and a half for first 2 hours than double time

casual staff: time and a half for first 2 hours plus casual loading (175%) then double time and casual loading (225%)

If a staff member performs higher duties at a higher classification, do they also get paid the higher WRP for that classification?

Yes, higher duties must receive the WRP associated with the higher classification for the hours worked.

Does Overtime attract Super for WRP?

No, overtime does not generally attract superannuation, as the Superannuation Guarantee is calculated on ordinary time earnings (OTE) only, which excludes overtime payments. So, there is no requirement to pay Super on WRP overtime.

Is WRP paid only on contact hours?

No, WRP is paid on all hours for duties undertaken under the Children’s Services Award or other eligible Award including non-contact time such as programming and admin. Only administrative staff paid via another Award, such as the Clerks Award, are not eligible for WRP.

Is WRP paid to casual staff as well?

Yes, it is paid to all eligible permanent and casual staff.

One employee just worked one casual shift – do they get WRP?

Yes, if they have signed an IFA (or are under another eligible workplace instrument), they are entitled to WRP on any shift they work during the grant period. All staff must be provided with an IFA to sign (or another workplace instrument).

Does an employee who has left still receive backpay?

If a staff member has left employment before receiving their backpay, it is payable if they signed an IFA or are under an eligible workplace instrument at the time of leaving. If they did not sign an IFA, or it’s not covered under another workplace instrument, then the employer is not required to pay backpay.

How do we know what period our 4 weekly payments relate to?

The Australian Government makes payments at the service-level through the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) System. They send payments to the same bank account as your CCS payments.

Standard payments are made in arrears every 4 weeks. Payments are based on a standard calculation of your CCS data, which may have a seasonal adjustment.

The Government has a regular payment schedule which is promoted in their weekly newsletter and on the website. This schedule identifies what period the payment relates to.

You can view the worker retention payments in your Provider Entry Point (PEP). If you use a third-party software, contact your software provider for assistance. Refer to this task card for how to view payments in the PEP.

Do agency staff get the WRP?

Yes, the grant covers labour hire agency workers, such as Randstad. The agency must pass the WRP wage increase onto workers and invoice the service accordingly.

Services must:

advise the agency that they receive the ECEC WRP Grant

work with the agency to determine how funding will be passed on to those workers

update their contract with the agency to reflect these arrangements

request evidence from the agency that funding has been passed on to workers e.g. itemised invoices

account for the WRP Agency Expense separately so you can claim these costs as part of your Annual Declaration.

WRP Funding cannot be used to pay the agency’s admin fees.

You don’t need to seek evidence from the Agency that an IFA is in place, but you must be able to show that all funding was passed onto workers in your annual reporting.

When do we start paying the money to staff?

You are not required to pay staff until the grant has been approved and funds have been received. Backpay should be paid within a reasonable timeframe. After backpay is completed, WRP must be included in ongoing payroll for the remainder of the grant period.

Do I need to pay backpay in one period after receiving the grant funds?

We recommend keeping it separate from your regular pay run, but you may pay backpay over one or more payments.

If we apply for the worker retention payment after 30 September 2026, will employees be eligible for back pay?

Not to the beginning of the grant period, but funding will apply from the latter of

the date the application was submitted; or

the date from which the eligible workplace instrument applies

Employees are paid from this date only.

We employ educators above minimum ratios, and we are not getting enough WRP to pay all employees. Can we just pay some employees the WRP?

No, to meet grant requirements, you must pay WRP to all eligible employees.

The funding review process allows the Government to support providers with a unique staffing profile for whom the standard payment calculation method is not appropriate. If a funding review is not approved, services might have to bear the extra cost. Contact the ccshelpdesk@education.gov.au to request a funding review.

Acquittal of the Grant Money

We are receiving more WRP than needed – should we pay out the surplus?

We recommend you use the NOSHSA tracking tool to track incoming WRP funds received (Grant income) versus your WRP employee wages and wage oncosts to understand if you are receiving the right amount of WRP ongoing. After 1 December 2025, the WRP amount increased to 15%. Additionally, there are seasonal differences which might impact surpluses over time. If your service has been tracking for an extended period of time and are confident you have surplus funds, this surplus may be paid out on eligible employee wages and oncosts such as one- off fair and equitable extra payment to all eligible staff or on the Educational Leader or Broken Shift allowances. Contact NOSHSA for further guidance on distributing surplus funds.

How do I track the WRP – and why do I need to?

NOSHSA has developed a Tracking Tool to keep track of the WRP funding and costs throughout the year. Please email us to request a copy.

Tracking the grant money has two main purposes:

It keeps track of the financial information required to populate your Annual Declaration.
It allows you to determine whether you are receiving more or less WRP funding than what you are spending.

If you determine that you are receiving less WRP funds than what are required to cover your WRP expenses, you can apply for a Funding Review.

If you determine that you are receiving more WRP funds than required, it allows you to pay more WRP to your employees through wages and on-costs, noting you cannot keep any unacquitted grant funding, or spend it on other expenses.

What is the Annual Declaration?

The Annual Declaration is a WRP financial reporting requirement for every provider. When signing the grant agreement, you agreed to keep financial accounts and other records that identify the expenditure of the grant separately, so that the grant is identifiable at all times.

The Annual Declaration requires you to disclose how much WRP you have received and spent in the reporting period, along with relevant on costs, such as Superannuation.

Providers only need to provide one Annual Declaration, inclusive of all services. The Department recently issued a grant waiver for each provider to make this possible.

NOSHSA advocates that the best way to keep the WRP expenditure identifiable at all times is to use our Approach 1 using the NOSHSA pay tables. This means using columns 4 (the 2025 Award Rate + Annual Wage Review increases) and Column 7 (the full 15% WRP amount based on column 4).

NOSHSA held an information session on 27th July 2026 and 9th September 2026 on how to complete the Annual Declaration. Please email us to request a copy of this recording if you would like to view it.

Where do I find my Annual Declaration?

The Annual Declaration may be found in your Smartygrants Portal under My Submissions. It is due to be submitted by 9 October 2026.

Other Common Questions

What do I do with new employees?

Issue standard employment agreement which includes the employee’s classification level according to the updated Award – but does not reference the WRP.
Ask the employee to sign the NOSHSA IFA. Add the new employee to the IFA Audit Log.
Determine New Min Hourly Rate including WRP per the NOSHSA Pay Tables Column 6, which includes 2 components:
- Payroll Approach 1 = 1 Dec 2025 Award Rate Adjusted for AWR at 4.75% + WRP
- Payroll Approach 2 – New Award Rate + WRP Gap/Top up
Provide the government issued Fact Sheet on Workplace Instruments and NOSHSA’s ‘New IFA Template letter to New Employees’ which explains:
1. the IFA
2. the increased rate of pay
3. how the pay rate may appear as two amounts to add together on the payslip
4. the Fact Sheet on Workplace Instruments.
5. Note: QLD P&C Services do not require an IFA as their workplace instrument is Schedule 9 of the P&C Association Award. Please speak to NOSHSA for further information.

Do we put WRP information on contracts/employment agreements?

WRP details do not need to be included in the contract or employment agreement. The WRP is a temporary payment arrangement and not treated as part of an employee’s ongoing wage conditions.

Your employment contract can simply refer to the employee’s Award classification and, if you wish, state the current Award rate. For example:

“You have been classified at Level 2 under the Children’s Services Award. The current Award rate for this classification is $29.69 per hour.”

The employee can then enter into a separate Individual Flexibility Agreement (IFA) to receive the higher rate of pay under the WRP arrangements.

Keeping the WRP separate from the employment contract makes it clearer that the payment is associated with the temporary WRP arrangements and does not form part of the employee’s ongoing wage rate. This also means WRP changes can easily be modified through another IFA.

NOSHSA has an employee letter template explaining the WRP, how it interacts with Award rates, and how the payment may appear on an employee’s payslip. Contact NOSHSA to request a copy.

Why are the Junior Rates so high?

According to WRP grant conditions, juniors get paid the adult rate of the WRP relevant to the classification level.

What are the fee growth caps?

For services that apply for funding from 1 December 2025 to 30 November 2026, the fee growth caps are:

8.6% between 8 August 2024 and 7 August 2026*
no higher than 4.2% between 8 August 2025 and 7 August 2026
5.8% between 8 August 2026 and 7 August 2027.

For services applying for funding from 1 December 2026, the fee growth cap is:

5.8% between 17 June 2026 and 7 August 2027.

If you have exceeded the fee growth cap previously, you will need to wait to apply for the new grant program that is applicable from 1 December 2026.

What happens after 30 November 2026?

Providers already approved for the WRP will receive an offer to extend the current funding arrangement. Providers who have historically exceeded the Fee growth cap will be able to apply to the new grant program from 1 December 2026. The Fee Growth Cap of 5.8% applies from 17th June 2026 to new applicants, as a condition of grant eligibility.

The Worker Retention Payment is an interim measure which has been extended to 30 June 2028, while the Fair Work Commission finalises its gender undervaluation priority awards review and the Government charts a course towards a universal ECEC system informed by the Australian Competition Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Productivity Commission (PC) reports.

Providing high quality ECEC is a priority for the Australian Government. The Government is committed to ensuring the cost of fair wages for ECEC workers is not passed on to families through higher fees.

We want to withdraw from the WRP?

Now is not a good time to withdraw from the WRP grant program.

When the WRP commenced, the 15% grant was largely absorbed by the higher wages being paid to employees. However, the situation has now changed. Award wages have increased significantly and are much closer to the WRP rates. As a result, the WRP is now providing a contribution towards your current wages bill.

This means that, for a Level 2 employee, the service is currently paying just $1.28 per hour above the Award rate to meet the WRP rate, while being able to claim $4.04. Please refer to the table below.

If you withdraw from the WRP, you will still be required to pay the new, permanently increased Award rates. Award rates have already increased by 10% through the gender undervaluation increases and will increase again in June 2027.

You therefore need to consider the WRP not simply as a wage subsidy, but as funding that is currently helping to offset a permanently higher wages bill.

The WRP is also part of a broader transition. The Government is providing additional funding to support higher wages while work continues on developing a longer-term funding model for the sector.

Before you decide to withdraw

Look at what the WRP has contributed to your service. For example, calculate the dollar amount of 10% of your wages bill through the WRP in the first year. If you withdraw from the WRP, that funding disappears but your increased Award wages remain.

Ask yourself: If we lose this WRP funding, how much additional income will we need to generate to cover the gap? And then how much more would you need to increase fees to cover this funding loss?

What support is available for me?

Please reach out to NOSHSA to ask your questions or to review your circumstances!

NOSHSA also has a toolkit of resources to help you succeed in your application, pay the grant money accurately and track the payments.

NOSHSA are here to help. We are funded by the Australian Government to provide this service and we continue to advocate on behalf of the sector. For further information about NOSHSA’s advocacy and resources, you are in the right place!

Email: noshsa@noshsa.org.au