Whilst the Federal Government announced last night in the 2024-2025 Budget that they will fund a signficant pay rise for early learning educators, teachers and staff - we'll have to wait a little longer for the actual details of what it will mean.   

BY BENJAMIN BALK, KINDICARE

MAY 15, 2024

The news we’ve been waiting for arrived earlier this week, with the Australian Government confirming that big money has been set aside in the 2024-2025 Federal Budget to fund a significant wage rise for childcare workers.  

Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down the budget for the new financial year last night confirming that the Labor Government has included a multi-billion dollar provision that will see the Government fund wage increases for early childhood educators as well as those in the aged care sector who also received an increase last year to address the workforce shortages in that industry.  

Jim Chalmers said "We have provisioned for a wage increase for childcare workers as well. This will help recruit and retain more early childhood educators, giving more Australian children the best start we can."

The wage increase is fantastic for those in the early learning sector, but many will be dissappointed by not knowing how much of an increase they will receive and when.  

Whilst this is excellent news for educators, childcare providers, families and all Australians, the recipients of the wage increase will have to wait a little longer for the detail on exactly what increase they will get, when it will come into effect and over what period of time. This is because of the complications of two other processes currently underway with the Fair Work Commission.

The first of these underway is the annual wage review for early childhood and education workers, the second is the Gender Pay Equality Research, of which one of the priority sectors for review is the early learning sector.

As a result of these two processes with Fair Work Australia, the Federal Government will not be announcing the actual wage increase and timing until after these processes are complete. This will come as a disappointment to early learning educators, teachers and staff, many of whom were hoping to see a significant pay rise take effect at the beginning of July to help them keep up with the rising cost of living as well as providers seeking to attract more educators into the sector.

KindiCare is appreciative of the Federal Government investing in the educators and staff in the early learning sector, which we see as critical to addressing the workforce shortages that have plagued the sector in recent years and articifically reduced the availability of places for young families across the country.  

KindiCare Founder and CEO, Benjamin Balk said “The early learning sector has been plagued with unsustainable workforce shortages in recent years, with staff waivers from the regulator currently at 16.5% of all Long Day Care centres nationally. The thousands of vacancies in the early learning sector for educators and teachers result in many families missing out on the early education and care they require for their children, preventing many parents from participating in the workforce at a time where the rising cost of living is putting huge pressure on household budgets.”

“Childcare is an essential service for the majority of young families, and a stable well-paid workforce is critical to supporting the early learning and development of children in their first five years as well as contributing to Australia’s economic growth and productivity.”

It is well understood that longevity of staff in the sector leads to better early learning outcomes and a higher quality of service delivery for the children in their care. In recent years, many have left the early learning sector due to wages not being attractive enough to retain workers comparative to other industry sectors. This has only increased the strain on those dedicated early learning educators and staff who have remained in the sector.

This historic wage increase for early education workers has been the result ofa huge effort by a number of leading advocates in the sector, including The Parenthood and Thrive by Five, as well as early learning providers and the organisations that support the interests if works in the sector: all of whom have been pushing for a Government funded wage rise.  

As KindiCare reported in June and September last year, the United Workers Union, Australian Education Union and Independent Education Union, and their joint representatives – the Australian Childcare Alliance, Community Early Learning Australia, Community Child Care Association and leading childcare provider, G8 Education have been negotiating a substantial wage rise for early childhood educators, and it’s great to see their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.  

Michele Carnegie, CEO of Community Early Learning Australia says, ”It's clear that we’ve been heard. This announcement shows the Federal Government recognises the value of early educators and teachers to Australia’s families and communities. 

“The new multi-employer agreement will unlock access to early education for families by reducing critical staff shortages. Small and community services will be able to open new places because they can attract and keep qualified staff by offering professional wages.” 

Carolyn Smith, Early Education Director of the United Workers Union is also heartened by the budgetary news. 

She says, “The Federal Labor Government commitment to fund a significant wage rise for early childhood educators is welcome, and desperately needed to address the continuing workforce crisis in the sector.” 

Ms Smith adds, “Early educators have been negotiating for a real wage rise since last year in Australia’s first supported multi-employer agreement. 

“The wage rise commitment from the Federal Government comes as early educators continue to pursue their claim for a 25% wage rise in the bargaining,” and says, “Whatever way it happens, a wage rise needs to happen soon.” 

When the 2024-2025 Budget was handed down last night, there were also additional provisions made to support the growth and sustainability of the early learning sector and improve outcomes for all participants including parents, providers, educators and staff and first nations people.  

In addition to a commitment to fund a substantial wage increase, additional provisions have been made in the 2024-2025 budget to support the early learning sector.

One of the biggest areas of support was just over $650 million for the next four years for workforce qualification and training measures designed to support the development of educators in the sector through two key initiatives.

The first of these being a new Commonwealth Prac Payment from July 1 2025 to support tertiary students undertaking work placements in early learning services as part of completing their qualifications. The second of which is further support for trainee educators and their employers.

There was also additional budget funding to support better education outcomes for first nations people, integrity related measures to clamp down on poor performing child care operators and potential fraud incidents related to the child care subsidy as well as ongoing investment in the Early Years Strategy.