Funding

Funding is critical to the success of early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres Australia-wide and the development of our children. “The transformational power of education begins with quality early childhood education and care.”

-Treasurer The Hon Jim Chalmers MP

Federal funding focus

The Australian government has put several programs, supplements and services in place to ensure the ongoing and strengthened support of the ECEC system.

kindergarten children

Total Expenditure

Committed to building a universal early childhood education, the 2025-2026 Federal Budget ensures every child is eligible for at least three days of subsidised care per week from 2026. To achieve this, the Government is investing an additional $5 billion towards the development of this universal system, with total expenditure on the subsidy predicted to exceed $16 billion in 2025-2026.

educators

Worker Retention Payment

A significant portion of this investment, $3.6 billion, will be used to improve the wages of early childhood educators through the Worker Retention Payment. This initiative is expected to benefit up to 200,000 early childhood educators and teachers, helping to attract and retain skilled professionals in the sector, which is crucial for maintaining high-quality care and education for young children.

ELA

Building Early Education Fund

Additionally, the Government is dedicating $1 billion to establish the Building Early Education Fund. This fund will focus on increasing the availability of high-quality ECEC places, particularly in priority and under-served areas, including outer suburbs and regional Australia. The investment is expected to support the creation or expansion of 160 new early childhood education services, many of which will be located on school sites to further integrate early learning with primary education.

Father holding little baby, playing, having fun during warm spring day. Father's day concept.

3 Day Guarantee

Another key part of the Government’s investment is $426.6 million for the new 3 Day Guarantee, which will replace the Child Care Subsidy Activity Test. The 3 Day Guarantee ensures that all families are eligible for at least three days of subsidised early childhood education and care per week, regardless of their employment or activity levels. In its first full financial year, the 3 Day Guarantee is expected to result in 100,000 families being eligible for additional hours of subsidised care, significantly improving access to early education services across the country.

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“Expenditure on the Child Care Subsidy is predicted to exceed $16 billion in 2025–26, with another $5 billion allocated to building a universal ECEC system where every child is eligible for at least three days per week of subsidised access.”

Funding categories

On this page we explore all the funding allocations from Federal and State governments for the ECEC sector, as well as private grants and programs.
Our team has done an extensive deep dive into budget reports, websites and databases to curate this information for your centre. This information has been categorised based on topic, which correlates to the topics in our biannual resource guide released in April 2026.