Early childcare educators and care workers will be eligible for a 15% pay rise over the next year after the Government’s legislation passed Parliament last night.
The pay rise will be rolled out in two phases. A 10% increase due by the end of the year, followed by a 5% raise in December 2025.
Childcare centres and preschools will be able to pass on the Government-funded pay rise to their employees if they agree not to raise their fees by more than 4.4% over the next year.
Pay rise
The Government committed to a pay increase for childcare educators in its Federal Budget in May.
In August, it announced plans to introduce a 15% pay rise over two years.
Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly said the pay increase will impact a “highly feminised workforce that has for far too long been neglected and taken for granted“.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows women represent more than 92% of the sector’s workforce.
Conditions
The Government’s early educator pay rise legislation has now passed through Parliament.
The pay rise will be available to childcare providers via a government fund.
Providers will be able to access the fund if they don’t raise their fees by more than 4.4% in the year to August 2025.
Minister Aly said the initiative would go towards constraining the cost of childcare. She added it’d help to relieve “cost of living pressures on Australian families.
