Priorities!

What's urgent? What needs to be done asap? What might you have missed? Here's the important stuff in a nutshell:

For the month of February 2025:

• Despite ACECQA reporting on 6 February 2025 that 91% of services meet or exceed the National Quality Standard, the Productivity Commission’s 11 February 2025 report reveals a stark contrast for NSW. For the fifth year in a row, NSW recorded the most breaches nationwide
• On the 16 February 2025, the Australian Government announced a monumental win for our sector and Australian families - the 3 Day Guarantee bill has now been passed
• All ACA States meet in Canberra on the 19^th and 20^th February 2025 to discuss plans, collaborate and develop solutions
• On 25 February 2025, the NSW Deputy Premier & Minister for Education and Early Learning (the Hon Prue Car MP) has called for an independent review of NSW's quality ratings and its unbelievable breaches. This review is to be led by the former NSW Deputy Ombudsman (Chris Wheeler).
• On 28 February 2025, ACA NSW’s CEO Chiang Lim reconnected with Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC MP to discuss record-keeping requirements following the Royal Commission’s recommendations. He expressed interest in ACA NSW’s efforts to prevent child abuse and acknowledged the challenges of child safety, cybersecurity, and regulatory impacts on early childhood services. ACA NSW looks forward to working with him to strengthen child protection measures across the sector.
• The Federal Government declared a Child Care Subsidy (CCS) period of emergency in parts of NSW due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred and published its Emergency Support by Region.
• ACA NSW urgently requested the Federal Minister (the Hon Jason Clare MP) and his Federal Department of Education to add additional local government areas, which was successful. 

For the month of January 2025:

• The Fair Work Commission (FWC) increased the Level 1.1 pay rate under the Children's Services Award  due to its review of entry-level wages (C14 and C13 rates) in modern awards. The minimum rate for a Children's Service's Employee Level 1.1 for FY2024/2025 was $23.97 per hour and has been increased by 13 cents to $24.10 per hour effective 1 January, 2025
• New IFA templates became available to ensure the changes to Level 1.1 of the Children's Service's Award is refelcted
• Since 1 January, 2025, Wage underpayment is a criminal offence (penalties can be a maximum of $7.825 million for companies or $1.565 million and a maximum of 10 years in prison for individuals) IF they knowingly fail to pay wages, superannuation or other entitlements under the Fair Work Act or industrial agreements 
• Since 1 January, 2025, Right to disconnect laws are in effect, however small businesses with fewer than 15 employees will not be affected until 26 August, 2025 
• Since 1 January, 2025, Tax and BAS Agent obligations - those agents with over 100 employees must comply from 1 January, 2025 whereas others have until 1 July, 2025. 
• Since 1, January, 2025, you can no longer supply certain banned plastic items including polystyrene cups, plastic spoons and straws that come included in packaging 
• ACA NSW wrote to the NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning (the Hon Prue Car MP) seeking urgent plausible alternatives to address Regulation 272 given it is not the vocational expectations of early childhood teachers
• NSW Payroll Tax returns are due 14 January, 2025
• Superannuation Contributions by 28 January, 2025
• Business Activity Statements (BAS) by 21 January, 2025 (if due monthly) unless you are entitled to extra time 
• On January 30, 2025, ACA President Paul Mondo presented a joint webinar with the team at LoveHeart in relation to the Cycle of Planning
• Submissions to join the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Corporate Leadership Group close by Friday 31 January, 2025
  
  

For the month of December 2024:

• Federal Department of Education released a sample Worker Retention Payment (WRP) Grant Agreement via Grants Connect, allowing service providers to look at the template before receiving their individual grant agreement upon approval of the grant 
• ACA addressed concerns regarding the "10-a-day model", and why it can be considered problematic 
• On December 11, 2024, Prime Minister Albanese announced significant commitments to its pledge to achieve universal ECEC, should the Labor Government be re-elected next year
  
  

For the month of November 2024:

• On November 1, 2024, ACA National President Paul Mondo provided an update and a full explanation of the Worker Retention Payment 
• The Department of Education announced that the Retention Payment fee growth cap for the second year (8 August, 2025 to 7 August, 2026) will be set as 4.2%
• ACA received feedback from members that information about their service(s) on Starting Blocks website was not up to date, particularly with their fees. ACA Engaged directly with ACECQA, and the Department of Education to address this issue as soon as possible 
• On November 15, 2024, ACA announced that we have reached an agreement with the unions and other employer groups involved in the multi-employer bargaining process
• ACA's partner, Guild Insurance, released an article which assists services with managing employment disputes 
• ACA partnered with Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors (ABLA) to provide members with a low-cost, comprehensive Sexual Harassment Positive Duty 'How-to' Guide and Toolkit.
• The Multi-Employer Agreement (MEA) was finalised, and became available for our members to view 
  
  

For the month of October 2024:

• The ECEC Worker Retention Payment Grant Guidelines became available on October 2, 2024
• The Federal Government finalised the online grant application process, and applications officially opened 
• ACA Released a Cost of Pay Rise Calculator to calculate the cost of implementing the 10% wage rise at your service 
• ASQA Announced their cancellation of the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) Luvium Pty Ltd (Trading as Australia Education and Career College 52865). This took effect from 19 October, 2024 and was published on the training.gov.au website 
• The Executive Committee met in Melbourne on October 23, 2024 and October 24, 2024 to discuss the progress of the Worker Retention Payment

For the month of September 2024:

• The Federal Government announced in the media that it will bring in legislation to deliver the government-funded pay rise for Early Childhood Educators, locking in the funding for the 15 per cent wage increase over two years
• The Federal Government released the Productivity Commission Report, which included many of ACA's recommendation's
• Professional Development Subsidy Grant Round 1 Applications closed 20 September 2024
  
  

For the month of August 2024:

• The employee's New "Right to Disconnect" took effect on August 26, 2024.
• The updated definitions of casual employment, employee, and employer also came into effect on August 26, 2024.
• Please ensured that your services were informed about your rights regarding the Union(s)' new rights of entry.
  
  

For the month of July 2024:

• ACA NSW calls on the NSW Deputy Premier to intervene in excessive regulatory workload. Despite NSW occupying about a third of the national proportion of all services, the excessively high number of confirmed breaches by NSW-based early childhood education and care services dwarfs all confirmed breaches by all other states and territories combined across the last 4 years.
• Membership Fees Increase by 4% beginning 1 July 2024.
• Nominations are now OPEN for the. Excellence in Early Childhood Education Awards 2024. The largest Awards for early childhood education and care services, educators, teachers, leaders and more are on again for 2024! Nominations are now open from 29 June 2024 and will close on 1 September 2024. The Gala Awards Night will be on 2 November 2024 which will be French-inspired (a nod to the 2024 Paris Olympics)!
• It's time for all Child Care Subsidy (CCS) approved providers and services to complete the National Workforce Census (NWC). Completing the NWC is a requirement under Family Assistance Law (FAL)

For the month of June 2024:

• Reminder to complete the  National Workforce Census. by 14 July 2024.  It is mandatory for all CCS approved providers and services to participate.   
• Membership Fees Increase by 4% beginning 1 July 2024.
• Latest Child Care Subsidy data now available. We’ve published data about the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) in the March quarter 2024. Each quarter we issue a summary report about CCS-approved care in Australia. The report includes data on child care usage, services, fees and subsidies in Australia. Go to the March quarter 2024 report.
• NSW President announces scholarships and assistance to get affordable housing and electric vehicles. In addition to the State of our Sector awards winners on 22 June 2024, ACA NSW President Lyn Connolly took the opportunity to make the following announcements for the 2024/2025 financial year: Firstly, ACA NSW strongly recommends that ACA NSW members read the ACA National Committee's advice also released today. ACA NSW members will need to firstly log in and use their username and password to access.
• The Inclusion Support Program (ISP) is receiving many incomplete applications. Here’s what you can do to ensure you submit your application correctly. ISP helps early childhood education and care (ECEC) services address barriers to inclusion. The program is receiving a high volume of incomplete applications, in particular for additional educators. This has a direct impact on processing timeframes. The Inclusion Development Fund Manager (IDFM) has developed a checklist for additional educator applications. Please use the checklist when submitting to ensure your application can be processed.
• Using electronic devices in early childhood settings. A new National Model Code released earlier this month outlines a set of recommended child-safe practices for using electronic devices in ECEC.
• ACECQA developed the code, in partnership with all governments, as part of a range of actions in response to last year’s child safety review
• Changes with New Financial Year (FY2024/2025) From 1 July 2024, the following changes take effect: the Awards' wage rate increase by 3.75% (log in to access the 2024/2025 wage summaries); The statutory minimum Superannuation Rate will be increased from 11% to 11.5%; and the individual income tax rates and threshold changes (aka Stage 3 Tax Cuts). For any further information/clarification, please contact the ACA NSW team via 1300 556 330 or nsw@childcarealliance.org.au.
• ACA NSW calls on the NSW Deputy Premier to intervene in excessive regulatory workload. Despite NSW occupying about a third of the national proportion of all services, the excessively high number of confirmed breaches by NSW-based early childhood education and care services dwarfs all confirmed breaches by all other states and territories combined across the last 4 years.

For the month of May 2024:

• Reminder to complete the National Workforce Census. by 14 July 2024.  It is mandatory for all CCS approved providers and services to participate.   
• The NSW Department of Education are offering grant writing workshops to assist in preparing your application for the Flexible Initiatives Trial. Register here.
• Annual Service Approval fees payable by providers will be issued on 31 May 2024 and must be paid by 1 July 2024. 
• The upgraded NQA IT System is now live but ECEC Services must register to access the new system
• From July 2024 notice periods for A&R will be reduced to 5 business days. 

For the month of April 2024:

• NSW Premier's ECE Scholarship will close applications on 3 May 2024
• ECEC Connect sessions are being held again in Merrylands and Wagga Wagga on 14 & 16 May respectively. Register now.
• A new Business Capability Development Program is open to small ECEC providers in the NSW areas of Campbelltown, Dubbo and Coffs Harbour. Applications close 24 May 2024.
• The NSW Department of Education now have an ECEC resource library available to access.
• “Let’s Count”, a Government funded maths program for 3-5 year olds has been relaunched and updated to EYLF 2.0, accessible & free for ECEC professionals.
• The Federal Department of Education has a short online course available to the ECEC sector to fully understand the notification requirements under Family Assistance Law. Register for Geccko here.

For the month of March 2024:

For the month of February 2024:

• The updated Approved Learning Frameworks came into effect at the beginning of February and all services are required to be operating in accordance with them or face a breach of the National Regulations
• Department of Education ECE Connect Webinars 2024 will run from 11-21 March and are now open for registration.
• NSW Disability and Inclusion Program funding allocation applications for Quarter 2 will cut off 8 March 2024.
• Applications for the Federal Government’s disadvantaged and vulnerable communities grant (part of the Community Child Care Fund CCCF) close on 8 March 2024
• Expressions of Interest are now open for ACECQA’s Quality Support Program, supporting services rated Working Towards National Quality Standard.
• Applications for the NSW Department of Education’s Health and Development Participation (HDP) Grant Program close 31 March 2024 via SmartyGrants.
• NSW Office of the Children's Guardian has released new eLearning modulesnew eLearning modules focusing on reducing and managing risk to children. 

For the month of January 2024:

• Changes to the Inclusion Support Program came into effect from 11 January 2024. new applications will only be approved to 30/6/24 and services will need to reapply if they require the subsidy from 1 July 2024. 
• From 1 February 2024, the updated Approved Learning Frameworks come into effect and all services are required to be operating in accordance with EYLF v2.0 and MTOP v2.0 or the approved provider will be in breach of the National Regulations. 
• All applications for Quarter 2 2024, Disability and Inclusion Program must be submitted by 8 March 2024.
• New Child Safe Standard resources are available, with the first e-learning module available through the NSW Office of the Children's Guardian. 
• Registrations are open for Geccko, the Federal Department of Education's free, self paced e-learning platform to help you better understand your obligations under Assistance Law.

For the month of November 2023:

• From 8 December 2024 (and not 8 December 2023) new Food Safety requirements come into effect for all ECEC services that provide meals as part of their service.
• Sleep and Rest changes came into effect 1 October 2023. Make sure you are across all the changes!
• Grandparent carers at your service may be entitled to ACCS 
• CCS Helpdesk will close for Christmas from 12.30pm 22 December and reopen 9am 2 January 2024.
• As we head into bushfire season, services should create/update their emergency management plan
• There is at least 36 hours per fortnight of CCS available to First Nations Children in your care.  
• ACA joined forces with CELA, CCC & the UWU to address the Federal Government to address the workforce crisis in Early Childhood Education
• Since July 2023 you can apply for National Law approval AND CCS at the same time via the NQAITS portal. 
• From 6 December 2023, new rules apply for employing staff on a fixed term contract (eg maternity leave). Regulatory changes came into effect on 1 October 2023 mostly focusing on sleep and rest. Make sure your policies and procedures are up to date and give effect to these changes!  Access our updated policies here by logging in with Username and Password. Services rated Working Towards have the opportunity to register for the Quality Support Program through ACECQA. 
• ECE Connect Webinars are running until 7 December on a number of topics. Register here