February 24th, 2026
Latest News
ACA NSW has just been informed that the new NSW Early Learning Commission (NELC) (as the new NSW Regulatory Authority instead of the NSW Department of Education) will be increasing annual service licence fees:
by up to 1,000% for services owned by large tax-paying providers
by 500% for services owned by small-medium-sized tax paying providers; and
by 300% for services of non-tax-paying Approved Providers.
For small-to-medium sized tax-paying providers, their services’ annual licence fees in NSW will increase:
from $319 to $1,595 for services with less than 25 places;
from $482 to $2,410 for services with 25-80 places;
from $641 to $3,205 for services with 81-100 places; and
from $802 to $4,010 for services with more than 100 places.
Conservatively, from over 6,113 NSW-based services, the total amount of annual licence fees that the NELC will be increasing and thus collecting per year will be:
non-tax-paying services: from $1,200,742 to $3,602,226 (a 200% increase);
small-medium-sized tax-paying services: from $1,504,456 to $7,622,530 (a 407% increase); and
large tax-paying services: from $442,456 to $4,294,810 (an 871% increase).
This equates to an additional revenue for the NELC of $12,371,912 per year extracted from all NSW-based services.
“When all early childhood education and care services are trying so hard to be affordable for our parents and families, these cost increases are outrageous!” said Chiang Lim, CEO of the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW.
Since 1 December 2025, the new NSW Regulatory Authority and its 500+ employees began with its annual budget increased from $50m to $55m. This additional $12m will represent an almost 25% increase in the NELC’s original revenue.
NSW’s early childhood education and care services are already facing significant workers compensation premium increases, wage increases, real estate cost increases, a federal government-implemented fee-cap and, for far too many, payroll taxes.
The NSW Productivity Commission already confirmed that the NSW regulatory requirements are higher than the national standards, equating to around $3,000 more for each NSW child attending early childhood education and care per year.
“This is a NSW government entity blatantly gouging and penalising services and ultimately negatively impacting parents without taking enough responsibility for the NSW Regulatory Authority failures as exposed by the Independent Wheeler Review,” declared Mr Lim.
Other than Victoria, no other Australian states/territories’ Regulatory Authority appears to be emulating NSW’s or VIC's decision.
For any further information/clarification, members can contact the ACA NSW team via 1300 556 330 or nsw@childcarealliance.org.au.
PUBLISHED: 24 FEBRUARY 2026
