Yahoo Finance $150 per week cash boost coming for thousands of Aussie workers
Childcare workers will receive a 15 per cent pay rise over two years, with payments kicking in from December.
Thousands of early childhood workers are set to receive a 15 per cent pay rise. The cash boost will begin flowing through to workers from December this year through a worker retention payment.
The wage increase will be delivered across two years with a 10 per cent boost from December 2024, followed by a 5 per cent increase from December 2025. This will translate to a $100 per week pay rise this year, increasing to $150 per week from December 2025 for a typical early childhood worker paid at the award rate.
Early learning providers are now able to apply for government funding for the wage increase. However, to receive the payment, they must agree not to increase their fees by more than 4.4 per cent between August 8, 2024 and August 7, 2025.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said early educators “deserve to be paid fairly”.
“Parents want their children to be safe, happy and to have the very best start in life. This funding is about fair pay for the people who make this possible,” he said.
“Importantly, we’re making sure that our early educators are getting fair wages without putting cost of living pressure on families.”
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Education Minister Jason Clare said childcare was “critical” to preparing children for school.
“A pay rise for every early childhood educator is good for our workforce, good for families and good for our economy,” he said.
More than 200,000 people make up Australia’s early childhood education and care workforce.
Who is eligible for the wage increase?
Workers may include early childhood teachers, educators, cooks, coordinators, room leaders and support workers.
To be eligible, workers need to be employed by a Child Care Subsidy approved Centre Based Day Care or Outside School Hours Care service that opts into the worker retention payment.
Workers also need to be covered by either the Children’s Services Award 2010 or the Education Services (Teachers) Award 2020, or do similar duties but be covered by a different award or instrument like a state industrial instrument.
Family Day Care and In Home Care providers are not currently eligible for the payment, nor are preschools or kindergartens.
The payment will run for two years from December 2, 2024 to November 30, 2026. The first regular payments will be made in January 2025.
Find out more information about the worker retention payment on the Department of Education website.
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