Manage your grant agreement

How to manage your worker retention payment grant agreement, including reporting requirements, telling us when things change and extending your participation in the program.

On this page:

Workplace instrument declaration

You must provide a declaration within 90 days of executing your grant agreement confirming that:

  • you have given all eligible workers information about compliant workplace instruments
  • you have taken reasonable steps to engage workers under a compliant instrument.

Annual reporting

Once a year, you must provide:

  • a declaration confirming you have used all funding in line with the grant conditions
  • a financial statement showing total expenditure on wages and on-costs.

An annual declaration form will become available in the grants portal when you need to report. Your grant agreement outlines when you need to do this. We will also contact you to let you know. This typically occurs in August each year.

Tips for completing the form:

  • Log into the grants portal to access the form. If you can’t see it, you don’t need to report yet.
  • A person with management or control must complete and submit the form.
  • Only include payments made in the relevant reporting period.
  • Report workplace instrument coverage at the provider level. If it’s below 95%, you must explain the reasonable steps you took.
  • Email CCSHelpdesk@education.gov.au if you need to make changes after submitting.

Change of circumstances

You must tell us when your circumstances change.

You must tell us if:

  • you add or remove a service from your provider approval
  • there is a change in director or owner of the provider
  • you transfer or acquire a service from another provider (see implications below).

Report these changes via a variation request form in the grants portal. This is in addition to your regular CCS reporting obligations.

If you transfer a service to another provider, you will stop getting funding for that service.

You will continue to get funding for your other eligible services. If you don’t have any other eligible services, we will terminate your grant agreement.

If you transfer the service to a provider who does not get the worker retention payment, the service will not be eligible unless the provider applies for the funding.

If you acquire a service from another provider, you can get the worker retention payment for that service if it meets the conditions of your grant agreement. This includes the fee growth cap. We check service fees regularly to ensure compliance.

If you reopen a service at the same location and provide the same services, we will consider it a continuation of the previous service. The fee growth cap will continue to apply. You will not be able to increase fees for the reopened service if they were increased previously.

Extend your agreement

We have extended the worker retention payment to 30 June 2028. Current grant agreements are scheduled to end on 30 November 2026.  

We will issue an offer to extend your grant agreement through the grants portal in mid-October 2026.

If you want to continue participating

To continue receiving the worker retention payment without disruption:

  • accept the offer by mid-December 2026
  • provide updated workplace instruments by 28 February 2027
  • continue meeting all grant conditions
  • meet a new safety standards condition from 1 July 2027.

Updated workplace instruments must:

  • include an obligation to pay workers at least 15% above the Applicable Award rates from 1 December 2026
  • remain in place until at least the end of the grant period
  • cover at least 95% of eligible ECEC workers at the service.

We will assess updated workplace instruments to confirm providers continue to meet the grant conditions.  

From 1 March 2027, we may hold payments until we:

  • receive a compliant workplace instrument
  • complete our assessment.

If workplace instruments are later assessed as compliant, providers may receive backdated payments for the period between 1 March 2027 and the date it is accepted.

We encourage providers to seek support when updating workplace instruments. Free, tailored assistance is available from a range of organisations through our get help page.

If you do not wish to continue

Providers do not need to accept the variation offer. If you choose not to accept the variation, your current grant agreement will end in accordance with its existing terms.

More information and help

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Grant guidelines

Read the grant guidelines for more information.

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Get help

Help is available to manage your grant agreement.