No, Childcare Educators Aren't Getting 15% On Top of the New Award Rates — the WRP Explained

The Worker Retention Payment gave ECEC workers 10% above award from December 2024 and 15% from 1 December 2025. The fine print: from 1 March 2026, the 15% is locked to your 1 December 2025 award rate — not the current award. So when the Fair Work Commission's gender undervaluation decision lifted Children's Services Award educator rates on 1 March and again on 30 June 2026, those award rises absorbed into the WRP rather than stacking on top ([2025] FWCFB 283). Your total pay didn't drop — but the gap between "award" and "WRP rate" shrank.

One widely-shared industry explainer got the resulting numbers wrong and had to publish a correction. The actual formula is simple: minimum WRP rate = your 1 Dec 2025 award rate × 1.0475 (the 2026 wage review) × 1.15. We've computed it for every level in our Worker Retention Payment Checker.

Early childhood teachers (Teachers Award) and support workers — cooks, cleaners, admin — still sit the full 15% above their current award, because their awards only rose with the annual wage review, which doesn't absorb. A graduate teacher in long day care: award $39.83/hr, WRP minimum $45.80/hr. A Level 1.1 support worker: award $26.44, WRP minimum $30.41.

Educators hired on or after 1 March 2026 sit about 4.3% above the current award: a Cert III Level 3 educator's award is $32.47/hr and the WRP minimum is $33.87/hr. Educators employed before 1 March 2026 are in between — your minimum is locked to your old 28-February-2026 classification, so it ranges from 4.3% up to nearly 15% above award (an old Director 6.7 has a WRP minimum of $52.86/hr against a $46.12 award rate).

On 1 March 2026 the award's 36 old minimum rates collapsed into 8 new levels — L1 Introductory Educator through L8 Director — with existing staff translated via Schedule I. Two traps: an old Level 3.3 educator with 4+ years at Level 3 translates to L4 (not L3), and former Level 4A staff become L6 Room Leaders but stay on a transitional rate until 30 June 2027.

More is coming: further award increases land on 30 June 2027, 2028 and 2029, totalling 9.4%–27.8% depending on your old classification. Each one absorbs further into the WRP — and the grant itself currently runs to 30 June 2028. By the end, the award itself will have built in most of what the grant was topping up.

Workers: find your cohort (before or after 1 March 2026), look up your minimum in the checker, and compare it against your payslip. Casuals: the WRP applies before your 25% loading — a casual new-structure L3 minimum is $42.34/hr. If your service hasn't joined the WRP, you're on award minimums and it's fair to ask your director why.

Employers: the grant's conditions bite — award-only pay arrangements don't qualify (you need IFAs at 95% coverage, the Multi-Employer Agreement, or a qualifying EA), and hourly fee growth is capped (4.2% to 7 Aug 2026, then 5.8%). Run your service through the WRP Employer Compliance Checker before your next fee review.