Start Strong Funding is a program for Long Day Care (LDC) and Preschool services in NSW to deliver affordable preschool education to children aged 3 years old and above, who are enrolled in an early childhood education program.
The aim of this funding initiative is to give 15hrs per week of free - or low cost - preschool education to all children in the 2yrs before school.
The program operates on a calendar year, and is split into 2 programs:
2025 Start Strong for Long Day Care
2025 Start Strong for Community Preschools
The type of service offering preschool education has an effect on how much funding they can receive and administer, as well as their eligibility to receive funding.
Who is eligible to receive Start Strong Funding?
There are 2 types of eligibility - service eligibility and family eligibility.
As mentioned in the previous section, service eligibility differs depending on the type of service, so let's break that down.
Starting Strong Funding Eligibility for LDC
To be eligible for Start Strong Funding, a LDC service must:
Have service approval to operate as a centre-based service (which provides long daycare), a Multifunctional Aboriginal Children's Service, an Occasional education and care service, or a Mobile education and care service.
Have Child Care Subsidy (CCS) approval, operating as a Centre Based Day Care.
Deliver a quality early childhood education program by a qualified Early Childhood Teacher, in accordance with the National Quality Framework (NQF).
Accept and comply with the Early Childhood Outcomes Programs and Local Operations - Funding Agreement - Terms and Conditions - 1 January 2025 to 31 December (Terms and Conditions).
For children enrolled at a LDC service, there are 2 kinds of program payments.
To receive the 4YO+ Program Payment & 4YO+ Fee Relief Payment whilst enrolled at a LDC service, a child must:
Be 4yrs old on or before 31st July 2025
Be attending an eligible service
Have a confirmed enrolment with the service in the Child Care Subsidy System (CCSS)
Not yet be in compulsory schooling
For the 3YO Fee Relief Trial Payment, the child must:
Be 3yrs old on or before 31st July 2025, and not yet 4 years old on this date.
Be attending an eligible service
Have a confirmed enrolment with the service in the Child Care Subsidy System (CCSS)
Not yet be in compulsory schooling
Start Strong Funding Eligibility for Preschools
To be eligible for Start Strong Funding, preschools must:
Be a not-for-profit community or mobile preschool.
Be an approved early childhood education service under the National Law.
Deliver a quality early childhood education program by a qualified Early Childhood Teacher, in accordance with the National Quality Framework (NQF).
Accept and comply with the Early Childhood Outcomes Programs and Local Operations - Funding Agreement - Terms and Conditions - 1 January 2025 to 31 December (Terms and Conditions).
For children to be eligible, they must:
Be 3yrs old on or before 31st July 2025
Be attending an eligible service
Not yet be in compulsory schooling
Priority of Access
Whilst services can receive funding for any of these eligible children, providers are encouraged to give priority access to:
Children who are at least 4 years old in that preschool year and not enrolled or registered at school.
Children who are from low income families, children with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background, children with disability or additional needs, and children with English language needs.
Children at risk of significant harm, from a child protection perspective.
How much funding is available under Start Strong Funding 2025?
The amount of funding and fee relief given to services depends on the type of service.
It is split up into two types of payments:
Program Payments: which the service can use on operating expenses
Fee Relief: which is used to reduce the cost for families
Start Strong Funding available to LDC
The funding available to LDC services is based on enrolment data they provided the government on the week of 24th-30th June 2024.
The service is given an amount based on the number of eligible children enrolled, as well as a loading amount (50%) which is provided for Equity Enrolments:
for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, or
if the service is located in a geographic area (Statistical Area Level 2) with a Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Decile of 1 or 2 (ranking within NSW) on the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage 2021.
Here is a breakdown of the funding available:
Funding Type | Amount (per enrolment) | Loading (if applicable) |
4YO+ Program Payment (child enrolled for 600 hours or more) | $1,055 | $528 |
4YO+ Program Payment (child enrolled for less than 600 hours) | $707 | $354 |
4YO+ Fee Relief Payment | $2,174 | -- |
3YO Fee Relief Trial Payment | $515 | |
Start Strong Funding available to Preschools
Funding for preschools is based on data entered in the Annual Preschool Census.
Program Payments are based on the base funding rates, and then equity loadings.
Here is the base rate funding. The amount depends on the SEIFA decile of the service's address. Funding is scaled by annual hours of enrolment, (although exceptions may apply for children with a disability or additional needs).
Base Rate Funding Type | Amount |
4-year-olds and above (600-hour enrolments) | $5,284 to $8,193 |
3-year-olds (600-hour enrolments) | $2,642 to $4,097 (50% of 4-year-old rates) |
Equity loadings top up the base rate the highest highest base rate ($8,193 per child) for children from targeted cohorts:
Children with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background
Children from low-income families
Children with disability of additional needs
There is also additional loadings available based on:
Regional loading (outer regional, remote and very remote) | $5,284 to $8,193 d |
English language loading | $513 per child with English language needs |
Higher Order Multiple base rate | $8,193 for third and subsequent children in multiples |
Service Safety Net | $163,860 for eligible services |
Fee Relief Payments are provided to help families reduce the cost of preschool education. It is based on the number of annual enrolled hours:
Per child hours of enrolment per year | Indicative average hours per week, based on a 40-week year | Percentage of per child base rate received | Per child funding rate |
600 hours or more | 15 hours or more | 100% | $4,347 |
480 to less than 600 hours | 12 to less than 15 hours | 80% | $3,478 |
400 to less than 480 hours | 10 to less than 12 hours | 70% | $3,043 |
320 to less than 400 hours | 8 to less than 10 hours | 60% | $2,609 |
Greater than 240 to less than 320 hours | greater than 6 to less than 8 hours | 50% | $2,174 |
240 hours or fewer | 6 hours or fewer | 40% | $1,739 |
How is Start Strong Funding administered
Once funding is calculated and communicated with the service, they will receive their funding at multiple points through the year.
To receive funding, services must accepts the terms and conditions in the Early Childhood Contract Management System (ECCMS).
When is Start Strong Funding given to LDC?
Here is a breakdown of the dates in which LDC services will receive their funding.
4YO+ Program Payment:
From January 2025: 50% of annual allocation (for period January - June 2025)
From July 2025: 50% of annual allocation (for period July - December 2025)
4YO+ Fee Relief Payment & 3YO Fee Relief Trial Payment
From December 2024: 75% of annual allocation (for January - September 2025)
From July 2025: 25% of annual allocation (for October - December 2025)
When is Start Strong Funding given to preschools?
Preschools will receive a quarterly payment (in advance):
December 2024: for January - to March 2025
April 2025: for April - June 2025
July 2025: for July - September 2025
October 2025: for October - December 2025
How To Use Start Strong Funding
Based on the type of payment, there are certain rules as to how services can use the funding. And they should expend the funding in the calendar year.
For Program Payments, there should be used for operating expenses, such as:
Wages
Educational resources (e.g. physical items, digital resources, materials, or training)
Other operating costs (e.g. rent, utilities, maintenance, cleaning, professional development, technology)
Attracting & retaining staff
Developing the early childhood educational program (e.g. excursions or program materials)
Educator wellbeing
Reducing the non-fee related barriers families may face (e.g. transport or food initiatives)
Improving or maintaining the service's quality rating to Meeting or Exceeding the National Quality Standard.
For Fee Relief payments, services must use these to reduce fees for families, which must be expended by the end of 2025.
For LDC services, it must be applied as a weekly reduction to a family's gap fee (after CCS has been applied), allocated across the total operating weeks for the calendar year. Any gap fees remaining after the fee relief must be paid by parents.
For preschool services, it must reduce the daily fees as much as possible for the 600hrs across the year. They should be distributed similarly to how they are distributed to the service - once per quarter/term. Any remaining funds are considered 'surplus fee relief funds'.
Surplus fee relief funds can be used to offset other fees, such as excursions, administration or resources. If any surplus fees still remain, they can be used for:
reducing the cost of enrolment above 600hrs.
reducing the daily fee for other children who aren't accessing fee relief at the service (e.g. children with the greatest need).
operating expenses in line with the program payment.
For Loadings, services are required to use these in line with the initiatives they related to.
For example:
4YO+ program payment loading should be used to deliver targeted initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children (e.g. engagement of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community member to work with the service).
Relative socio-economic disadvantage loading may look different in each service, but examples targeted recruitment, reducing non-fee related barriers, or supporting access and participation for low-income families.
Provider Responsibilities Under Start Strong Funding
In order to continue receiving Start Strong Funding, eligible services have to comply with a number of responsibilities.
Declaration and Consent Form
Services are required to collect a fee relief declaration form and consent forms (child and personnel) for all eligible children enrolled.
Whilst it is not a requirements, it is good practice to seek a renewal of the consent form each year the child attends the service, and/or whenever any details in the consent form require and update.
Invoicing & Data
Providers should demonstrate the fee reduction to families through regular invoices or statements, which attribute the fee relief to the NSW Government.
They should also acknowledge the funding in an newsletter or annual report with the following statement: "This service is a recipient of funding under the NSW Department of Education's 2025 Start Strong for Long Day Care program and fee relief is available for families of eligible children."
For LDC, they must communicate the fee relief after CCS is applied. Therefore, CCS software providers like OWNA are required to display the following in statements and invoices:
Daily Fee
CCS deduction
Fee relief payment from NSW Government
Further fee deductions using surpluse fee relief funds
Gap fee to be paid by families
Any other standard information already contained
Software can also help with collecting data for the Government, such as:
Fee relief data collected for funding assurance
NSW enrolment data for LDC
Annual preschool census information
Transition to School Statement
Completing a Transition to School Statement for each child in the year before they start kindergarten is a requirement for Start Strong.
This can be done digitally here.
NOTE: parental consent must be obtained prior to starting a statement.
Financial Accountability
Providers must submit financial accountabilities via ECCMS on either a calendar or financial year basis.
If there are any Unexpended Funds, they should be paid back to the department (although community preschools can carry surpluses of up to 10% or $30k, whichever is higher, into the next reporting period).
For anything over this amount, community preschools can either return the surplus to the department or offset the amount against any future Program Payment funding.
Record Keeping
Services are required to keep the following records:
Proof of expenditure in line with spending rules
Statements to families demonstrating fee reduction and attributing fee relief to the NSW Government
Evidence for any fee increases for children eligible for fee relief
Fee relief declaration and consent forms
Transition To School Statements
(For preschools) Individual Learning Plans (ILP) for children with disability or additional needs working towards 600 hours per year
Certificates of exemption for any 6-year-old children enrolled in the service, if required
Data requested by the department that is relevant to meeting fee relief reporting requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions about Start Strong Funding
Start Strong Funding has lots of moving parts. Let's go through some common questions:
What happens if I have leftover funds?
Services are required to spend all of their funding, but if they can't they should pay it back to the department.
LDC providers should return the funds within 30 days of the request.
Preschools can bring forward up to $30k or 10% of funding (whichever is higher) to the next reporting period. Anything over that amount can be offset against future Program Payments or returned to the department.
What if a child attends multiple services?
If a child is enrolled in more than one service, they can only access the Fee Relief Payment from one service at a time.
In the fee relief declaration and consent form, families nominate which service they will access fee relief from. For additional services, they should complete another declaration and consent form stating that they are not receiving fee relief at that service.
What if my service changes approved provider?
The transferring approved provider must:
Contact the department when the transfer has been initiated with ACECQA
Immediately contact the department when takeover is complete
Complete all outstanding financial accountabilties in ECCMS within 14 days of the transfer
Return any unexpended funds to the department
Comply with the Terms & Conditions
Comply with any direction under the Funding Agreement
Cease expending funding from the transfer date
The receiving provider must:
Contact the department when the transfer has been initiated.
Immediately contact the department when takeover is complete
Complete required documentation as directed by the department and enter into a Funding Agreement with the department.
Collect a completed fee relief declaration and consent form for all enrolled children that are eligible for fee relief after the transfer is effective.
Not accept any unspent funds from the transferring provider
What if my services closes during the year?
If a service ceases operating, the provider must:
Notify the department. of the closure
Cease expending funds from the date of the closure
Comply with notifications under the Terms and Conditions
Complete all outstanding financial accountabilties in ECCMS within 30 days of the closure
Return any unexpended funds to the department within 30 days of the closure
Comply with any direction under the Funding Agreement
How do I get a software that can help me with Start Strong Funding?
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