ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø

The program operates on a calendar year, from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026. Payments will be made in 4 equal quarterly instalments.

The approximate timeline for funding payments below is indicative only to assist providers and applicants with their planning and may be subject to change. Any changes will be communicated to providers and applicants:

• Quarter 1 payments (January to March 2026) expected by 19 December 2025
• Quarter 2 payments (April to June 2026) expected by 30 April 2026
• Quarter 3 payments (July to September 2026) expected by 31 July 2026
• Quarter 4 payments (October to December 2026) expected by 31 October 2026.

Funding for eligible services is calculated using the 2025 Annual Preschool Census data.

Providers of services which have been approved for funding under the Start Strong for Community Preschools program in earlier years generally do not need to re-complete the application form.

In limited circumstances, the department may ask providers to re-complete the application form for funding where significant provider or service changes have occurred, including, but not limited to:

• service delivery changes, such as adding additional services or reducing the community preschool service, and
• relocation of the preschool with a significant change to the service being provided.

Providers of new services can apply for funding at any stage throughout 2026. Interested organisations who would like to apply for funding through the program should review the eligibility criteria and write to the department at ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au to receive a link to the online application or access the online application through the .

Start Strong funding is calculated on enrolments not attendance. Children who are enrolled on pupil free days, public holidays, and professional development days will have the hours counted towards the required 600 hours per year of preschool education.

Services have discretion on the fees charged for pupil free days, public holidays, and professional development days.

Please note, families are entitled to the full amount of fee relief across 2026, and services will need to determine how best to apportion the fee relief across each term based on factors such as term length, and days where fees may not be incurred.

For a child to be eligible for fee relief under the Start Strong for Community Preschools program, that child must:

• be at least 3 years old on or before 31 July 2026 (the child must have a birth date on, or before, 31 July 2023),
• be attending an eligible early childhood education program, and
• not be in compulsory schooling, including homeschooling. See the NSW ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø Enrolment Policy for further information about school enrolment.

The department does not take citizenship and residency status into consideration to determine eligibility of children for funding under Start Strong for Community Preschools.

Children who are 6 years old or above may be eligible for funding. Where required, a Certificate of Exemption as per the Exemption from School Procedures policy from compulsory schooling must be in place.

No, a Certificate of Exemption does not need to be in place from the start of a year for a child to receive funding under the Start Strong for Community Preschools program, however the exemptions are required where a child has reached compulsory school age.

These exemptions are arranged between families and schools.

Children who are 6 years old will be eligible for funding where they have been granted a formal exemption from the NSW Department of ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø and have a Certificate of Exemption.

Community preschool services funded under Start Strong are required to give equal priority of access to children outlined in section 3.4. Priority of access of the 2026 Start Strong for Community Preschools program guidelines.

There is no order of priority assigned to the list, however each service is responsible for managing their enrolments in line with priority of access requirements, own service enrolment policy and community needs.

The department encourages services to maximise the number of children enrolled for 600 hours. Services should therefore consider the hours children are enrolled at other funded services when making enrolment decisions.

A key objective of Start Strong is to support quality uplift and ensure children have access to high quality early childhood education programs that drive improved outcomes. A rating of ‘meeting’ the National Quality Standard is the minimum standard expected for quality service delivery.

Services that receive Start Strong funding and do not meet the National Quality Standard may be directed to participate in quality improvement programs to lift their rating. The department may withhold funding to services that consistently do not achieve a “meeting� rating.

Services may be directed to participate in quality improvement programs.

Services may be directed to participate in quality improvement activities facilitated by the NSW Early Learning Commission. Information on Quality Support Programs can be found on the Commission’s website.

This may involve support such as resources (ECEC Resource Library a²Ô»å Sector Strengthening Partnership), professional learning ( a²Ô»å Early childhood careers hub), or mandatory participation by a service and/or provider in quality uplift activities or in the department’s Quality Support Program or any other program, to lift ratings to ‘Meeting’ or above, as directed.

There are many resources in the ECEC Resource Library which may be helpful including webpages on regulatory guidance to uplift quality practice across all QAs, or read more information about Quality Areas (QA).

Fee relief payments are made to services who will then reduce the fees to families.
Providers must demonstrate and communicate the fee reduction to families through regular invoices or statements. Where no invoice or statement is issued, providers or their services should provide fee reduction information through newsletters, website, or letters to families.

Families will need to pay any remaining fees and/or levies after the fee relief has been applied.

Services’ 2026 Program Payment and Fee Relief Payment allocations are based on the information submitted into the 2025 Annual Preschool Census. The total amount of funding is not dependant on the number of children nominating to receive fee relief at your service.

Fee relief funds that are not currently being applied to a child’s enrolment fees are considered unspent fee relief funds. Unspent funds are to be used in accordance with section 5.2 of the program guidelines.

It is a business decision for services to decide how to manage enrolment and attendance policies.

Services have discretion over charging fees when a child has a period of non-attendance, such as when the child and family are unwell, travel or observe Sorry Business.

If fees are charged to the family, it is expected that fee relief will be applied to the fees charged. If fees are not applied, then the child's fee relief allocation will not be used and that amount of fee relief can be credited against future fees for the child or used to reduce other charges for that family in accordance with the spending rules.

Please note families are entitled to the full amount of fee relief across 2026, and services will need to determine how best to apportion the fee relief across each term based on factors such as term length, and days where fees may not be incurred.

Start Strong funding is calculated on enrolments not attendance, therefore extended absences do not impact funding rates.

Reserved fee relief funds retained as a part of the 2023- 2025 Start Strong for Community Preschools programs will need to be retained and reported to the department via the annual financial accountability process.

Fee relief funds that are not currently being applied to a child’s enrolment fees are considered unspent fee relief funds. Unspent funds become surplus at the end of the year.

Unspent fee relief funds can only be used to:

• Reduce the cost of additional charges to families accessing fee relief at the service. Additional charges may include, but are not limited to, charges for enrolment/administration, resources, excursions/incursions, and building/garden maintenance.
• If any unspent fee relief funds remain after all fees and/or charges are reduced to zero for families accessing fee relief, providers may then choose to allocate any remaining fee relief funds to:
  • Provide additional fee relief for children not eligible for the maximum rate of fee relief funding, or
  • reduce the cost of enrolment above 600 hours per year (for instance 'third day' fees), or
  • reduce the daily fee for 600 hours per year of enrolment for children 3 years and older not accessing fee relief at the service, for example children of families with greatest need

These spending rules ensure that fee relief funds are used for their intended purpose. Services are encouraged to retain a portion of fee relief funds throughout the program year to support enrolment changes.

Providers have the choice to spend any unspent fee relief funds still remaining on either providing additional fee relief for children not eligible for the new maximum rate of fee relief, reducing third day fees or reducing daily fees for children not accessing fee relief at the service. Fee relief funds are required to be spent in this way because the purpose of fee relief is to reduce the cost of early childhood education and care to families.

Any unspent fee relief funds remaining at the end of the period will be reported in acquittals and the surplus management process will apply.

The surplus management process provides that surplus funds can be retained up to 10% of total allocation or $30,000, whichever is higher.

There is also provision for providers to apply to retain surplus funds above this threshold where there is an operational need.

Fee relief funds that are not currently being applied to a child’s enrolment fees are considered unspent fee relief funds. Services are encouraged to retain an amount of fee relief funds in case new enrolments arrive at their service and wish to claim fee relief.

Unspent fee relief funds and program payment funds will need to be reported to the department as part of the financial accountability process outlined in section 7.6. of the program guidelines.

Unspent funds become surplus funds at the end of the year. Surplus funds will need to be documented through financial accountability statements and must follow the surplus management process set out in the guidelines.

For Surplus above 10% or $30,000 (whichever is higher) providers are required to return the surplus funds above this threshold to the department.

Where a provider can show an operational need to retain the surplus above the 10% or $30,000 threshold, they may submit a request to the department.

Funding allocations are based on information submitted in the Annual Preschool Census each year.

Funding will not be impacted if you have been approved to retain an amount of surplus funds above the 10% or $30,000 threshold.

Providers are not permitted to increase their service fees to offset the benefits of the Fee Relief Payment.

Fees must be maintained at fee levels of the previous years, adjusted for CPI. In circumstances where it is necessary to adjust fees above CPI, such as due to reasonable increases in operating costs or decrease in fee relief rates, providers must retain evidence to support the fee increase.

The department monitors daily fees and additional charges through the Annual Preschool Census, annual reporting, and compliance processes.

The Start Strong for Community Preschools program is designed to reduce preschool fees as much as possible for 600 hours per year of enrolment for all eligible children at the service.

Services may charge higher fees for enrolment above 600 hours per year (for instance 'third day' fees) as these hours are not typically covered by Start Strong funding. Please refer to section 6. Fee guidelines for the requirements for determining service fee structures.

To ensure that all eligible children are getting access to 600 hours of low or no cost preschool, regardless of the setting in which they receive it, fee relief can only be accessed from one service at a time. This means families cannot access multiple allocations of Start Strong fee relief in 2026 from two or more services participating in the Start Strong for Community Preschools program or the Start Strong for Long Day Care program.

At each service their child is enrolled, parents/legal guardians must complete a declaration form to nominate which service they will access the fee relief from. For mixed service centres, such as services who deliver a preschool program in both Long Day Care and Community Preschool settings at the same premises, families will need to nominate which preschool program they will access fee relief for.

Families must complete the declaration form prior to fee relief being applied. All families can choose which service they would like to receive fee relief from.

Community and mobile preschool services will need to distribute and complete consent forms in addition to the declaration form. Refer to sections 7.1. and 7.2. of the guidelines for further information.

Services are permitted to distribute the consent and declaration forms to families digitally, including in enrolment packs and child care management systems, provided the content and structure of the forms are not altered. Services choosing to use digital forms must ensure all record keeping, identity verification, and electronic signature requirements are met.

The department is not responsible for any issues arising from the use of altered or non-standard forms.

Services must provide parents/legal guardians with declaration and consent forms and retain completed forms for auditing purposes.

Accredited organisations such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Centre for Health Record Linkage and the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare may link the information collected in data collections conducted as part of the 2026 Start Strong for Community Preschools program with other data to support important research and planning. This can only occur with approval from a Human Research Ethics Committee or other legal authority. Before any linked data is provided to researchers, identifying details (such as names and addresses) are removed so individuals cannot be identified.

Families cannot access fee relief unless they complete a fee relief declaration form. Services are encouraged to work with families to understand any concerns or barriers to completing the declaration forms to support all eligible children to receive fee relief.

Services are encouraged to note the reason as to why a family has not been able to complete a declaration form.

Declaration forms should be completed prior to children attending the service in 2026. This will ensure fee relief is provided to families from their first week of attendance.

Services can refer families to the Start Strong for families page for a summary of fee relief information.

Families can only access fee relief at one Start Strong funded community preschool, mobile preschool or long day care service at any given time. At each Start Strong funded service their child is enrolled, parents/legal guardians must complete a declaration form to nominate which service they will access the fee relief from.

Mobile preschools funded under the Mobile Preschool Funding program are not required to complete the Start Strong fee relief declaration process. Families can access fee relief from mobile preschools funded under the Mobile Preschool Funding program in additional to one Start Strong funded community preschool, mobile preschool, or long day care service.

Services are not responsible for repaying to the department any fee relief funding provided to families who have incorrectly asked for it at their service.

All families can choose which service they would like to receive fee relief from. When a family wishes to change their nominated service to claim fee relief, the family must:

• ensure the other service is participating in the Start Strong program
• complete a new declaration form and return it to the current service indicating that the family has chosen another service to receive fee relief
• complete another declaration form for the new service indicating the family chooses this service to receive fee relief.

All of the above steps should be completed prior to the new service applying fee relief for the family.

Service providers are required to retain all completed declaration forms for auditing purposes as per the program guidelines.

Families can only access fee relief from one service at a time. Where a family has mistakenly claimed fee relief from 2 different services at the same time, service providers should instruct the family to complete 2 new declaration forms indicating which service they nominate to access fee relief from.

Services are not responsible for repaying to the department any fee relief funding provided to families who have incorrectly asked for it at their service.

Funding for the 2026 calendar year is based on the data entered in the 2025 Annual Preschool Census.

If your enrolments significantly increase in 2026 compared to the enrolments you had at August 2025, you may be able to request a funding review. A funding review applies under certain circumstances and further details, including the categories and eligibility criteria, are available in the funding review guidelines.

On the other hand, you may have a significant reduction in enrolments and perhaps also a reduction in operating costs, which means you may have unspent funds at the end of the reporting period. Unspent funds will be managed through the annual financial accountability process. Services may be eligible apply to retain surplus (unspent) funds above nominated thresholds.

An adjustment typically takes 8-12 weeks to process, once the service has confirmed their eligibility for a review and completed an ad hoc data collection. This timeframe is subject to the completeness and accuracy of information provided to the department, which is used for application assessment and funding calculation purposes.

The department recognises that increased or different enrolments in 2026 compared to those submitted in the 2025 Annual Preschool Census may result in services spending more fee relief than they received for the program year, resulting in a deficit in fee relief funds.

Providers who experienced a deficit in fee relief funds can submit a fee relief data submission in early 2027. The submission will require providers to outline their spending under the 2026 Start Strong for Community Preschools program. Providers who complete a submission may be eligible for a one-off top-up payment in 2027. This is a voluntary process.

Under certain circumstances, a provider may be able to request a funding review during the calendar year. This may include where there has been a significant increase in enrolments. For further details, categories and eligibility criteria, refer to the funding review guidelines.

Fee relief top-up payments may be made to eligible providers who have demonstrated a deficit in fee relief funding in the prior year. Generally, the deficit arises due to more enrolments than submitted in the Annual Preschool Census prior to the program year.

Funds are to be expended in accordance with the program guidelines of the program year the funding applies to.

Completion of the Transition to School Statement is recommended for children in the year before they commence Kindergarten. It is recommended that statements are completed in Term 3 or 4 of the year before school. 

Yes, the Transition to School Digital Statement allows for a statement to be created at each service the child is enrolled in.

This allows multiple services to provide information about the child as they present at each service, providing a more holistic picture of their learning and development, and allows early childhood education and care services to meet their requirements to access Start Strong funding.

At this time, only public schools in NSW can access the Digital Statement. If a child will be attending a non-government or interstate school, services can save the statement as a PDF and share it manually.

If a parent or carer does not provide consent, a service cannot create a Digital Transition to School Statement for their child.

If consent is not provided for the Transition to School Digital Statement for eligible children accessing Start Strong funding, ECEC services will need to record that consent was not provided and retain this information for funding compliance.

A family that does not provide consent for a Transition to School Statement for their child is not required to return any fee relief funding that they have been allocated.

Yes, additional consent will need to be obtained from parents/carers for the Transition to School Digital Statement (TTSDS). ECEC services use the Transition to School Consent Form to authorise the NSW Department of ÌÇÐÄvlog¹ÙÍø to collect personal and health information about the child in the statement.

The TTSDS is a summative assessment of the child and provides information about the child’s development, strengths, and learning needs. The Transition to School Parent Consent form is the correct document to be uploaded onto the platform enabling the educator to then proceed with the completion of the TTSDS.

Funding under the Start Strong for Community Preschools program (both the Program Payment and Fee Relief Payment) is based on enrolment data, not attendance. A child’s enrolment information is captured during the Annual Preschool Census or through an ad hoc data collection, whichever is more recent.

If a child is enrolled but does not attend for any reason, funding to the service for this child is not reduced. It is a business decision for services to decide how to manage enrolment and attendance policies.

The funding rates outlined in Start Strong program guidelines do not include GST.

Providers that are GST registered, will receive funding payments that include GST and providers that are not GST registered, will receive payments without GST.

Children with English language needs will receive an additional language loading of $531 across all locations. The loading will apply when the service selects ‘English Language Assistance Required’ in the Annual Preschool Census and is not dependent on 600-hour enrolments or eligibility for equity loading.

Payment advices contain the following three pieces of information:

• Reference Number: This indicates the funding stream the payment is related to. This will either be;
  • ‘SSCPS ProgPay’ to indicate a Program Payment or
  • ‘SSCPS FeeRelief’ to indicate a Fee Relief Payment
• Details: This indicates which service the payment is for
• Amount (A$): Indicates the payment amount for each service, inclusive of GST.

Providers registered for GST, will also receive a Recipient Created Tax Invoice (RCTI).

The department communicated 2026 initial funding amounts to the providers of eligible services via email in November 2025. This email was sent from ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au. Providers will also be able to review their 2026 funding allocations via the ECEC Digital Hub.

Payment amounts for each service are also recorded in the Early Childhood Contract Management System (ECCMS). Follow these instructions to log in to ECCMS to view payments for each service:

1. To log into ECCMS, access the portal link and log in using your unique myID.
2. On the ECCMS menu, click Funding Specification.
3. Click the Preschool (PS) funding specification for the service.
4. Click the Payments tab.
5. View the payments made for each service. The payment type can be identified in the Schedule Name column.

Please note that the funding amounts communicated to providers via email and in ECCMS (with the exception of the payment advice) are exclusive of GST. The funding providers receive may include GST – this depends on whether the provider is registered for GST.

Payment Advice is sent to the provider’s email address noted in the submitted Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) form. This email address may be different from a provider’s contact details in ECCMS.

Providers are recommended to first check their spam and junk email folders if they have not received a Payment Advice, Recipient Created Tax Invoice (RCTI), or funding allocation email.

Providers can contact the department at ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au to check or change the email address that Payment Advice and Remittance Advice are being sent to.

Please refer to your 2026 funding letter for your service information, including your 2021 Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Index for relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (IRSD) Decile and Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA+) Classification. 2026 funding letters were sent in November 2025 and funding information is available in the Digital Hub.

No, funding cannot be transferred between providers.

When a provider acquires a service from another provider (i.e., as part of a sale of the business), they are not entitled to unspent funds either by way of adjustment between the 2 parties or any other means. Any unspent funds must be returned to the department.

A provider who has acquired a service is not required to provide fee relief to the families of eligible children at the service until:

• service eligibility has been confirmed,
• the provider has accepted the 2026 Funding Agreement in ECCMS/Digital Hub, and
• the service receives Fee Relief Payment funding into the nominated bank account.

The provider is responsible for any commercial consequences of an operational decision to provide fee relief prior to fee relief payments being received from the department or for any of the other reasons listed above.

In the meantime, providers may advise families that the department is in the process of confirming their service’s eligibility. Once this has been confirmed and funding has been received, fee relief funding will re-commence.

Providers may wish to contact the department to discuss the service transfer before completion via email at ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au or phone at 1800 619 113.