Key information
- Status: Closed
- Grant amount: Variable from a total pool of $20 million
- Application opened: 30 April 2024
- Application closed: 2 July 2024, 7:00 pm
Program objective
The Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Flexible Initiatives Trial is the first grant program available under the Childcare and Economic Opportunity Fund.
The ECEC Flexible Initiatives Trial aims to make early childhood education and care services more accessible and flexible for families in NSW.
The trial will support ECEC services to trial new or adapted flexible operating models that meet the local needs of children and families, thereby increasing accessibility to available ECEC places.
The trial also focuses on supporting ECEC educators and gathering evidence for future improvements.
The objectives are to:
- increase accessibility of ECEC for families who need more flexible options, including an increase in the number of available places.
- increase participation, particularly of women, in work and/or study, which is enabled by increased access to ECEC services.
- increase service providers’ knowledge of local flexibility needs and their capacity to meet those needs.
- provide appropriate support and working conditions for educators delivering flexible models.
- develop an evidence base for successful flexible models to inform future program development.
Refer to the program guidelines.
This program is funded by the Childcare and Economic Opportunity Fund.
This program is administered by Department of Education.
Eligibility
Who can apply
To be eligible for the ECEC Flexible Initiatives Trial, an applicant must meet all of the following criteria:
- The applicant must be an approved early childhood education and care service provider under the Children (Education and Care Services) National Law (NSW) and Children (Education and Care Services) Supplementary Provisions Regulation 2012, operating in NSW (excluding NSW Department of Education public preschools). That is, one of the following eligible service types:
- community preschool (centre-based)
- mobile preschool
- long day care
- family day care
- occasional care
- before and after school care.
- The proposed initiative must provide education and care to children within the 0-6 year old age group.
- The applicant must be registered, or be willing to register, with the Department of Education’s Early Childhood Contract Management System (ECCMS), and/or any other systems implemented by the department for contract management.
- The applicant must agree to comply with the funding agreement terms and conditions of the ECEC Flexible Initiatives Trial.
- The proposed initiative must be beyond the service’s normal, core, existing or ongoing activities.
- The applicant must hold a quality rating and compliance history of at least Meeting the National Standard for the relevant ECEC service.
- In limited circumstances, applications from services who are rated Working Towards or are awaiting assessment and rating may be considered.
- Approved providers seeking to establish a new family day care service must hold a quality rating and compliance history of at least Meeting the National Standard for a service in NSW.
Types of projects funded under this grant
Funding is offered in the following streams:
- Stream 1A smaller-scale operational changes within a single provider and service type.
- Stream 1B the establishment of new family day care services in outer regional, remote and very remote areas (according to ARIA+ classification).
- Stream 2 collaboration between 2 established approved services of differing service types working together to implement or extend flexible practices or models.
Applicants may apply for funding for more than one proposed initiative. If you intend to submit more than 1 application, you must contact the department on ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au before submitting multiple applications.
Applicants will be responsible for seeking any regulatory and/or council approvals required to undertake the proposed initiative. Applying for the ECEC Flexible Initiatives Trial does not guarantee any approvals from the regulatory authority and/or the local council.
As the Flexible Initiatives Trial is a test and trial program, funding will be provided for a 12-month period, or as otherwise specified in individual Funding Agreement.
For further information, see the program guidelines.
Types of projects not funded under this grant
ECEC Flexible Initiatives Trial funding cannot be used for:
- services located outside NSW
- activities that do not align with the program objectives
- activities that do not meet the requirements outlined in the program guidelines
- activities that do not meet the assessment criteria
- initiatives that have, at the time of assessment of the application, been completed (that is, retrospective funding)
- activities already funded through another source (that is, where another grant is funding the same elements)
- any activities in contravention of the funding agreement (which will be signed by successful services).
Review the program guidelines for what can or cannot be funded.
Example projects
Stream 1A - Flexible service delivery
Eligible initiatives include smaller-scale adjustments to an existing service’s operating model such as:
- extending hours of operation beyond current operating hours
- providing flexible pick-up and drop-off times
- giving families the ability to make irregular care arrangements
- increasing available or licensed places
- or any other initiatives that meet the guidelines.
Stream 1B - Establishing a new family day care
Establishment of new family day care service in outer regional, remote or very remote areas (ARIA+ classification), facilitated by a qualified educator under an existing approved provider.
Stream 2 – Blended service delivery
Partnership between two different service types working together to provide extended or wraparound care outside of core ECEC hours.
Examples of what may be funded include:
- Staffing and recruitment costs
- Operating expenses
- Regulatory authority or local council fees
- Transportation costs
- Minor capital works (limits apply)
Refer to what can or cannot be funded in the program guidelines for further information.
Most recent recipients
What your application needs to include
Prepare your application with this checklist
Download the 'Application Checklist' to prepare and confirm you have all the required information to fill the application form in SmartyGrants and follow the ‘Steps to Apply’ in the program guidelines.
- Read through the checklist to learn more about the questions you will need to answer in the application from. Prepare your responses in a Word document so you can easily edit before copy-pasting into the application form in SmartyGrants.
- The word count in the application form is a guide to help you prepare your responses.
- Gather all your evidence in a separate folder or location on your computer, so you can access it easily when uploading to the application form in SmartyGrants.
Your application must include:
- Evidence that you meet the eligibility criteria.
- Clear outline of what your flexible proposal is and how it will meet local community need.
- Responses to each assessment criteria.
- Baseline data relevant to the proposed initiative (may include enrolment numbers, session times, operating hours, fees charged).
- An itemised project budget and relevant evidence including quotes to support the application for funding.
- A projected timeline with milestones of your proposed initiative.
Address the eligibility criteria
Each applicant, as part of an application response, must confirm that they meet the eligibility criteria.
Applicants that do not address the eligibility criteria in full may be excluded from the application process at the department's discretion.
Address the assessment criteria
Eligible applications will be evaluated by the assessment panel against the following weighted criteria:
- Alignment with one or more objectives of the ECEC Flexible Initiatives Trial.
- Provision of quantitative and/or qualitative evidence of a local need for more flexible ECEC, and a clear explanation of how the proposed activities will meet this need.
- Demonstration that the initiative is innovative in testing and trialling a flexible model of delivering an ECEC service.
- Demonstration that the needs of the child, maintenance of quality care and staff wellbeing have been considered in delivery of proposed activities.
- Clear explanation as to how services intend to sustain or cease their program activities beyond the funded period, with consideration to participating children and families.
- The extent to which the application demonstrates that the proposed activities will be accessible to all children and families of the service’s local community.
- Demonstration that the proposed initiative represents value for money, including reasonable costs to families. Allowances will be made for the greater costs incurred by services located in rural and remote areas.
- Clear explanation of how services will evaluate or determine the success of their trial program.
These assessment criteria are listed in order of importance and reflective of the weighting applied by the assessment methodology.
Applicants will receive additional weighting towards their application in the assessment process for:
- Services located in a geographic area (Statistical Area Level 1-2) with SEIFA Decile of 1 and 2 (ranking within NSW) on the Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage 2021.
- Services operating in outer regional, remote, and very remote areas according to ARIA+ classification.
- Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Services, Aboriginal Controlled Children’s Services, and Aboriginal Child and Family Centres operating a service listed in eligibility criteria.
- Services submitting Stream 2 applications.
After the application is submitted
Successful applications will be decided by: the Childcare and Economic Opportunity Fund Board
Applications will be reviewed to ensure they meet eligibility criteria and comply with the program guidelines before being assessed by an assessment panel in the NSW Department of Education.
During the assessment process, additional information may be requested from applicants and other NSW Government agencies or other third parties, such as probity advisors, to assist in assessing applications.
The Childcare and Economic Opportunity Fund Board will make the final decision on all applications.
It is important to note that submitting an application does not guarantee funding.
Support and contact
For questions relating to the Flexible Initiative Trial program, contact:
- Early Childhood Education Funding team on ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au.
For advice relating to regulatory and/or compliance and/or service ratings, contact:
- Early Childhood Education Information and Enquiries team on 1800 619 113.
For help with the online application system, contact:
- Smarty Grants Support Desk03 3920 6888 between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday or email service@smartygrants.com.au.