Western NSW Workforce Activation Program

Western NSW Workforce Activation Program - Round 1

Western NSW Workforce Activation Program
The purpose of the Program is to improve workforce participation in Western NSW by expanding or upgrading early childhood education and care services in 3 Local Government Areas of Bourke, Broken Hill and Cobar.
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Key information

  • Status: Closed
  • Grant amount: From $50,000 to $850,000
  • Application opened: 1 July 2024
  • Application closed: 12 August 2024, 5:00 pm

Program objective

The Western NSW Workforce Activation Program is an investment delivered through the NSW Government's Regional Development Trust and aims to increase workforce participation in Western NSW by providing funding to eligible early childhood education and care providers to expand or upgrade their services and enable them to care for more local children in the Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Bourke Shire, Broken Hill and Cobar Shire.

This could include renovating or expanding current childcare facilities to accommodate extra children, offering more services to increase childcare availability, or delivering pre-employment and professional development programs to attract and retain people working in the sector.

The program comprises of 3 streams of funding:

  • Stream 1: Improving service delivery
  • Stream 2: Capital works and upgrades
  • Stream 3: Workforce attraction and retention.

Streams 1 and 2 aim to fund a range of existing early childhood education and care services as well as capital investments to improve early childhood education in the 3 targeted LGAs.

Stream 3 aims to fund projects that will contribute to filling critical workforce shortages through workforce attraction and the delivery of professional development, mentoring and pre-employment programs designed to develop and retain early childhood education and care workers in the 3 targeted LGAs.

We recommend you read the Program Guidelines and Frequently Asked Questions. Applicants can also review a sample funding deed.

This program is funded and administered by Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

Eligibility

1

Who can apply

To be eligible, applicants must be able to demonstrate and provide evidence that they:

  • are providing an early childhood education and care service in one of the 3 eligible LGAs, including:
    • long day care
    • community preschool
    • family day care
    • occasional care, or
    • before and after school care
  • are a not-for-profit, private or council-run provider of early childhood education and care
  • hold an Australian Business Number (ABN)
  • have the capacity to increase the number of early childhood education and care placements within their LGA.

Stream 3 applicants

The following organisations are also eligible to apply for Stream 3:

  • public or privately owned organisations that are registered under the Australian Skills Quality Authority, including Registered Training Organisations, Private Schools or Universities.

All applicants must have at least $20 million in public liability insurance or be willing to purchase the insurance if the application is successful.

Location that are eligible include Bourke, Broken Hill, Cobar

2

Types of projects funded under this grant

The following types of activities and costs are eligible for funding:

Stream 1 – Improving service delivery

Projects that enable a service provider to increase the availability of early childhood education and care. This may include:

  • extending their services by offering additional places in/across the eligible LGAs and maintain the places for a minimum of 12 months
  • providing additional transport options to enable more people from surrounding areas to access the early childhood education and care service and support longer service hours
  • employing extra staff to assist with operational and administrative functions for maintaining or obtaining accreditation, or service delivery support for extra places or to enable longer hours of operation for the duration of the project
  • covering staffing and recruitment costs for activities relating to their proposed project
  • covering operating expenses required to increase service hours or placements such as increased rent or utilities
  • purchasing additional resources and equipment required to expand their services
  • allowing for additional regulatory or council fees required to support extra places or to enable longer hours of operation.

Stream 2 – Capital works and upgrades

Projects that include capital works necessary for the service to accommodate additional placements. This may include:

  • undertaking capital works to modify, renovate, improve or extend existing buildings to expand capacity
  • landscaping works, including fencing, shade sails and outdoor play areas and equipment to provide for the additional places
  • upgrading, or installing ramps and handrails for accessibility
  • making necessary modifications to accommodate children with disabilities.

Stream 3 – Workforce attraction and retention

Projects that will directly contribute to filling critical shortages of early childhood education and care workers. This may include:

  • engaging, attracting and relocating appropriately qualified workers to fill vacancies or roles within early childhood education and care provider
  • creating or strengthening local workforce pipelines, such as providing training or other services, wrap around support, mentoring and professional development
  • supporting the retention of workers in roles with ongoing local workforce shortages.

Most recent recipients

All recipients (4)

What your application needs to include

1

Prepare your application with this checklist

Not applicable.

2

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.

Start the application

The Program will be a single stage application process. All applicants are required to submit the application documents into the Program’s online portal.

Applications cannot be reopened or amended once the closing date has passed. Acceptance of late submissions will be at the sole discretion of the Department.

How to apply

Applicants should apply via Smarty Grants by clicking the ‘apply now' button on the Program’s Grants and Funding Finder Page.

Note: If you are a new applicant to SmartyGrants, you will need to register and create a password. If you are already registered, you can log in with your existing username and password.


Apply now

After the application is submitted

Successful applications will be decided by: Minister for Regional NSW

Eligibility assessment

The Department will assess all submitted applications against the eligibility criteria identified in these guidelines. Where there is uncertainty or unintended outcomes arising from the eligibility requirements, the Department will take a discretionary approach that, in its opinion, best achieves the objectives of the Program.

Any ineligible applications received will not be considered for further assessment.

Merit-based assessment

The Department will assess eligible applications against the merit-based assessment criteria outlined in these guidelines. The Department may ask applicants to provide additional information to assist in the assessment process.

Subject matter experts and/or technical advisors may be consulted to assist in the assessment of projects. Confidentiality will be maintained throughout the process.

Assessment Panel

Applications will be moderated and reviewed by an Assessment Panel convened by the Department. Each application will be assessed on its merits and compared to other eligible applications before a recommendation is made in writing to the decision maker.

The Assessment Panel will consider the relative merits of each application against the:

  • outcomes of the eligibility assessment
  • outcomes of the merit-based assessment
  • any personal, businesses and/or probity issues and risks that could cause reputational or other risk to the NSW Government.

Applicants may be contacted during this step to clarify information provided in their application. The Department will notify applicants if additional information and supporting material is required and the timeframes in which it is required.

The Assessment Panel may recommend a lesser amount of funding for an application or defer a recommendation pending further information. The Assessment Panel may also recommend specific funding condition(s), where appropriate.

The Assessment Panel may take other factors into consideration when recommending an application for funding including but not limited to the total amount of funding available, geographical distribution of projects across regional NSW, suitability of a project for other government funding opportunities and alignment with existing NSW Government policies and strategies.

Advice may also be sought from other NSW Government agencies or other sources (such as probity advisors).

Regional Development Advisory Council

Applications that have been assessed by the Assessment Panel will be considered by the Regional Development Advisory Council (Advisory Council) for review and advice, based on the provisions outlined within the Regional Development Act 2004. The Advisory Council will then advise the Minister on the suitability of the proposed investments under the Regional Development Trust.

Decision making

The decision maker for the Program is the Minister for Regional NSW.

Support and contact

Please contact regionaldevelopmentroadmap@regional.nsw.gov.au

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