The Start Strong for Long Day Care program provides funding to deliver affordable, quality preschool education to children aged 3 and above who are enrolled in eligible long day care services in NSW. Funding is provided for children in the 2 years before school and incentivises enrolments of 600 hours per year. Evidence shows that this level of participation in a quality early childhood education program in the 2 years before school is associated with better outcomes for children.
Timing of payments has changed to quarterly payments
The timing of payments has changed in 2026. All four funding streams, 4YO+ Fee Relief Payment, 3YO Fee Relief Trial Payment, 4YO+ Program Payment and 3YO Program Trial Payment will be paid in four equal quarterly instalments:
- 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.
See Section 8 Payment of funding in equal quarterly payments for more information.
How to calculate fee relief and new Age Checker tool
Fee Relief Payment has changed in 2026.
The department provides up to $2,563 in Fee Relief Payment for children aged 4 and above and up to $769 for children aged 3 years old, enrolled at an eligible long day care service. Funding is calculated at the same rate for not-for-profit and for-profit services and as an annual flat rate allocation per enrolment for eligible children irrespective of the number of hours the child is enrolled per week.
In 2026, there will be two categories of Fee Relief Payment:
- Children eligible for the maximum fee relief rate can receive up to:
- $2,563 per year for children aged 4 and above
- $769 per year for children aged 3 years old
- All other children can receive up to:
- $1,783 per year for children aged 4 and above
- $423 per year for children aged 3 years old
A child is eligible for maximum funding if one of the following criteria is met:
- All Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children, or
- Children that attend a service:
- located in an Inner Regional, Outer Regional, Remote and Very Remote region in NSW based on 2021 Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA+) produced by the University of Adelaide (Australian Centre for Housing Research) and used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, or
- 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, or
- operated by an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation.
See Section 7.5 4YO+ Fee Relief Payment and 3YO Fee Relief Trial Payment funding rates and calculations of the 2026 program guidelines for fee relief funding rates.
Visit the Calculating fee relief payments webpage for case study examples of how to calculate and apply fee relief.
A new Age Checker tool (XLS 53 KB) is available to help services understand how a child’s date of birth determines what fee relief rate is applied for the whole calendar year under the 2026 Start Strong for Long Day Care program.
2026 Fee relief declaration and consent form
The Fee Relief Declaration and Consent form (PDF 386 KB) is available for download.
One form must be completed for each child enrolled at your service. You cannot give fee relief for any child if you do not have a completed form.
Contacting your software provider
There are 2 different fee relief rates in 2026 for 4YO+ Fee Relief payments and 3YO Fee Relief Trial payments (one rate for children eligible for maximum funding, and another rate for all other children). Services will need to contact their software vendor to ensure that the software can support different fee relief rates.
Contact information
For more information about the Start Strong for Long Day Care program, please contact the department at:
- 1800 619 113
- ecec.funding@det.nsw.edu.au