Wages in the early childhood sector
The wages and entitlements for the early childhood sector are often a topic of conversation.
Many professional educators leave the profession disillusioned by the workload and/or pay conditions.
The Fair Work Commission announces the increase to minimum wage.
The national minimum wage applies to employees who aren’t covered by an award or agreement.
Whilst it is important to be aware of the national minimum wage it may or may not be applicable to your individual circumstances depending on your employment and agreed conditions.
What is the pay within the Early Childhood Sector?
The Fair Work Act governs the minimum terms and conditions. Through their safety net it covers the minimum wages and entitlements that are applicable and the variants.
The variants are such factors as the nature of the employee’s duties and more specifically the industry they are working in.
In the childcare industry most employees are employed under an award or an agreement which covers the minimum rate of pay.
Rates of pay in an agreement cannot be any lower than the equivalent award.
The awards within the Early Childhood Sector
The award with the widest coverage within the childcare sector is the Children’s Services Award 2010 (Children’s Services Award 2010) or the Educational Services (Teachers) Award 2010 (Educational Services (Teachers) Award).
The Children’s Services Award broadly covers all day care, occasional care, childcare, out of school hours, family based care, in-home care, preschools, vacation acre, early intervention services, etc.
The employees covered under this award are educators including support workers and including coordinators and directors.
The Educational Services Award covers teachers in children’s services and early childhood education industry positions.
Entitlements
In addition to the minimum wage rate there are a number of entitlements that as an employee within the childcare sector you may be entitled to.
Your specific award or agreement will set out the entitlements you are to receive, however, you may be able to negotiate and/or at least be aware of some of them such as the below mentioned.
Entitlements can include:
- Meal allowances (if working overtime)
- Laundry allowance (to launder special work clothing)
- Fare allowance (if you are required to work in a different location for the same company outside of your usual location)
- Split shift allowance.
