Effectiveness of Worker Retention Payments

Question

Senator O'SULLIVAN: Has the department measured whether the worker retention payment has improved educator retention outcomes? Mr Cook: Yes, we have some evidence in relation to vacancies and- Ms Crane: Staffing waivers. The three primary points we look at are the growth in the sector-over the time of the retention payment, we've seen a significant growth in the size of the workforce. There's also, over the same period, been a reduction in the number of staffing waivers, as reported by ACECQA in their- Senator O'SULLIVAN: Sorry-staffing waivers? Ms Crane: Staffing waivers are predominantly given where there's lack of access to an early childhood teacher or things like that. Safety is still paramount in any of those decisions. Again, we've seen that drop significantly over the life of the worker retention payment. At the same time, vacancy rates are down as well. They would be the three primary measures we've seen around attraction and retention within the workforce. Mr Reed: That's right; they're the three metrics we track. Staffing numbers have increased by over 19,000 since the worker retention payment was announced. In the first six months of the program, internet vacancy rates dropped by about 19 per cent-and the annual drop is still about 10 per cent now, about 18 months into the program. Waivers have also decreased. The anecdotal feedback we get from the sector all the time is it's had a positive impact on retention and recruitment. Senator O'SULLIVAN: Yes, I'm hearing that too. It's good you've actually got the data and evidence of that. Have you got metrics, like actual increase on percentages and that sort of thing? Mr Reed: We can give you the increased numbers. The statistics I've just quoted is publicly available information, but we can provide that to you.

Answer

Please see the attached PDF.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• SQ26-000689.pdf (opens in a new tab)