2025–26 Workforce Subsidy Acquittals: The 14 July 2026 Deadline

If your service received funding under the 2025-26 professional development or paid practicum subsidies, there is a date you cannot afford to miss. You must acquit those funds by 14 July 2026, and that deadline is now close.

Acquitting is one of those tasks that feels like paperwork until it isn’t. Getting your records right protects you in a compliance check, keeps your standing with the Department in good order, and means the next round of funding lands without a cloud over it. Let’s walk through what an acquittal is, where you do it, what you must keep, and how this differs from the round that is open now.

What an acquittal actually is

An acquittal is your formal account of how you used the money you received. For the 2025-26 workforce subsidies, that means confirming that the professional development and paid practicum funds went to the purposes they were intended for.

Think of it as closing the loop. The Government provided funding on the basis that it would support your educators and your workforce. The acquittal is where you confirm that is exactly what happened. It is a normal, expected part of receiving public funding, and it is far less daunting when your records have been kept along the way rather than reconstructed at the last minute.

The deadline and where to do it

The key fact is simple. Providers must acquit all funds received under the 2025-26 professional development and paid practicum subsidies by 14 July 2026.

Acquittals for both subsidies are done through the grants portal. You handle both in the one place, which keeps the process tidy, but it also means you need your portal access working well before the deadline. If you have not logged in for a while, check your access now rather than on 13 July.

If you would like help with funding cycles more broadly, my guide to government grants and funding for childcare sets out how these programs tend to work and how to stay on top of them.

The record-keeping obligation

Here is the part that surprises some operators, in a good way. You do not need to attach evidence when submitting your acquittal.

That does not mean evidence is irrelevant. You must keep records for 24 months demonstrating how you used the funding, in case of compliance checks. So while the submission itself is light, your obligation to hold proof continues for two years afterward.

In practice, that means keeping the trail intact: what was spent, who it supported, and how it connected to professional development or paid practicum. Invoices, attendance records, payment evidence and a short note linking each item to the funding purpose will serve you well if the Department ever asks. Strong record-keeping habits are part of running a compliant service generally, and they are exactly the kind of back-of-house discipline I help services build through operational setup.

If the funding supported your team’s growth, you may also find my guide to professional development for childcare educators useful for planning the next investment in your people.

How this differs from the 2026-27 subsidies

It is easy to blur these two together, so let’s keep them clearly apart. This acquittal process is separate from the 2026-27 workforce subsidies, which are currently open for applications.

In other words, you may be doing two things at once: acquitting the 2025-26 funds you have already received, and applying for the 2026-27 round that is now open. They are different steps with different timing, and treating them as one is where mistakes creep in. Close out 2025-26 properly by 14 July 2026, and pursue 2026-27 on its own track.

For the official detail on both, go to the source: the Australian Government Department of Education. Program support is also available, so if you get stuck you can seek help through the program’s grants support channel rather than guessing.

Current as at June 2026; confirm the deadline and process with the Department of Education, as dates can change.

As someone who has worked across the whole childcare lifecycle, from the floor to the boardroom over more than 30 years, I can tell you that funding compliance is rarely the thing that excites people. It is, however, the thing that quietly protects everything else you have built. Get it right, keep your records, and move on with confidence.

This guide is general information only and is not legal, financial or compliance advice.

Get the right support

If acquittals, record-keeping and funding cycles feel like more than your team should carry alone, you do not have to manage them in isolation. As your single end-to-end ECEC advisor, I can help you put the right systems in place through operational setup so every funding round runs smoothly. To talk through your situation, get in touch.