The HDP Grant provides funding to eligible early childhood education and care (ECEC) services to:

• participate in the Health and Development Checks in Early Childhood Education & Care (HDC) Program in 2026;
• access allied health support or support from other non-government providers to embed health and developmental supports for children; and/or
• engage in educational capability uplift activities to support early childhood health and development.

The HDP Grant was designed based on feedback from the ECEC sector on key barriers to participating in the HDC program. Category 1 of the HDP grant provides funding for additional staff to support participation in the HDC program. This may include time required for administration, or time required to be present during the checks.

The HDP Grant Program has been designed to assist Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs), including Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Services and Aboriginal Child and Family Centres, by enhancing their capacity to deliver health and development checks. This support may be directed towards strengthening their existing delivery of these checks or facilitating their participation in the HDC Program.

Category 1 provides support for participation in health and development checks, either through the HDC program or through existing processes. We understand that many ACCOs are already delivering health checks in some form, often in partnership with Aboriginal Medical Services, and aim to enable ACCOs to deliver health checks for children in the form that works best for their service and community.

ACCOs may use Category 1 funding to engage in activities such as coordination with health services to facilitate delivery of checks, community and family engagement, and administrative support related to the checks.

The application form will take 15-30 minutes to complete. Please read through the Program Guidelines before commencing the application as this information will assist in completing the form. You can save a partially completed application form and return to it later. Forms must be completed and submitted by 5:00PM 3 December 2025.

Most services that are an approved provider under the Children (Education and Care) National Law Act 2010 (NSW) are encouraged to apply for the HDP grant program.

A full list of services that can apply is listed in Section 4.1 of the Program Guidelines.

Yes, services who have previously received grant funding in 2024 or 2025 may apply for the 2026 HDP Grant. Receiving funding in previous grant rounds does not guarantee funding in the 2026 HDP Grant.

If you realise you have made a mistake on your application once it has been submitted, please contact our team by emailing EarlyChildhoodDevelopment@det.nsw.edu.au and we can reopen your application form. Reopened forms must be completed and resubmitted by 5:00PM 3 December 2025.

Please contact the Early Childhood Development team on EarlyChildhoodDevelopment@det.nsw.edu.au.

Approved providers that are successful in the application process will receive payment prior to 27 February 2026.

Successful grant applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by 30 January 2026, and will receive updated communications regarding payment of funding at that time.

The NSW Department of Education will pay the grant to approved providers as a one-off payment through the Early Childhood Contract Management System (ECCMS).

Approved providers are required to accept the ECCMS Terms and Conditions prior to 31 December 2025 to remain eligible for payment. The 2026 Early Childhood Outcomes Terms and Conditions are applicable to all users of ECCMS and are the same Terms and Conditions that providers are required to accept for the Start Strong for Long Day Care program.

Further information on ECCMS and the Terms and Conditions can be found in Section 4.3 of the program guidelines.

Approved providers are required to spend all funding received from the HDP Grant by 31 December 2026 in accordance with the Funding Agreement. Acquittals must be completed by 30 June 2027.

The HDP Grant is a one-off grant to help services participate in the HDC Program or associated capability uplift and is separate from the NSW Sector Capacity Building (SCB) Program and the Australian Government’s Inclusion Support Program (ISP). HDP Grant funding may be used within 2 categories, as outlined in the Program Guidelines. This includes staffing to support the HDC program and building the capacity of educators and teachers and resources to support children’s health and development. Funding cannot be sought, or used for, supports already offered through another grant or program which addresses the same elements, for example the SCB Program or ISP.

If you are a community preschool, you are eligible for the SCB Program. If you are a long day care eligible for Child Care Subsidy (CCS) then you may be eligible for support through the Australian Government’s Inclusion Support Program. We recommend you speak to your SCB or ISP provider prior to spending Category 2 funding. This will ensure you are able to identify training and supports that are already available under SCB Program or ISP and that align to your Service Inclusion Plan. Further information on the support provided through the NSW Government’s Sector Capacity Building Program for community preschools can be found on the 2025–2026 Sector Capacity Building Program webpage.

Approved providers are required to:

• spend the allocated funds by 31 December 2026 in specified categories;
• provide a six-month update from the date they received the grant to demonstrate their use of the funds;
• comply with financial and data collection; and
• complete an acquittal by 30 June 2027.

Further details of the grant reporting requirements can be found in Section 5.5 of the program guidelines.

The six-month update will be an informal process to check understanding and implementation of the grant. It is not completed through ECCMS. The department will contact services with more information on this update in mid-2026. We kindly ask that you keep records of your grant expenditure. This information will also be required for acquittals in June 2027.

Funding cannot be used for:

• regular administration of the ECEC service
• purchase of sensory toys or trampolines
• purchase of resources for children under the age of 3 years
• supports already offered through another program or grant which addresses the same element, i.e. the NSW Sector Capacity Building (SCB) Program or the Inclusion Support Program (ISP)
• withdrawing a child/ren from an ECEC group setting to deliver 1:1 therapy.

Further information on restrictions on funding use are outlined in Section 5.1 of the program guidelines.

You may only use funding in the categories that have been specified in your notification letter. If you have been awarded funding in both Category 1 and Category 2, you must only spend the specified amounts for each category (up to $1,500 in Category 1 and up to $6,000 in Category 2).

If you have concerns about an individual child in your service, we recommend speaking to the child’s parents or guardians and referring them to their local GP or Child and Family Health (CFH) service, or Aboriginal Medical Service. CFH services are free for NSW parents and carers of children aged 0-5 years and provide health and development checks for children as per the NSW Blue Book. Families do not require a referral to access a child and family health service. CFH professionals provide targeted information, support and specialised referrals for children with developmental concerns. If you are unsure where your closest CFH service is, please refer to the NSW Health webpage.

Your Local Health District team will contact you to book a Health and Development Check at your service. Please be patient as district teams work to book in services across your area. We ask that services be flexible in their booking date to ensure districts can visit as many services as possible.

Engaging allied health professionals to deliver health and development checks is not permitted under the grant spending rules.* Each service’s Local Health District will provide this as part of the free Health and Development Checks program.

*Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, Aboriginal Child and Centres, and Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Centres are excepted from this as they may offer their own health and development checks through an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

We recommend using the NSW Health Local Health District map. Please input your service address into the search bar to see which district you belong to. Contact details for each district are available at the NSW Government’s Health and Development Check webpage. Any enquiries relating specifically to the grant should be sent to EarlyChildhoodDevelopment@det.nsw.edu.au.

The Department of Education and NSW Health are closely monitoring service delivery.

The uptake of the program has been extremely high, and districts are working to book all service visits as soon as possible. We ask that services be flexible in their booking date and note that visits happen year-round. As such, requests for a specific time of year may not be able to be accommodated.

As a condition of funding, all Category 1 recipients agree to participate in the HDC Program through their local health district team by December 31 of 2026.

You can use Category 1 funding to cover administration and associated costs prior to your health and development check visit. This may include:

• liaising with NSW Health staff and parents to organise the checks and sharing information
• collating of consent forms
• supporting parents to complete and return pre-screening questionnaires.

Once your checks has been scheduled, you may use some of the funding for educator or teacher relief time to complete related administrative tasks and/or having an educator present during the checks.

If services also received funding under Category 2, they can begin spending those funds prior to the health and development check visit occurring.

This could include:

• arranging for engagement of allied health professionals or other non-government providers to work with educators and teachers to embed suitable cohort-wide strategies within the play-based curriculum
• using the funding to attend health and development workshops and engaging with professional learning materials and tools, including resources and courses provided by the Department
• purchasing functional or educational resources that are directly linked to specific developmental needs of children aged 4 and above.

More information on spending rules can be found in the Program guidelines.

Services that receive Category 2 funding only are not required to book a Health and Development Check visit in 2026. However, if your service would like to schedule a visit, you can contact your Local Health District team and register your interest in the program. To find out which Local Health District your service belongs to, we recommend using the NSW Health Local Health District map. You can also find the email contacts for each district on Health and development checks in early childhood services. The uptake of the program has been extremely high, and districts are working to book all service visits as soon as possible

Services do not need to book a Health and Development Check visit to begin using funds from Category 2.

Services may bring in an allied health professional or other professionals to help educators and teachers embed suitable cohort wide strategies.

Engaging external allied health providers, can include:

• arranging for an allied health worker or other non-government provider to work with educators and teachers. This may include developing a response to any concerns identified as part of the health and development check. They can then support educators and teachers to embed suitable cohort wide strategies in their curriculum. Strategies developed may be modelled and must be co-delivered with educators and teachers to the entire cohort and cannot be used to provide individual therapy or to remove a child/ren from the group.
• the engagement of an Aboriginal community member to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families’ participation in the HDC Program.

To identify local allied health professionals or organisations, please refer to the following resources:

• Speech pathologists: Visit Find a Speech Pathologist
• Occupational therapists: Visit Find an OT
• Physiotherapist: Visit Find a physio
• Music therapist: Visit Music therapy online directory
• Dietitian: Visit Find a dietitian
• Dentist: Visit Find a dentist
• Oral Hygienist: Visit Dental Hygenist Association of Australia

If you require further assistance in accessing local supports, we recommend reaching out to your local health district team.

Districts are not responsible for delivering professional learning and training to ECEC services under this program.

The Department of Education has provided a list of recommended professional learning (PDF 137 KB). This list is not exhaustive, and services are encouraged to do their own research to find additional suitable training. Engagement of allied health professionals or other non-government providers for capability uplift is the responsibility of the service and the department are unable to make recommendations of private providers.

Services are able to use the funding to attend health and development workshops and actively participate in professional learning materials. This may include:

• materials prepared by the department to support the HDC program, including the Brighter Beginnings Connect & Communicate Toolkit or Culturally Safe Approach Reflective Toolkit
• professional learning materials (PDF 137 KB), as recommended by the department
• other professional learning related to children’s health and development.

Eligible ECEC services may choose to use Category 2 funding to cover any relief time or overtime costs for ECEC educators and teachers to engage with these materials.

The department's Support Suite includes the Brighter Beginnings Connect & Communicate Toolkit and the Culturally Safe Approach Reflective Toolkit. Eligible ECEC services may choose to use Category 2 funding to cover any relief time or overtime costs for ECEC educators and teachers to engage with these free resources. Services may also choose to use Category 2 funding to support attendance and travel to workshops run by the department to support uptake of these resources.

Resources and equipment must be for the benefit of children aged 4 and above and must be directly linked to a specific developmental need, e.g. speech and language development.

Examples of appropriate use of funding include, but are not limited to:

Socioemotional development

• Dramatic play resources including costumes, props and play furniture

• Emotion flashcards

Cognitive development

• Counting/sorting sets

• Memory matching games

Fine motor development

• Construction resources including blocks and connectors

• Child-sized tweezers/droppers/scissors.

This is not an exhaustive list, and it is up to the discretion of the eligible service and needs of the children.

For further information, please refer to Section 5.1 Spending Rules in the program guidelines.

If you are unsure about purchasing a specific resource, please send an email to EarlyChildhoodDevelopment@nsw.gov.edu.au and we will assist you.