IPART has been commissioned by the Minister for Education and Early Learning to undertake an independent market monitoring review (IMMR) of the childcare sector market under section 5(1) of the Childcare and Economic Opportunity Fund Act 2022 (CEOF Act).
The CEOF Act requires IPART to complete the IMMR every 2 years. Our first review was completed in 2023, and we are now undertaking the second, for which we will submit a Final Report to the Minister for Education and Early Learning in December 2025.
The 2025 IMMR is intended to investigate and report on the childcare sector, including by comparing against the baseline findings of our 2023 IMMR, to inform and provide guidance for the CEOF Fund Board on the Fund’s investment decisions.
For this review we are specifically looking at:
- areas where there are childcare supply shortages or higher barriers to parents participating in the workforce because of the affordability or accessibility of childcare,
- the state of the childcare sector, including workforce, pay and conditions and quality standards
- the amount required to achieve the objective of the CEOF Act.