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Important Notice

The IDFM Office will close for phone and email queries at 1pm on Monday 23 December 2024 and reopen at 9am on Thursday 2 January 2025. The IDFM team will continue to assess applications during this period. All enquiries received during this period will be responded to as soon as possible when the IDFM Office reopens.


Great news – Improvements to the IS Portal & New Resource for Services!

A quick guide and full guide are available to support you to navigate the exciting changes to the Strategic Inclusion Plan on the IS Portal.

There is a Checklist to help services to ensure your IDF Subsidy for an Additional Educator application is complete and accurate, prior to submission to your IP for endorsement.


Current application processing timeframes for IDF Subsidy for an Additional Educator:

The demand for support through the Inclusion Support Program has resulted in a high volume of applications being submitted for IDF Subsidy for an Additional Educator. Applications are being assessed as efficiently as possible, but unfortunately this is currently not within the usual timeframes. Thank you for your patience at this time.

Please go to the Important Information page for further information and updates.


The IDF provides funding to assist eligible services to address a barrier to inclusion that cannot be addressed by the support of an IA. There are four streams of IDF funding – subsidy for an Additional Educator, Immediate/Time Limited Support, Family Day Care Top Up and Innovative Solutions. Each stream has different eligibility criteria, application processes and approved funding purposes.

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Additional Educator

The IDF Subsidy for an Additional Educator provides funding to centre based services to subsidise the employment of an additional educator to increase the educator to child ratio.

About the Additional Educator Stream

Immediate/Time Limited Support

Immediate/Time Limited Support enables centre based services to immediately engage an Additional Educator for a limited period of time.

About the Immediate/Time Limited Stream
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Family Day Care Page

Family Day Care Top Up

The Family Day Care (FDC) Top Up provides a fee top up payment to an educator, where the inclusion of a child with a disability results in the educator being unable to enrol the maximum number of children as allowed under the National Law.

About the Family Day Care Stream

Innovative Solutions

Innovative Solutions Support funds flexible and alternative solutions to address inclusion barriers in services.

About the Innovative Solutions Stream
Innovative Solutions

Funding Streams

Additional Educator

The IDF Subsidy for an Additional Educator provides funding to centre based services to subsidise the employment of an additional educator to increase the educator to child ratio.

KU May 2019 0024 1

Immediate/Time Limited

Immediate/Time Limited Support enables centre based services to immediately engage an Additional Educator for a limited period of time.

KU Sutherland 2016 0146 clean

Family Day Care Top Up

The Family Day Care (FDC) Top Up provides a fee top up payment to an educator, where the inclusion of a child with additional needs results in the educator being unable to enrol the maximum number of children as allowed under the National Law.

Family Day Care Page

Innovative Solutions

Innovative Solutions Support funds flexible and alternative solutions to address inclusion barriers in services.

Innovative Solutions