G8 Education

G8 Education was founded in 2006 as Early Learning Services. In December 2007 it began selling shares on the Australian stock exchange, at a time when it owned 38 child care centres. In 2010, it merged with Payce Child Care Pty Ltd and the name was changed to G8 Education Ltd. By 2022 it had grown to 450 child care centres.

In 2010, it began operating childcare centres in Singapore, but in October 2020 exited the country by selling its childcare centres to a Singapore company.

In 2021 G8 Education established a specialist care division with the acquisition of specialist in-home care and NDIS provider Leor, a registered B Corp. The specialist care division offers early intervention and disability support, including individual learning programs integrated with recommendations of allied health professionals such as speech and occupational therapists.

Controversies

In December 2020 G8 Education became embroiled in a staff underpayment issue. It self-reported to regulators that it had underpaid up to 27,000 employees between A$50 million and A$80 million. It said it had the funds to make restitution but the issue saw it shares slump on the ASX. In 2020, following the self-reported matter, G8 Education undertook a remediation program to ensure all affected current and former team members were paid in full. As at 31 December 2022, A$37 million remains outstanding to be paid to current and former team members.

In February 2021 G8 Education announced it was raising fees by 4.5 per cent as it recovered from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and restore occupancy levels which had dropped during the economic downturn.