Sell Your Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) Business
Selling an Outside School Hours Care business is, at its heart, selling relationships — with the schools you operate from and the families who rely on you. Because so much of the value rests on your school agreements and your reputation with those schools, an OSHC sale must be handled with particular care for confidentiality. Schools that learn of a sale prematurely may hesitate to renew, and that uncertainty can erode the very asset a buyer is paying for. We help OSHC operators present agreement tenure, revenue quality and program strength to buyers who understand the model.
Sessions
Before / after / vacation
Key asset
School agreement
Revenue
Seasonal pattern
Regulation
NQF / ACECQA
Your agreements are your value
The single biggest driver of an OSHC sale price is the strength and tenure of your school agreements. Buyers pay more for long-dated, exclusive agreements with strong school relationships, and discount heavily for short or re-tenderable arrangements. If you have multiple sites with staggered, well-supported agreements, you have a genuinely defensible business worth presenting carefully. Part of preparing for sale is getting your agreements in order — understanding renewal dates, documenting the relationship history and, where possible, securing renewals before you go to market.
How OSHC businesses are valued
OSHC is valued on maintainable earnings, with the multiple shaped by agreement tenure, the mix of steady term-time and more variable vacation-care revenue, staffing stability and program quality. Because the asset base is light, buyers focus on the durability of the income rather than the value of physical assets. A confidential valuation that normalises your revenue across the year and reflects your agreement portfolio gives you a credible asking price and avoids the two costly errors of overpricing (a stale listing) and underpricing (money left on the table).
Confidentiality with schools and families
OSHC confidentiality has an extra dimension: your school partners. A school that hears about a sale through the grapevine may delay renewal or reconsider the relationship, directly threatening your value. Our process qualifies buyers and binds them to confidentiality before any identifying information is shared, and we stage the involvement of schools so that conversations happen at the right time and in the right way. You retain control over how and when your school partners and staff are engaged in the process.
Preparing your OSHC business for sale
Gather your school/service agreements with their renewal and termination terms, multi-year financials normalised across term-time and vacation care, attendance and CCS records, your staffing and coordinator structure, NQS rating history and any program or capital commitments to schools. Demonstrating renewed or long-dated agreements and a stable, capable team is the most powerful way to support both price and deal certainty. We connect you with advisers experienced in OSHC transactions.
Other business types
OSHC: frequently asked questions
What most affects the sale price of my OSHC business?
The strength and tenure of your school agreements. Long-dated, exclusive agreements with strong relationships command a premium; short or re-tenderable arrangements are discounted. Securing renewals before going to market can materially lift value.
How is an OSHC business valued?
On maintainable earnings, adjusted for agreement tenure, the term-time versus vacation-care revenue mix, staffing stability and program quality. We arrange a confidential valuation that normalises revenue across the year.
Will my school partners find out I am selling?
Not prematurely. Buyers are screened and bound to confidentiality, and we stage when and how schools are engaged. You control the timing and approach with your school partners.
Should I renew agreements before selling?
Where feasible, yes. Renewed or long-dated agreements remove a major buyer concern and directly support a higher price and a smoother transaction.
How long does an OSHC sale take?
It varies, but expect a few months from preparation to settlement, with agreement assignments and regulatory approvals usually setting the timeline.
What documents do buyers want to see?
School agreements with renewal terms, multi-year normalised financials, attendance and CCS records, staffing structure and NQS rating history. We help you assemble these into a buyer-ready package.
Get a free valuation for your OSHC business
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