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      • Guideline 1: Kindergarten program provider approval
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The licensing process

Early childhood education and care services outside the scope of the National Quality Framework can be granted a licence under the Child Care Act 2002 (the Act). The maximum term of a licence is three years (section 14 of the Act) and licences may be issued subject to conditions. However, a licence condition cannot exempt a service from a provision of the legislation.

Licensing centre-based services policy: provides information about the licensing requirements of the Act and the Child Care Regulation 2003 (the Regulation) for centre-based services.

Monitoring and enforcement

The Act includes a rigorous monitoring and enforcement regime, giving powers to the Department of Education, Training and Employment (the department) to ensure that the licensee of a child care service complies with the terms of a licence and with the guiding principles of section 9 of the Act.

There are a number of enforcement options available to the department under the Act. This means that whilst the legislation provides licensees with flexibility in service delivery, there is sufficient ability for the department to ensure that licensing standards are maintained.

Where a licensee fails to meet their obligations under the Act there are a range of measures that may be taken. For less serious contraventions the department may issue a licensee with a compliance notice, in which the licensee is requested to remedy the contravention within a reasonable timeframe.

For more serious contraventions the department may issue a licensee with a notice to amend, urgently amend, suspend, urgently suspend or revoke their licence if there is a risk of harm to children or the building and facilities are no longer suitable for the provision of child care. The department may also issue a notice to a person to prohibit them from providing care to children.

Unless the situation is urgent, the department must provide the licensee with a 'show cause' notice before amending, refusing to renew, suspending or revoking a licence.

Where the licence is suspended or revoked, the licensee will be required to give notice of the suspension or revocation to parents who use the service (for a centre-based service). The notice given to parents to advise of a suspension or revocation of a licence must also provide reasons for the action taken.

Certain non-compliance information about services that repeatedly or seriously contravene the child care legislation can be published on the department's website. This publicly available information enables parents and guardians to make informed decisions about a child care service that is providing, or will potentially provide, a service to their child. For more information review the Compliance publication scheme fact sheet 144k.

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This page was last reviewed on 01 May 2012 at 01:33PM

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