Starting Blocks “large provider” information section now live but reporting remains patchy

The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) has launched the new and improved Starting Blocks website which now includes a section dedicated for large providers detailing financial information and network size.  

 

Now included as part of the resources section of Starting Blocks, the large provider page includes 51 organisations including for profit, not for profit, Government and faith based providers across long day care (LDC) and outside school hours care (OSHC) settings, all of which have networks in excess of 25 services.  

 

Each provider has its own dedicated page with a financial information section, detailing revenue and net profit recorded in the previous financial year, as well as the number of centres in the provider’s network along with  a services section which contains links for every service in the group. 

 

With regards to the financial information section, only for profit organisations are obligated to disclose their information, with not for profit’s exempt due to disclosure requirements already in place at the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

 

Of the 51 centres listed 51 per cent are for profit organisations across the LDC and OSHC settings with all having networks in excess of 25 services. 

 

Notably however, only 65 per cent of the for profit providers have submitted their financial information and network size for display, with the balance of provider pages only showing the individual services as registered on ACECQA’s database and the Starting Blocks website. 

 

It is unclear why these providers’ financial information is not being displayed. 

 

A second important change in the refreshed Starting Blocks website is the inclusion of current, and past fee price information for each service, although as with the financial information many organisations have yet to provide the data for inclusion on the site. 

 

The additional disclosure of information is consistent with the new reporting requirements for large providers included as part of the Cheaper Child Care Bill that were designed to, amongst other things, improve the transparency of ECEC costs for interested families. 

 

Access the revised Starting Blocks website here.