Department expands compliance action register: 13 more services added

The Department of Education has expanded its new Enforcement Action Register, with an additional 13 early childhood education and care (ECEC) services now subject to compliance conditions under the strengthened regulatory powers that came into effect last month.

Of the 13 new services recorded: 

• 2 family day care services
• 4 outside school hours care (OSHC) services
• 7 centre-based services

This builds on the Department’s first compliance action round, announced in August, which named 29 services that had persistently failed to meet national safety and quality benchmarks.

Of the 13 services, one provider is noted as having changed ownership since their last assessment, meaning the current approved provider was not responsible for the service when the original National Quality Standard (NQS) rating was issued.

Analysis of the Starting Blocks website reveals that all 13 services:

• Were initially assessed as Working Towards NQS
• Maintained a Working Towards NQS rating at their second assessment
• In several cases, ratings date back as far as 2016 or 2017, showing a long history of services struggling to meet required quality benchmarks.

While the register now lists more than 40 services, it appears some duplications are present. 

Even so, the publication of names represents an important step toward transparency, giving families and the wider community clearer visibility of regulatory action in the ECEC sector. 

It also raises a broader question: should a direct link to the Enforcement Action Register be made available on the Starting Blocks website and the ACECQA platform, so that parents, caregivers and equally, current and prospective employees can more easily access this information when making decisions about early learning services?

Services appearing on the register are required to:

• Lift their rating to Meeting NQS within six months (or nine months in some cases, depending on the conditions imposed).
• Notify the Department within five business days if a new NQS rating is issued within 12 months.
• Inform families within two days of the compliance condition being applied.

The updated list comes at a time of increased regulatory scrutiny. State and federal education ministers are meeting today Friday 21 August to discuss a national child safety agenda, including CCTV trials, enhanced worker checks, and consistency in safeguarding training.

The Department has emphasised that the new enforcement powers are designed to lift underperforming services while maintaining fairness for providers who have recently taken over operations of services with an existing Working Towards NQS rating.