Growth restrictions and enhanced oversight imposed on Affinity Education Group in NSW

Affinity Education Group Pty Limited has been hit with significant new regulatory conditions in New South Wales (NSW), including a cap on service expansion, enhanced educator-to-child ratio requirements, and mandatory child safety reforms, following a series of compliance concerns.

As published on the Australian Government’s StartingBlocks website, the NSW Regulatory Authority has prohibited the provider from holding more than 100 service approvals in the state.  This growth restriction will remain in place until at least 95 per cent of the provider’s NSW services are rated at or above Meeting the National Quality Standard (NQS).

As part of the conditions, Affinity Education must not acquire any new services, even where services are divested, until 1 March 2026. This freeze is designed to allow the provider to focus on operational improvements and compliance across its existing NSW services.

From the same date, Affinity Education will also be required to:

• Submit quarterly Quality Improvement Plans (QIPs) for each NSW service rated Working Towards the NQS
• Maintain educator-to-child ratios exceeding National Law minimums across these services, specifically:
  • 1 educator to 3 children (birth–24 months)
  • 1 educator to 4 children (24–36 months)
  • 1 educator to 8 children (36 months and over, excluding preschool age)

These elevated ratio conditions will apply for 15 months or until the service achieves a Meeting the NQS rating.

Within three months of the conditions taking effect, the provider must submit a detailed plan for delivering additional child safety training to all staff in its NSW services. The plan must identify training providers, content and staff coverage. Once approved, all training must be completed within six months.

The provider is also required to develop a CCTV installation program for all NSW services and report quarterly on progress.

The conditions represent one of the most comprehensive sets of regulatory interventions issued to a large ECEC provider in NSW in recent years.

View the official list of conditions on the StartingBlocks website here.