NSW child-safety watchdog faces rising reportable conduct workload: What the latest data means for ECEC services

Recent NSW media coverage has again put the Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) under the spotlight, focusing on whether the state’s child-safety systems are keeping pace with rising allegations and screening demands.

 

For early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, the most important take-away is not the headline language. It is what the OCG’s own reporting shows about notification volumes, the types of allegations being reported, and the practical governance expectations now sitting with approved providers and service leaders. 

 

In its 2024–25 Annual Report, tabled in NSW Parliament, the OCG reports 2,836 notifications under the Reportable Conduct Scheme in 2024–25, an 18% increase on the previous year and a 69% cumulative increase over three financial years. 

 

Critically for ECEC, the report states the biggest increase in notifications by relevant entity type came from approved early childhood education and care services (+52%), following a 38% increase the previous year. 

 

The same section lists year-on-year increases across allegation categories, including assault (790), neglect (384), sexual misconduct (292), and sexual offence notifications (548) in 2024–25, across all sectors captured by the scheme. 

 

The annual report includes an important nuance that ECEC leaders should not miss.

 

The OCG reports that 34% (190) of notifications from the approved ECEC sector in 2024–25 were assessed as not meeting the threshold for notification under the scheme. The report notes this does not mean the underlying allegations were not serious or did not warrant internal investigation, but that “not-in-jurisdiction” notifications still require the OCG to process and assess documentation, provide advice and guidance, and make referrals, “such that they consume significant resources despite being wrongly notified”. 

 

This is one of the clearest signals in the report about where sector capability work still matters: getting reporting right, and documenting the decision-making behind it, is now a governance issue, not an administrative detail. 

 

One of the more pointed findings in the annual report is the increase in notifications relating to Crimes Act offences (s316A / s43B), offences that relate to failures to report and failures to mitigate risk (noting the report also highlights the “very high evidentiary thresholds” for these offences). The OCG reports that 47% of these offence notifications were from early childhood education and care services. 

 

For providers, this reinforces a hard operational reality: child safety risk decisions must be timely, documented, and aligned to service policy and legal obligations, particularly where there are concerns about physical or sexual harm.

 

The NSW Department of Communities and Justice announced the OCG will receive $5.5 million over two years to employ additional staff, with the stated outcomes including more compliance audits for early education centres, more reportable conduct investigations, more timely Working With Children Check (WWCC) risk assessments, and more enforcement actions under the Child Safe Scheme. 

 

The practical implication is straightforward: services should expect more scrutiny of child safety systems and evidence, not just policy presence.

 

This is not about creating fear. It is about strengthening the conditions that keep children safe and protect educators and services through clear processes.

 

Key actions that align with what the OCG is signalling through its data and the NSW funding announcement include:

 

1) Tighten “threshold clarity” for notifications

 

• Ensure nominated supervisors and approved providers understand what triggers a reportable conduct notification, and what is handled through internal misconduct processes or other reporting pathways.
• Document why a matter was or wasn’t notified, and how risk was managed while decisions were made. 

 

2) Treat child safety reporting as a system, not an event

 

The OCG describes a risk-based oversight model and the importance of thorough and fair responses to allegations. Services should be able to demonstrate:

 

• clear escalation pathways
• consistent recordkeeping
• timely decision-making
• procedural fairness for staff, alongside child safety being paramount.

 

3) Strengthen recruitment and WWCC governance

 

The OCG states it manages WWCC applications, clearances, compliance and ongoing monitoring. Services should pressure-test:

 

• WWCC verification processes, including for relief staff and contractors
• induction expectations about professional boundaries
• supervision practices and cultures that support speaking up early.

 

4) Build staff capability to report concerns early

 

The annual report indicates a substantial proportion of ECEC notifications are reported by employees in some categories, including assault, ill-treatment and neglect. That makes psychological safety and clear internal reporting pathways a critical child-safety control.

 

The OCG’s data points to two realities happening at once:

 

• more concerns are being reported overall, and
• ECEC services are reporting at much higher volumes, including a sizable number of matters that do not meet the scheme’s notification threshold but still generate significant regulator workload. 

 

With NSW also explicitly funding more audits for early education centres, services should treat 2026 as a year to sharpen governance: clearer thresholds, stronger evidence trails, and tighter risk management systems, all in service of a child safe culture.