Failing the Most Vulnerable: Two WA Childcare Providers Penalised Over Supervision Breaches

In February the Western Australian State Administrative Tribunal handled two separate disciplinary proceedings brought by the CEO of the Department of Communities against out-of-school-hours care (OSHC) providers. Both cases highlight critical failures in active supervision, particularly concerning highly vulnerable children diagnosed with autism who managed to wander away from their respective services unnoticed.

While both providers admitted fault and cooperated with regulatory authorities, the cases reveal significant gaps in administrative compliance, educator ratios, and individualised care planning.

The OSHClub Pty Ltd Case: A $33,000 Penalty The first matter involved OSHClub Pty Ltd, trading as Samson OSHClub. On February 20, 2025, a child who was diagnosed with Level 3 Autism, ADHD, and Global Development Delay, was signed into care. Despite the child’s complex needs, the service did not have any support plans in place to identify the child’s specific needs or implement strategies to ensure their safety.

During an outdoor play session on the school oval, the child walked away from the group and sat with children not associated with the service for approximately 10 minutes. The child  was eventually recognised as lost by another child's mother and returned to the school.

The service educators were unaware the child was missing until a manual headcount revealed a discrepancy, and an educator returned from the oval searching for the child.

Compounding the supervision failure, an agency educator assigned to supervise that day was on her very first shift and had received no service-specific induction. Furthermore, OSHClub failed to keep this agency educator's staff record on site, having to later request it from the Randstad agency. The provider also failed to notify the Regulatory Authority of this serious incident within the required 24-hour timeframe, only submitting the notification three days later after the child’s mother contacted the unit directly.

For these breaches, OSHClub was ordered to pay a total penalty of $33,000, which included $28,000 specifically for failing to ensure adequate supervision, alongside a $2,000 contribution to the Department's legal costs.

A strikingly similar incident occurred on January 29, 2025, at Harpreet Dhaliwal t/as The Village St Joe's OSHC in Albany.  A 9-year-old non-verbal child diagnosed with Autism who required one-to-one support, walked out of a pool-style gate at the service unnoticed by staff. The child was missing for approximately 17 minutes before educators realised the child's absence during a roll call. The child was eventually located near the local high school.

An investigation revealed a cascade of operational failures. While four educators were signed in at the time, one was working in the kitchen, meaning the service failed to meet the prescribed educator-to-child ratios for the 36 children present. 

Just like in the OSHClub case, The Village St Joe's OSHC knew of the child’s diagnosis but failed to maintain a formal, written risk-minimisation or communication plan. Staff had not followed written supervision procedures, and there was no audit system in place to ensure compliance.

Dhaliwal was ordered to pay a total penalty of $8,600, comprising fines for inadequate supervision, failing to meet ratios, inaccurate record-keeping, and failing to ensure staff followed policies, plus $2,000 in legal costs.

Both providers cited mitigating factors, noting that these incidents stemmed from operational breakdowns rather than a systemic disregard for child safety. Following the incidents, both services implemented aggressive corrective measures:

• OSHClub immediately ceased using agency educators within Specialist Learning Program environments to ensure staff consistency and child-specific knowledge. They also bolstered management oversight, mandated site inductions prior to shifts, and heavily retrained staff on active supervision and regulatory notification obligations.

• The Village St Joe's OSHC installed self-closing mechanisms on their gates, implemented a gate register, and transitioned to digital headcounts via an iPad application. They also hired an Operations Manager to oversee compliance, created a medical risk register, and introduced new "working directly with children" tracking forms.

These cases serve as a reminder to the childcare sector that regulatory compliance, accurate record-keeping, and active, tailored supervision are non-negotiable, especially when entrusted with the care of children with complex needs.

Both incidents occurred at OSHC services operating on school grounds, raising broader questions for the sector about environmental risk management in shared-use settings.

Both cases arise amid ongoing sector discussion about whether prescribed educator-to-child ratios sufficiently support services when children with complex medical, behavioural or developmental needs are enrolled.

While the National Quality Framework sets minimum ratios and supervision requirements, sector leaders continue to debate how services can best balance compliance obligations with the practical realities of supporting children who may require one-to-one assistance, specialised planning or additional staffing.

To read and access the full Tribunal outcomes, visit: 

Samson OSH Club 

The Village St Joe’s OSHC