Reporting incidents if you get a Community Child Care Fund Restricted grant

About your reporting obligations

If your ECEC service gets a CCCFR grant, you must notify us about:

• serious incidents, including physical or sexual abuse
• work health and safety incidents.

These obligations are outlined in the Child Care Subsidy Minister’s Rules 2017 and your grant agreement.

Failure to comply may result in:

• suspension or sanction of your Child Care Subsidy provider approval
• reduction, suspension or termination of CCCFR funding.

Serious incidents

You must notify us in writing within 24 hours if:

• a serious incident occurs
• something happens that could have resulted in a serious incident
• you receive a complaint alleging a serious incident has occurred or is occurring
• you reasonably believe a child has been physically or sexually abused while being educated and cared for by the service
• you receive an allegation of physical or sexual abuse of a child while the child was being educated and cared for by the service.

What is a serious incident?

A serious incident includes incidents such as:

• the death of a child while being educated and cared for by the service, or as a result of something that happened while the child was in care
• a child being seriously injured, harmed, traumatised or becoming seriously ill while being educated and cared for by the service, where:
  • urgent medical attention was needed (or should reasonably have been sought), or
  • the child went to hospital (or should reasonably have gone to hospital)
• an incident where emergency services (such as an ambulance, police or fire services) attended the premises, or should reasonably have been called
• a child being educated and cared for by the service who:
  • goes missing
  • appears to have been taken or removed from the premises without proper authorisation
  • is accidentally locked in or locked out of the premises, or part of the premises
• any incident that must be reported under work health and safety laws.

If you are unsure whether an incident meets the definition of a serious incident, you should report it.

Physical or sexual abuse

You must report both:

• situations where you reasonably believe that physical or sexual abuse of a child has occurred or is occurring while the child is being educated and cared for by the service
• allegations of physical or sexual abuse of a child while the child is being educated and cared for by the service, even if they have not been substantiated.

In some jurisdictions, there are ‘failure to report’ laws specifically related to child sexual abuse. These laws generally make it a criminal offence for an adult to fail to report known or reasonably suspected child abuse.

Work health and safety (WHS) incidents

WHS is managed by:

• Safe Work Australia
• state and territory WHS regulators.

Each state and territory has its own definition of a notifiable WHS incident. Refer to your WHS regulator’s website for the rules that apply in your jurisdiction.

You must notify us about:

• any notifiable WHS incident arising from the provision of care, together with a copy of any written notice given to the WHS Regulator – immediately, or as soon as possible
• any suspected contravention of WHS laws – within 24 hours
• any direction to stop work under WHS laws due to safety concerns – immediately or as soon as possible
• any visit by a WHS Entry Permit Holder or Inspector – within 24 hours
• any WHS proceedings, decisions or requests by the Regulator under WHS laws – within 24 hours.

You must also provide copies of all notices and correspondence issued by any person under WHS laws about the above matters within 24 hours of receipt to us.

Get help

If you have questions or need help, contact your CCCFR program officer or email CCCFRestricted@education.gov.au.