We're ensuring quality and safety in services that don't operate under the National Quality Framework (NQF).
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About the project
The Australian Government is committed to supporting the delivery of safe and high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC).
The National Quality Framework (NQF) provides a national approach to regulation, assessment and quality improvement for most ECEC services. Regulatory authorities administer the NQF in each state and territory.
A small number of services are out of scope of the NQF and operate under the Child Care Subsidy Minister’s Rules 2017 (Minister’s Rules). This includes:
- some Community Child Care Fund restricted (CCCFR) services
- In Home Care (IHC) services.
In early 2025, we commenced a regulatory project to ensure these services comply with the quality and safety requirements in the Minister’s Rules.
Our regulatory approach:
- aligns with the key objectives of the NQF
- acknowledges the unique contexts these services operate in
- aims to ensure all children have access to high-quality and safe early learning environments.
The project builds on several projects including:
- ACECQA CCCFR Quality and Safety Project
- ACECQA IHC Quality and Safety Project
- Northern Territory Regulatory Project
- South Australia Regulatory Project.
Who is involved
The project involves:
- CCCFR services operating under the Minister’s Rules
- IHC services operating under the Minister’s Rules.
We are working with these services to improve quality and safety, acknowledging the unique contexts these services operate in.
The project is led by the Early Child and Youth Regulatory Project Team within the department. This team is separate to, but works with, the CCCFR and IHC program teams.
The project also includes regulatory officers who:
- take a risk-based approach to identifying services to help them deliver high-quality and safe ECEC
- monitor and guide services to deliver high-quality ECEC
- utilise the ongoing work as part of the existing quality and safety projects.
How it works
The framework for CCCFR services
The Minister’s Rules Quality and Safety Regulatory Framework guides the approach to CCCFR services.
The framework aims to support continuous improvement in these services. It:
- involves regulatory officers, tools, resources and best practice approaches
- uses a strengths-based approach
- includes conditions from the Minister’s Rules and the Education and Care Services National Regulations
- is based on a review tool created by the Northern Territory Government as part of the Northern Territory Regulatory Project.
Our activity includes:
- monitoring and assessing compliance with Minister's Rules
- conducting site visits to evaluate adherence to Minister’s Rules and commitment to quality and safety
- providing contextually appropriate guidance and support to services on compliance matters
- investigating complaints and incidents related to non-compliance.
The approach to IHC services
Regulatory officers will work with IHC services to assess compliance with quality and safety requirements in Minister’s Rules. The goal is to ensure that all children attending IHC services have access to high-quality and safe early learning environments.
Our activity includes:
- requesting documentation for desktop review
- conducting phone conversations with services
- monitoring provider and service’s practice and operations with a focus on quality and safety.
We will focus on areas widely recognised as high-risk in the context of a home care environment. This includes where heightened supervision and clear procedural guidance are critical to children’s health and safety.
The regulatory project team will provide support and guidance for continuous improvement including recommendations and resources that support IHC providers in achieving any identified action items.
Alongside this work, support is currently available to IHC services through the ACECQA IHC Quality and Safety Project.
Why we’re doing this
Research shows high-quality ECEC:
- leads to better health, education and employment outcomes later in life
- lays the foundation for lifelong development and learning.
We are committed to ensuring all children have access to high-quality and safe ECEC.
The project is designed to enhance quality and safety and improve outcomes for children, particularly in remote and very remote areas.
What you need to do
We have contacted identified services with more information. We will continue to provide regular updates directly to these services throughout the project.
We encourage you to consolidate the improvements you have already made and identify next steps for quality improvement.
Contact
If you have questions about the project, contact ECYECECRegulatoryOperations@education.gov.au.
If you have questions about the CCCF restricted grant, contact CCCFrestricted@education.gov.au.
If you have questions about the IHC program, contact inhomecare@education.gov.au.