The Joint Compliance and Monitoring Program targets early childhood education and care (ECEC) providers at risk of misusing government funding.
On this page:
About
In May 2021, the government announced the Better Child Care Regulation Measure. A key part of the measure was the pilot Joint Compliance and Monitoring Program. Through this, we conducted compliance activities with state and territory regulators. The pilot took place from January 2022 through to June 2023. New South Wales and Victorian regulators participated in the pilot.
In July 2025, legislation passed to strengthen joint monitoring and enforcement in ECEC.
Working with state and territory regulators, the Commonwealth can now:
- make decisions about a provider’s approval based on its quality and safety record
- issue notices to services not meeting the National Quality Standard (NQS)
- conduct unannounced site visits
- publish provider and service non-compliance information.
The changes aim to:
- improve coordination between Commonwealth and regulators
- improve information sharing about provider compliance
- ensure providers meet their quality and safety obligations
- minimise risks associated with serious non-compliance.
These reforms ensure a national approach to regulation and accountability in the sector.
We will also increase joint regulation with the states and territories, including:
- expanding the Joint Compliance Monitoring Program across all regulators
- improving data exchange.
Regulator membership includes:
- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- Victoria
- South Australia
- Queensland
- Western Australia
- Tasmania.
Functions
We work with regulators to target high-risk providers for compliance action. High-risk providers pose a substantial risk of serious non-compliance under:
- National Law
- Family Assistance Law.
Benefits
Joint compliance improves financial, administrative and compliance outcomes through:
- improved payment integrity
- better quality and safety outcomes
- significant savings to the administration of CCS
- better sharing of data, resources and intelligence
- increasing the efficiency of compliance actions
- a coordinated national response to non-compliance.
How to report suspected fraud
If you have information related to people or child care services or providers who are not following the rules, can you report it to us anonymously.
We take all accounts of suspected fraud seriously.
Our CCS fraud tip-off form is anonymous and only takes a few minutes to complete.
Find out more about reporting CCS fraud or to access the tip-off form.