Authorisation requirements for early childhood services

Under the National Quality Framework (NQF), services must get and manage authorisations for a range of activities.

Services must also have a policy to guide decisions about accepting or refusing authorisations.

Authorisations required

Services under the NQF must get authorisation for:

administering medication to children (except in anaphylaxis or asthma emergencies)
seeking medical treatment for children
arranging transport by an ambulance service
allowing a child to leave the premises with a person other than their parent
taking children on excursions or regular outings
transporting children, where transport is provided or arranged by the service.

Authorisations must be given by:

a parent, or
a person authorised on the child’s enrolment form to provide consent on behalf of a parent.

Services must keep a record of all authorisations on the child’s enrolment form.

Services must review and confirm authorisations:

In some situations, the service may decide to:

The following details show when a service may refuse an authorisation.

A service may refuse to administer medication if the:
- request is made by a person who is not authorised
- medication does not meet requirements (for example, it is not in its original container).
Reference: regulation 95, National Regulations.
Before authorising self-administration, services should consider whether the:
- child is capable of self-administering the medication
- service allows all school age children to self-administer.
Reference: regulation 96, National Regulations.
A service may refuse authorisation if:
- a parent or authorised person appears unfit to care for the child (for example, they are affected by drugs or alcohol)
- an authorised sibling or older child is not capable or is too young
- a child authorised to leave alone is not capable, or the environment is unsafe.
If a service operates on a school site, it should consult the school about its process.
Reference: regulation 99, National Regulations.
A service may refuse an excursion authorisation if it does not comply with regulation 102.
For example, if:
- there is no written authorisation, a child cannot go on an excursion
- an unauthorised person signs the written authorisation.
Reference: regulation 102, National Regulations.

If a service refuses an authorisation, it must record the:

All details must be clearly recorded to show how the child’s safety was maintained.

Services must have a policy for accepting and refusing authorisations.

The policy should:

be based on evidence
set out clear quality guidelines for the acceptance and refusal of authorisations.

The policy can be:

a stand-alone policy, or
included in other relevant policies required under regulation 168 of the National Regulations.

Not all authorisation requirements apply to all service types.

In some cases, services do not need to include certain processes in their policies.

For example:

If self-administration of medication is not permitted, related processes are not required.
Services without school-aged children are not expected to include self-administration processes.

ACECQA’s Guide to the NQF has more detail on:

Updated 2 June 2026