VECRA newsletter – September 2026

In order to recruit a high-quality workforce, and keep children safe from harm, it’s vital that long day care services, kindergartens, out of school hours care, family day care services, vacation care, occasional care and limited hours care services deeply reflect on, improve and embed robust recruitment and induction processes.

Strengthening child safe recruitment practices

Creating and maintaining a child safe culture starts with the people you employ. Approved providers and nominated supervisors should always reflect upon and strengthen recruitment and induction processes and practices. In doing this, they ensure the safety, rights and best interests of children are of paramount consideration in all decision making.

To protect children from abuse and harm, approved providers must take the necessary steps to ensure that predators don’t have access to the early childhood system. This will deter unsuitable people from applying and robust processes will screen out applicants who are unsafe and not appropriate to work with children.

Effective recruitment practices act as an important safeguard at two stages. Firstly, a strong child safe culture and clear expectations about working with children can deter unsuitable people from applying. Secondly, robust recruitment and screening processes can identify and exclude applicants who may pose a risk to children or who are not suitable to work with children.

What does this mean for approved providers?

The Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA) expects approved providers to regularly reflect on, review and strengthen their recruitment practices, in line with Child Safe Standard 6. This will deter unsuitable people from applying and robust processes will screen out applicants who are unsafe and not appropriate to work with children. Approved providers to regularly reflect on, review and strengthen their recruitment and induction processes and practices.

This includes considering whether recruitment practices:

• clearly communicate the service's commitment to child safety;
• assess an applicant's suitability to work with children, beyond simply checking qualifications;
• include appropriate screening, reference and background checks;
• explore an applicant's understanding of children's rights, safety and wellbeing;
• identify and appropriately respond to any concerns or gaps in an applicant's employment history;
• provide comprehensive induction into the service's child safe culture, policies, procedures and expectations; and
• ensure staff understand their obligations to recognise, respond to and report concerns about children's safety and wellbeing.

Recruitment should not be viewed as simply filling a vacant position. Every recruitment decision is a child safety decision. VECRA will be discussing recruitment and induction practices with approved providers, nominated supervisors and educators at various points of regulatory engagement, including monitoring and compliance visits, assessment and rating visits, and investigations.

A strong child safe culture begins before a person is employed

Providers should be prepared to demonstrate to authorised officers how their recruitment and induction practices contribute to a strong child safe culture and how they identify and manage risks associated with unsuitable staff or volunteers. This is also an opportunity for approved providers and services to look beyond whether they are meeting minimum regulatory requirements and ask:

"How do our recruitment and induction practices actively contribute to keeping children safe?"

Regular reflection, evaluation and continuous improvement can help ensure that child safety is embedded throughout the employment lifecycle - from the development of the role, first job advertisement and interview, through to induction, supervision and ongoing professional development.

In future editions of the VECRA sector newsletter we will go into greater detail on best practice recruitment, including drafting position descriptions, advertising, selection panels and interview panels.

Further information:

• Suitable staff and volunteers | vic.gov.au
• NQF Child Safe Culture Guide Chapter 2: Leadership, policies and continuous improvement | ACECQA
• CCYP compliance indicators (documents and actions), e.g.:
  • CSS 2
  • CSS 11
• National Model Code for Recruitment in Early Childhood Education and Care

The Department of Education has updated guidance and resources now available on the PROTECT for early childhood website to support early childhood services to identify and respond to child abuse risks and report concerns.

These resources respond to the Rapid Child Safety Review, which recommended updated guidance to help early childhood staff report concerns, allegations and complaints and support a speak-up culture.

Updated guidance

The updated PROTECT guidance includes:

• updated 4 Critical Actions: Identify, Report, Support and Refer
• information following the 4 Critical Actions for 3 sources of child abuse:
  • adult engaged by an early childhood service
  • within the family
  • within the community
• new downloadable reference sheets and pamphlets for the 4 Critical Actions, tailored to each source of abuse
• information on notifying the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority and reporting to the Social Services Regulator, including how to make anonymous reports
• updated information about supports available to early childhood services, families and children, including through The Orange Door for abuse in the family.

Action required

Services can replace the existing ‘Four critical actions for early childhood services’ poster with the updated resources. You can access, download and print the resources for your service on the PROTECT for early childhood website.

Services are encouraged to share the resources with staff and display the posters in an appropriate area that is easily accessible to staff.

Find out more

For more information, refer to the PROTECT for early childhood website.

Everyone working in early childhood services regulated under the NQF must complete mandatory training to understand child safety, including how to identify child abuse and take appropriate action to keep children safe.

There are two different types of training in Victoria:

• National child safety training
• Victorian child protection training

This article explains who must complete each type of training and when.

National child safety training

National child safety training is mandatory for everyone working in NQF services, whether they work directly with children or not.

Foundation training

Required roles in an NQF service must have already completed foundation child safety training (courses 1 and 2). This includes all existing staff members, persons with management or control (PMCs), including school council members for school-council operated services, volunteers and students. Read who is defined as a volunteer or student.

New starters must complete foundation child safety training before they start working directly with children OR within 14 days of being employed, engaged or appointed at the service, whichever is earlier.

Advanced training

Advanced child safety training (courses 3 and 4) is available now. Nominated supervisors, persons in day-to-day charge, and staff members who work directly with children must complete these courses in addition to the foundation training.

PMCs, nominated supervisors and persons in day-to-day charge of a service must also complete course 5. This course will be available from 30 September 2026.

Advanced training must be completed by 31 March 2027 for existing staff. New starters in relevant roles must complete it within three months of employment, engagement, or appointment at the service.

Refresher foundation and advanced training must be completed every two years.

Accessing training

All courses are available through the Geccko online training platform.

For help registering, using and downloading completion certificates visit the Geccko training information webpage. To get help with your Geccko account or technical issues call 1300 615 262 or complete the online enquiry form.

Staff record of training

Staff will receive a certificate of training completion which can be accessed through Geccko. All staff should keep copies of their completion certificates.

Record keeping for approved providers

Approved providers must:

• keep certificates on staff records and maintain a staff training register to record the completion of training; and
• record completion of training on the National Early Childhood Worker Register.

Recording training on the Early Childhood Worker Register (Worker Register)

You must enter details into the Worker Register within 14 days of having viewed the worker’s completion certificate. Make sure that courses 3,4 and 5 have been completed before entering the details and record foundation and advanced training separately.

Only PMCs who perform a role at the service that meets the Worker Register requirements need to be entered into the Worker Register. Approved providers must still check that all PMCs have completed the required child safety training, and that they retain evidence of this. Keep them together with other staffing and volunteer records.

Find out more about the Worker Register at National Worker Register. Read National Early Childhood Worker Register for information about recording child safety training.

Victorian child protection training

People who work directly with children at the service and people in leadership and management positions are also required to have completed child protection training. In Victoria this training is EC PROTECT.

EC PROTECT focuses on Victorian specific child safeguarding frameworks, reporting requirements and legal obligations if a child is suspected to be at risk of harm.

The EC PROTECT training is compulsory for the following people who work in NQF services:

• nominated supervisors
• people in day-to-day charge of a service
• family day care coordinators
• staff members who work directly with children, and
• volunteers (including students) who work directly with children.

It must be completed before working with children at the service, or within 14 days of employment, whichever comes first. EC PROTECT training must be completed every 12 months.

Accessing training

• EC PROTECT is available at: Child protection and child safety training in early childhood
• Email ec.protect@education.vic.gov.au for technical queries and training support.

New and updated resources for parents and carers about child safety and sexual abuse prevention are now available via VECRA’s Regulation of early childhood services: information for parents and carers | vecra.vic.gov.au webpage.

The Department of Education has developed resources with information on how to identify signs of abuse and grooming, and how to have age-appropriate conversations with children.

The resources were developed in response to the Rapid Child Safety Review, and we encourage services to share them with parents and carers.

New and updated resources

The following resources are available to support parents and carers:

• Preventing and responding to child sexual abuse – information and resources about having body safety conversations, identifying the signs of abuse and grooming, and raising concerns
• Child safety in early childhood education and care: information for families – information about child safety measures at early childhood services and what families can look for and ask about.

Sharing these resources with your service’s community can help parents and carers find reliable child safety information. It also demonstrates your service’s commitment to keeping children safe.

Further resources

• The VECRA website has information about making a complaint and what happens if a service doesn’t meet its obligations.
• The national StartingBlocks.gov.au website has been updated to provide more information about the quality and safety of early childhood services. This includes showing enforcement actions from the past 2 years.
• Raising Children Network and National Office for Child Safety websites have further information and advice about child safety and child sexual abuse prevention.

Find out more

• For further information, refer to: Child safety in early childhood: information for families
• For resources on identifying and responding to child abuse risks and report concerns, refer to Updated child safety guidance for early childhood services.

All approved and suspended services under both the National Quality Framework (NQF) and the Victorian Children’s Services Act 1996 (CS Act) must pay an annual service fee.

Earlier this year education ministers across Australia met and agreed to increase the annual service fees charged to approved providers in all jurisdictions (other than Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory) on top of annual indexation, from 1 July 2026.

These fee increases are necessary to support child safety through increased regulation of the sector. Recent major reforms have strengthened the National Law meaning regulators have more powers to make sure that the safety, rights and best interests of children are paramount in all early childhood settings.

Fees increased by indexation (CPI) and have an additional increase of:

• 3.3-fold for all sessional kindergartens regardless of provider size
• 3.3-fold for services operated by small not-for-profit providers
• 5.5-fold for services operated by small for-profit providers
• 7.7-fold for services operated by large not-for-profit providers
• 11-fold for services operated by large for-profit providers.

Below is a summary of annual service fees for 2026-27, by provider type. Please see The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) website for the full fee schedule.

Fee schedule summary

Service size explained

A new tax system under the family assistance administration ACT 1999 – section 4A defines a provider as a large childcare provider if at any time in the financial year:

• the provider operates 25 or more approved childcare services; or
• the provider is one of two or more related providers who together operate 25 or more approved childcare services; or
• the provider proposes to operate or is one of two or more related providers who propose to together operate, 25 or more approved childcare services.

The table below defines how a service’s size is calculated:

Approved providers are invoiced for each service approval they held on 1 July 2026. ACECQA intends to issue invoices for annual service fees in early October. Once invoices are issued, the payment can be made, but not before.

What providers should do

• Check the 2026–27 annual service fee amounts on ACECQA’s website.
• NQF providers: login into the NQA ITS portal to download and pay your NQF invoice, when available.
• CS Act providers: If you have not received the CS Act invoice email, please contact vecra.licensing@education.vic.gov.au

Further information

• Visit the ACECQA website for more information about indexed fees.
• Contact the VECRA General Enquiries line on 1300 307 415 (Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm) or by email at vecra.licensing@education.vic.gov.au if you have any questions.

Victoria’s Working with Children Check (WWCC) has been strengthened to better protect children by improving how child safety risks are identified and assessed.

The Social Services Regulator (SSR) now has stronger powers to act earlier where there are concerns about a person’s suitability to work or volunteer with children.

The changes commenced on 28 July 2026 and are part of a suite of reforms to Victoria’s child safeguarding system and respond to recommendations from the Rapid Child Safety Review.

These changes include:

• allowing the Working with Children Check to identify and respond to child safety risks earlier and share information between schemes, other regulators and agencies.
• using information that may be unsubstantiated, allegations, intelligence and other information, that could, when considered together, help identify a concerning pattern of behaviour.
• new powers to take immediate action to place an interim bar or suspension on a person’s WWCC to stop them working with children.
• replacing the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) with an internal review process for people who are refused a WWCC clearance or have a WWCC clearance revoked.

Find out more about the changes to WWCC Check.

Quality Area 7 of the National Quality Framework focuses on governance and leadership, supporting the effective management of services and continuous improvement in quality outcomes for children.

A key part of good governance is ensuring policies and procedures are current, understood by staff, and reflected in everyday practice.

With recent child safety reforms now in place, services are reminded of the need to review their policies and procedures to ensure they reflect the updated requirements. In particular, this includes recent changes relating to:

• the promotion of a culture of child safety and wellbeing; and
• the safe use of digital technologies and online environments, including new device requirements.

Having the right policies in place is only one part of effective governance. Educators and other staff also need to understand their responsibilities and how policies apply to their work.

Approved providers should consider whether their policies and procedures for induction, child protection and child safety training, ongoing professional learning and information sharing are supporting staff to fulfil their roles effectively. When requirements change, consider what information staff need and how it will be communicated, and whether any additional training is required.

Regularly reviewing policies, communicating changes and supporting staff to put requirements into practice can strengthen a service’s culture of child safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Useful resources:

• Quality Area 7 – Governance and leadership | ACECQA
• Quality Area 7 information sheets
• Resources & projects | ACECQA