Approved providers in Victoria must notify us in different situations.
Each situation has a set timeframe for notifying us.
This applies to:
- National Quality Framework (NQF) services (who must use NQA ITS)
- occasional care and limited hours services.
For additional guidance on how to report through the NQA ITS system, refer to the National Decision Tree.
For accessibility the following legislation has been abbreviated:
- Education and Care Services National Law (National Law)
- Education and Care Services National Regulations (National Regulations)
- Victorian Children's Services Act 1996 (CS Act)
- Children's Services Regulations 2020 (CS Regulations).
Serious incidents
Serious incidents include:
- the death of a child at the service, or following an incident occurring at the service
- serious injury or trauma to a child at the service that required urgent medical attention or where the child attended or should have attended a hospital
- serious illness of a child at the service, where the child attended or should have attended a hospital
- any emergency attended by emergency services
- any circumstance where a child:
- appears to be missing from the service or cannot be accounted for
- appears to have been taken or removed from the service premises in a way that breaches regulations
- is mistakenly locked in or out of the service premises or any part of the premises.
Complaints
Approved providers must notify us of any complaints alleging that:
- a serious incident has occurred or is occurring while a child is being educated and cared for by the service, or
- legislative requirements have not been met.
You do not need to notify us about complaints on other issues, such as fees charged by a service. The service should handle these complaints in line with their complaints policy and procedures.
Circumstances that pose a risk to a child's health, safety or wellbeing
Approved providers must notify us about any situation at the service that poses a risk to a child’s health, safety or wellbeing.
For example, when the service premises is:
- in a state of disrepair or neglect that it poses a risk to children
- damaged by flood or other natural disasters putting children at risk.
These examples do not cover all situations.
Incidents and allegations of physical and sexual abuse
Approved providers must notify us about any:
- incidents where you believe physical or sexual abuse of a child has occurred or is occurring while the child is at the service
- allegations of physical or sexual abuse of a child has occurred or is occurring while the child is at the service.
If the allegation refers to incidents occurring outside the service, you need to notify other agencies including Child Protection.
Changes to WWCC, vulnerable people check or teacher registration
Approved providers must notify us if there are changes to a staff member, volunteer or nominated supervisor’s:
- Working with Children Check (WWCC)
- Working with Vulnerable People check
- Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) registration.
Suspended or cancelled WWCC or VIT registration
Approved providers must notify us if a nominated supervisor’s Working with Children Check (WWCC), or Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) registration is:
- suspended
- cancelled
- subject to disciplinary proceedings.
Service closure or reduction in children due to an incident
Approved providers must notify us if their service is required to close or reduce numbers of children due to an incident.
For example, where the service premises has closed temporarily due to a:
- localised issue or emergency specific to the service or its physical environment
- public health emergency that would cause immediate risk to children
- natural disaster such as bushfire, flood or cyclone.
This requirement relates to potential risks to the health, safety and wellbeing of children. Approved providers are not required to notify us of:
- holiday closures
- services closures due to staff availability.
Additional children attending the service in certain circumstances
Approved providers must notify us if additional children attend the service in certain circumstances.
Centre based NQF services, limited hours and occasional care services
In an emergency, additional children can attend the service for up to 2 days. As long as the approved provider believes it will not affect the health, safety and wellbeing of any child at the service.
This applies to:
- centre based services under the National Quality Framework (NQF)
- limited hours and occasional care services (children's services).
Examples of an emergency include:
- a child needing protection under a child protection order
- a parent of a child needing urgent health care that prevents them from caring for the child.
Family day care (FDC) services
An approved provider may give their approval for an educator to educate and care for additional children in exceptional circumstances.
Exceptional circumstances are limited to:
- all children being educated and cared for are siblings in the same family, or
- the child needs protection under child protection law, and the FDC educator is the best person to educate and care for the child, or
- the residence or approved venue is in a rural or remote area, and no alternative education and care service is available.
Changes to provider and service details
Approved providers must notify us when there are changes to provider or service details.
For example:
- provider details change
- you need to add or remove a person with management or control
- service operating hours change.
For full details, see: changes to early childhood provider and service details.
Other agencies to notify
In instances of suspected abuse or risks to the wellbeing of children, approved providers may also need to report to other agencies. Such as:
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