All early learning services must now display their compliance history alongside their quality rating at their service, under new nation-leading laws passed by the Minns Labor Government to protect children and keep parents informed about safety records.
For the first time in Australia, NSW parents will be able to clearly see how their early learning service is performing and complying with the National Law and National Regulations.
The guidelines require every service to display a short-form compliance and quality history, which includes their current and previous quality ratings, any serious breaches in the past two years, and any prosecutions where there is a plea of guilt, finding of guilt or conviction.
This information forms part of the service's prescribed information, which must be displayed prominently and visibly at the service premises. Prescribed information also includes details about the service's approval, ratings, and operations, as well as contact information for the regulatory authority.
Failure to comply will result in a new, increased fine of $5,160 for a service or $15,480 for a large provider. In the most serious cases, services and providers may face prosecutions - where the maximum penalty a court could impose would be $51,600, or $154,800 in the case of a large provider.
Additionally, the more than 6,000 early learning services across NSW will be notified today of tough new penalties for using personal devices. Restrictions will apply in family day care services for the first time.
All educators who provide education and care and work directly with children must use only service-supplied or authorised devices when taking or storing images or videos of children in their care.
Personal devices are banned in long day care, preschools and before and after school care services and include any personal item capable of capturing, storing, or transmitting images. This includes phones, tablets, iPads, computers, cameras, smartwatches, and wearables such as camera glasses. Family day care educators will need to use a service issued or service authorised device to take images of children with the permission of parents.
These bans are supported by tougher fines: $3,420 on the spot for an individual, $17,200 for a service/provider, and $51,600 for a larger provider (those operating more than 25 or more centres). Previously, under the National Law, the penalty for failing to have a policy and procedure in place was $1,100 and was limited to the service not the individual.
Under the amended Children (Education and Care Services National Law Application) Act 2010, services and staff are now legally required to prioritise children's safety and wellbeing above all other considerations.
The new laws:
- Make it an offence for people providing, or working in, early childhood education and care to subject a child to inappropriate conduct.
- Allow the Regulator to suspend or revoke quality ratings during or after investigations.
- Allow the Regulator to suspend or impose supervision orders on individual educators.
- Strengthen whistleblower protections.
- Increase maximum penalties for large providers by up to 900%.
- Extend the prosecution period for offences - NSW will now measure the limitation period from when the regulator is notified, rather than the date of the offence.
- Empower the Minister to direct services to install CCTV, undergo child protection training, or close a service if there's an unacceptable child safety risk.
Acting Minister for Education and Early Learning Courtney Houssos said:
"The Minns Labor Government has delivered the biggest childcare safety reforms in 15 years, following a review commissioned by Deputy Premier Prue Car that exposed serious gaps in existing laws.
"We understand parents want stronger protections and more transparency in childcare - these laws deliver exactly that.
"Personal digital devices pose an unacceptable risk to children's safety, which is why I've taken immediate action to strengthen the ban in long day care, preschool and before and after school care services and introduce new requirements in family day care services.
"We won't let the actions of a few bad operators tarnish the hard work and dedication of the thousands of educators who do the right thing every day."
