The names of 29 childcare businesses that have failed to meet national quality and safety standards have been made public, with 11 of the centres based in Western Australia.
Compliance actions were issued to the centres last week by the federal education department.
It’s the first time the warnings have been handed down, after federal parliament passed legislation which allows the government to strip funding from centres that don’t pass basic checks.Â
The National Quality Standards (NQS) relate to the health, safety and education of children at all childcare centres, family day care facilities, outside school hours care, preschool and kindergarten.
The centres issued with warnings failed to meet the standards for at least seven years and were required to tell parents about the compliance action by this week.
More centres to be warned
Some 30 centres have been warned and the ABC has been told that more will be added to the list.
While all the names will be released eventually, 29 have been made public so far. They include childcare centres, family day care centres and out of school care, which looks after children in primary school. At this stage, no large for-profit childcare companies are on the list that has been made public.
Warnings were issued to five centres in Queensland, among them was the Cairns Regional Family Day Care, Babyco Family Day Care and Moonlight Family Day Care Services.
In New South Wales, two family daycare centres, Newton Family Day Care and Little Oz Kids Family Day Care Pty Ltd — Oakhurst, were warned. Four childcare centres had a compliance action issued, while Cooinda Early Learning Centre OOSH, a service which provides care to primary school children after school hours, was asked to improve its standards.
Western Australia had the highest number of centres warned. Four centres that care for primary school aged children before and after school have been told to improve their standards. Seven other family and centre-based centres have been given six months to lift standards. Provider Lex Education has received a warning for two of its centres.
The big question facing the task of childcare safety reform
The NQS ranks each centre on how it manages educational programs, children’s health and safety, the setup of play areas, staffing, relationships with children, partnerships with families, governance and leadership.
Education Minister Jason Clare says the centres have six months to improve.
“These centres need to lift their game or they will face further consequences,” he said in a statement.
The government can either cut funding to a centre, place conditions on a centre’s Child Care Subsidy (CCS) approval, have the approval suspended or cancelled. The CCS approval is essential for a centre to operate.
Early Childhood Education Minister, Jess Walsh, said that while the vast majority of educators do the right thing, the compliance notices serve as a warning.
“Today’s action should signal to all early childhood education and care providers that the National Quality Standards are not optional, and that all services must be up to scratch,” she said in a statement.