Notifying the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority about incidents, complaints and other circumstances

Information about how and when to notify the Regulatory Authority.

When approved service providers must notify VECRA
Serious incidents
Complaints
Circumstances that pose a risk to a child’s health, safety or wellbeing
Incidents and allegations of physical and sexual abuse
Incidents that require the approved provider to close, or reduce the number of children attending, the service for a period
If an additional child, or children, attend the service in an emergency or under exceptional circumstances
Who else you need to report to
How to make a complaint about a service or authorised officer

Established on 1 January 2026, the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (VECRA) has independent powers to respond if a child’s safety, health or wellbeing is at risk.

The information on this page relates to all of the following services:

Long day care
Standalone kindergarten
Family day care
Outside School Hours Care
Vacation care
Occasional care
Limited hours services.

For accessibility the following legislation has been abbreviated:

the Education and Care Services National Law (National Law)
the Education and Care Services National Regulations (National Regulations)
the Victorian Children’s Services Act 1996 (CS Act)
Children’s Services Regulations 2020 (CS Regulations).

When approved service providers must notify VECRA

Approved providers must notify VECRA (the Regulatory Authority) as soon as they become aware, and no later than within 24 hours, if any of the following occurs:

a serious incident at the service
the service receives a complaint alleging that:

a serious incident has occurred while a child is being educated or cared for by the service, or
the following law or regulations have been contravened:

National Law or National Regulations, or
CS Act or CS Regulations

an incident or allegations of physical and/or sexual abuse has occurred or is occurring at the service
any circumstances at the service that pose a risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of a child
an incident that requires the provider to close, or reduce the number of children attending, the service for a period
if an additional child, or children, attend the service in an emergency.

To notify the Regulatory Authority of changes to approved provider and service details or changes to a service’s usual operating hours, see: Changes to early childhood provider and service details.

For guidance on how to report through the NQA ITS system, refer to the National Decision Tree.

Serious incidents

Serious incidents include:

the death of a child at the service, or following an incident occurring at the service
any incident involving serious injury or trauma to a child at the service which a reasonable person would consider required urgent medical attention or where the child attended or ought to have attended a hospital
any incident involving serious illness of a child at the service, where the child attended or ought to have attended a hospital
any emergency for which emergency services attended
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 manner that contravenes the National Regulations or CS Regulations.
is mistakenly locked in or out of the service premises or any part of the premises.

Timeframe

Within 24 hours of the death or incident or the time the person becomes aware of the death or incident.

How to notify the Regulatory Authority

NQF providers must:

notify online via the National Quality Agenda IT System (NQA ITS). CS Act providers must:
complete AS14: Notification of serious incidents, complaints and additional children attending in an emergency (PDF)
email the PDF to vecra@education.vic.gov.au.

References

National Law: section 174(2)(a) and section 174A(a) (FDC), National Regulations: regulation 176(2)(a). CS Act: section 114(2), CS Regulations: regulations 117 and 119.

Related obligations

Approved providers must also notify parents if a child is involved in any incident, injury, trauma or illness

as soon as possible, or
within 24 hours after the occurrence

Services must:

follow their incident, injury, trauma or illness policies and procedures and
complete the Incident, Injury, Trauma or Illness Record as soon as possible and within 24 hours after the occurrence or onset of the illness.

Complaints

Approved providers must notify the Regulatory Authority of any complaints alleging that:

a serious incident has occurred or is occurring while a child was or is being educated and cared for by the service; or
the National Law or National Regulations or the CS Act or CS Regulations have been contravened.

Complaints about other issues, such as fees charged by a service, do not need to be notified to the Regulatory Authority. The service should handle such complaints in line with complaints policy and procedures.

Timeframe

Within 24 hours of the incident or the time the person becomes aware of the incident.

How to notify the Regulatory Authority

NQF providers must:

notify online via the National Quality Agenda IT System (NQA ITS). CS Act providers must:
complete AS14: Notification of serious incidents, complaints and additional children attending in an emergency (PDF)
email the PDF to vecra@education.vic.gov.au.

References

National Law: section 174(2)(ab), National Regulations: regulation 176(2)(ab). CS Act: section 114(2)(b), CS Regulations: regulations 118 and 119.

Circumstances that pose a risk to a child’s health, safety or wellbeing

Approved providers must notify the Regulatory Authority about a broad range of circumstances arising at the service that pose a risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of a child.

Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

where service premises are in such a state of disrepair or neglect that it would pose a risk to children if they were in attendance.
where service premises have been damaged by flood or other natural disaster such that the health, safety or wellbeing of any children would be put at risk if they were in attendance.

Timeframe

Within 7 days of the approved provider becoming aware of the situation.

How to notify the Regulatory Authority

NQF providers must:

notify online via the National Quality Agenda IT System (NQA ITS). CS Act providers must:
complete AS10: Notification of change to information about an approved children’s service (PDF)
email the PDF to vecra@education.vic.gov.au.

References

National Law: section 174(2)(c), National Regulations: regulation 175(2)(c). CS Act: section 114(2), CS Regulations: regulation 118(2)(c)

Incidents and allegations of physical and sexual abuse

Approved providers must notify the Regulatory Authority of any incidents or allegations of physical or sexual abuse of a child at the service:

Any Incidents where the approved provider:

reasonably believes that physical abuse or sexual abuse of a child or children has occurred or is occurring
while the child is, or the children are being educated and cared for by the service.

Any allegations that

physical or sexual abuse of a child or children
has occurred or is occurring
while the child or the children are being educated and cared for by the service

If the allegation refers to incidents that are occurring outside the service, you need to notify other agencies including Child Protection

Read about your legal obligations to protect children and who else you need to report to.

Timeframe

Within 24 hours of the incident or allegation, or of the approved provider becoming aware of the relevant information.

However, if the allegation is a complaint alleging that a serious incident has occurred or is occurring at the service, it must be notified to the Regulatory Authority within 24 hours of the complaint.

How to notify the Regulatory Authority

NQF providers must:

notify online via the National Quality Agenda IT System (NQA ITS). CS Act services must:
complete AS14: Notification of serious incidents, complaints and additional children attending in an emergency (PDF)
email the PDF to vecra@education.vic.gov.au.

References

National Act: section 174(2)(a), National Regulations: regulation 175(2)(d) and 175(2)(e). CS Act: section 114,CS Regulations: regulations 118(e) and (f).

Incidents that require the approved provider to close, or reduce the number of children attending, the service for a period

Approved providers must notify the Regulatory Authority of any incidents that require the service to close temporarily.

For example, where the service premises has closed temporarily due to:

a localised issue or emergency specific to the service and/or its physical environment
a public health emergency that would cause immediate risks to children
bushfire
flood
cyclone

This requirement relates to potential risks to the safety, health and wellbeing of children. Approved providers are not required to notify the Regulatory Authority of:

holiday closures or
services closures due to staff availability

Timeframe

Within 24 hours of the provider becoming aware of the situation.

How to notify the Regulatory Authority

NQF providers must:

notify online via the National Quality Agenda IT System (NQA ITS). CS Act providers must:
complete AS10: Notification of change to information about an approved children’s service (PDF)
email the PDF to vecra@education.vic.gov.au.

References

National Law: section 174(2)(c), National Regulations: regulations 175(2)(b). CS Act: section 114(2)(c), CS Regulations: regulation 118(2)(b) and 119(2)(c).

If an additional child, or children, attend the service in an emergency or under exceptional circumstances

Approved providers must notify the regulatory Authority if an additional child or children attend the service in an emergency.

Centre based services under the NQF and children’s services

Centre based services under the NQF and children’s services may care for an additional child or children in an emergency for up to 2 days if the approved provider is satisfied, on reasonable grounds, that it will not affect the health, safety and wellbeing of all the children attending the service.

Examples of an emergency include when:

a child is determined to be in need of protection under a child protection order
the parent of a child needs urgent health care that prevents them from caring for the child

Family Day Care (FDC) services

An approved provider may give their approval for a FDC educator to educate and care for additional children in ’exceptional circumstances’, which are if:

all the children being educated and cared for by the FDC educator are siblings in the same family, or
a child is in need of protection under child protection law, and the FDC educator is the best person to educate and care for the child, or
the FDC residence or approved FDC venue is in a rural or remote area and no alternative education and care service is available.

Timeframe

All services must notify the Regulatory Authority within 24 hours of the commencement of the attendance of the child(ren) at the service
How to notify the Regulatory Authority

NQF providers must:

notify online via the National Quality Agenda IT System (NQA ITS). CS Act providers must:
complete AS14: Notification of serious incidents, complaints and additional children attending in an emergency (PDF)
email the PDF to vecra@education.vic.gov.au.

References

National Law: section 174(2)(c), National Regulations: regulation 175(2)(ca) and 176(2)(ba). CS Act: section 114(2)(c), CS Regulations: regulation 118(2)(d) and 119(2)(c)

Related obligations for FDC services

The approved provider must include the following details of the approval on the FDC register each time an approval is given:

the nature of exceptional circumstances
the name of the person granting approval to educate the additional children
the date that the approval was granted
the name and date of birth of each child educated and cared for under the approval
the time period the approval covers for the additional children An example of note in the FDC Register:

Nature of exceptional circumstance: Child Riley Smith (DOB 16/01/2019) is determined by the relevant authority to be in need of protection under a child protection law and the family day care educator is determined to be the best person to educate and care for the child.

Name of the person who granted approval: John Mitchell (approved provider)
Date approved: 05/07/2023
Duration of approval: 5 days in total period between 11/07/2023 to 25/07/2023

Who else you need to report to

In instances of suspected abuse or risks to the wellbeing of children, approved providers must notify the Regulatory Authority, and may also to need to report to another agency such as:

How to make a complaint about a service or authorised officer

Read about how to make a complaint about:

an early childhood service, or
about an authorised officer.

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Mini vic.gov.au

Notifying the Victorian Early Childhood Regulatory Authority about incidents, complaints and other circumstances

On this page

When approved service providers must notify VECRA

Serious incidents

Timeframe

Complaints

Timeframe

Circumstances that pose a risk to a child’s health, safety or wellbeing

Timeframe

Incidents and allegations of physical and sexual abuse

Timeframe

Incidents that require the approved provider to close, or reduce the number of children attending, the service for a period

Timeframe

If an additional child, or children, attend the service in an emergency or under exceptional circumstances

Centre based services under the NQF and children’s services

Family Day Care (FDC) services

Timeframe

Who else you need to report to

How to make a complaint about a service or authorised officer

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