Legal requirements for child care providers in Queensland

As a child care provider in Queensland, your legal requirements depend on the type of service you offer.

Most services are approved and regulated by the National Quality Framework (NQF). These include:

• kindergarten
• long day care
• outside school hours care
• family day care.

Other services, regulated under the Education and Care Services Act 2013 (Qld), include:

• limited hours care, funded by the Queensland Government
• occasional care
• certain services, if on 30 June 2018 the service was in receipt of funding under the Budget Based Funding Program (administered by the Australian Government's Department of Education) and the service was not approved for the purposes of the family assistance law
• early childhood education and care services that are also disability services under the Disability Services Act 2006 (Qld)
• stand-alone services regulated under the Education and Care Services Act.

Learn more about requirements for child care service providers under the Act.

National Quality Framework

Nationally approved services are regulated under the NQF, which includes:

• the Education and Care Services National Law (Queensland) Act 2011
• the Education and Care Services National Regulations (National Regulations) - which provide detailed requirements for services
• a National Quality Standard (NQS) - for assessing the quality of services across Australia.

Read the requirements that you must meet in Queensland under the NQF.

Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA)

ACECQA is the national authority for early childhood education and care. It monitors the implementation of the NQF and the improvement in the quality of services across Australia. ACECQA also provides information sheets about the NQF.

Education and Care Services Act 2013

Some Queensland education and care services are not captured under the NQF.

The Education and Care Services Act 2013 (Qld) and the Education and Care Services Regulation 2013 (Qld) may apply to these services.

Services must meet requirements for educator qualifications, educator-to-child ratios, learning frameworks and staff first-aid qualifications. There are also requirements that apply to buildings and physical environments such as outdoor play spaces.

Read more about compliance, monitoring and enforcement under the legislation.

Unregulated services

Certain types of child care are not regulated in Queensland. Generally, these include, but are not limited to:

• personal arrangements (e.g. care shared by parents or provided by family members)
• care in a child's home
• activity-specific classes, coaching or tuition
• hotel or resort care
• conference, sport facility or shopping centre care
• mobile services
• transition to school programs
• vacation care offered for not more than 4 weeks per year
• care provided by nannies or babysitters.

Contact your local regional office to find out what legislation applies to your child care service.

Also consider...

• Visit the childcare contacts page for helpful services and hotlines.
• Find information on the Queensland Kindergarten Funding Scheme.
• Learn more about approved kindergarten programs in Queensland.
• Find out more about scholarships and grants for the child care and education industry.