Children's services regulated under state law

Services regulated under the Children’s Services Act 1996

Children’s services offer care to children on a non-regular, or ad hoc basis. They include:

limited hours services (where children attend for a short period of time)
occasional care services
early childhood intervention services
mobile services
school holiday care programs that operate for less than 28 days a year
certain services that formerly received funding under the Commonwealth Government’s Budget Based Funded program or indigenous Advancement Program and were not funded for Child Care Subsidy(opens in a new window).

These services are often in settings such as neighbourhood houses and recreational facilities.

Children's services operate under the:

Children’s Services Act 1996(opens in a new window) (CS Act) (sometimes referred to as the 'state law') and
Children’s Services Regulations 2020(opens in a new window) (CS Regulations).

A children’s service provides education and care for four or more children under the age of 13 years when the parents of the children are not physically present and:

where the service is provided for a fee or reward, or
while the parents of the children use sports, leisure or other facilities provided by the provider of the service for the children.

Services that provide education and care to children on a regular basis are regulated under the National Quality Framework(opens in a new window), not under the CS Act. These services include:

preschools (kindergartens), long day care services, outside school hours care services, and family day care services
school holiday care programs that operate for 28 or more days a year.

Some services and activities for young children are not included in either regulatory scheme(opens in a new window).

Service approval types

Two types of service approval can be granted under the CS Act:

Limited hours services – services that provide education and care to each child for not more than 3 hours per day and 6 hours per week
Occasional care services – all other services. These services have no limit on the number of hours that children can be educated and cared for.

Regulatory requirements for children’s services

Most of the regulatory requirements for children’s services are the same as those for centre-based education and care services under the NQF.

However, there are some areas where the requirements differ:

The National Quality Standard does not apply to children’s services.
There is no assessment and quality rating of children’s services against the National Quality Standard.
There is no requirement for children’s services to have an educational leader.
There is no requirement for children’s services to have a quality improvement plan.

There are also some slightly different requirements for staffing (educator qualifications and early childhood teacher attendance) and outdoor space, depending on the type of service approval.

Of the educators required to meet the required educator to child ratio:
- at least 50% of the educators must have, or be actively working towards an approved diploma level education and care qualification
- all other educators required to meet the educator to child ratio, must hold, or be actively working towards at least an approved Certificate III qualification.
Approved qualifications are those approved by Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA)(opens in a new window).
Educators without approved qualifications whose historical minimum training was recognised under the Children’s Services Regulations 2009 continue to have their training recognised under the CS Regulations. These educators undertook a specific bridging course instead of a Certificate III.

First aid, anaphylaxis and asthma management training

The requirements for first aid, anaphylaxis and asthma management training in children’s services are the same as for centre-based services in the NQF.

Read about First aid, anaphylaxis and asthma management training(opens in a new window).

Indoor and outdoor space requirements

All children’s services must provide 3.25 square metres of indoor space per child.
Limited hours services are not required to have an outdoor space.
Occasional Care services must provide 7 square metres of outdoor space per child.

Before the children’s services regulatory regime was aligned with the NQF in 2020, some service licence types were not required to have outdoor space.

Occasional care services that were former Limited Hours Type 2 services that do not have 7 square metres of outdoor space per child can operate under the occasional care service type while maintaining the previous 5 hours per day and 15 hours per week limitation on providing education and care for any child.

Verandah space:

may be included in either an indoor or outdoor space calculation with the approval of the Regulatory Authority
can be calculated for only one (either indoor or outdoor) of those spaces, not both.

Transportation provided or arranged by the service

The requirements for children’s services are the same as the requirements under the NQF relating to:

the regular transportation of children on transport provided or arranged by the service
Transportation provided as part of excursions and regular outings.

Read more about the NQF transportation requirements for early childhood services(opens in a new window) including videos and other resources. While this information was created for NQF services, it may assist children’s services in meeting the requirements for transportation. Please disregard the specific references to the Education and Care Services National Regulations as regulation references are different for the CS Regulations.

Persons with Management or Control of a service (PMC)

From 1 July 2023, the definition of persons with management or control (PMC) in the Children’s Services Act 1996 (CS Act) was broadened to include persons who:

have authority or responsibility for, or significant influence over:
the planning, direction or control of:
- the activities of the service or
- the delivery of the service.

Following these changes a PMC can now be a person:

employed by the provider OR
a person employed by a third-party management company associated with the approved provider OR
a volunteer OR
a person without a formal or contractual role who has significant influence over the planning, direction or control of the activities or the delivery of the service.

Approved providers must complete the following forms:

AP08 Notification of change to information about approved provider form
AP02 Declaration of Fitness and Propriety

and submit them by email to: licensed.childrens.services@education.vic.gov.au(opens in a new window).

Resources and guidance for children's services

The following resources can be used by children’s services:
As the regulatory requirements for children’s services are aligned with the NQF, much of the guidance provided for NQF services can be applied to children’s services.
ACECQA’s Guide to the National Quality Framework (opens in a new window) and other resources including information about the approved learning frameworks.
Some children's services may be considering moving to the NQF regulatory regime. The fact sheet below sets out matters to help approved providers make a decision:
- Information for Children's Services considering moving to the National Quality Framework (PDF, 145KB)(opens in a new window)
- Information for Children's Services considering moving the National Quality Framework (DOCX, 446KB)(opens in a new window).

Register of children's services

To find an approved children’s service, check the:

Register of Approved Children's Services – November 2024 (XLSX, 94.3KB)(opens in a new window)

For education and care services that operate under the NQF, check the national registers(opens in a new window).

Forms

Download the relevant form from the list below.

Complete the form and sign it, attaching all the information and documents requested.

For help completing the form, read the:

How to submit forms

Completed applications and notifications must be submitted by email to the Regulatory Authority at licensed.childrens.services@education.vic.gov.au for assessment and processing.

Incomplete forms

Forms will not be processed unless:

all sections are complete
all supporting documents and colour copies of identification are supplied
prescribed fees are paid, where applicable.

Each form outlines the required information and documentation for the application or notification.

Providing false or misleading information to the Regulatory Authority is an offence under the CS Act.

- AP01 - Application for Provider Approval (PDF, 1MB)
- AP01 - Application for Provider Approval (DOCX, 122KB)

- CS03 - Internal Review of a Reviewable Decision (PDF, 886KB)(opens in a new window)
- CS03 - Internal Review of a Reviewable Decision (DOCX, 94KB)(opens in a new window)

Fees and penalties

In line with the Monetary Units Act 2004, all fees in the Children's Services Act 1996 and Children's Services Regulations 2020 are expressed in fee units rather than dollars and automatically indexed each year on 1 July. The value of a fee unit each year is fixed by the Treasurer.
The tables (in the Children's service fees document) convert the fee units to dollar amounts. The fees are effective from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. There is no GST payable on fees.
In line with the Monetary Units Act 2004, all penalties in the Children's Services Act 1996 and Children's Services Regulations 2020 are expressed in penalty units rather than dollars and automatically indexed each year on 1 July. The value of a penalty unit each year is fixed by the Treasurer.
The tables in the Children's service regulatory penalties document below convert the penalty units to dollar amounts. The penalties are effective from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. There is no GST payable on penalties.

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