Regulation of Education and Care

Service and provider approvals

All early childhood education and care providers and services and child care services must be approved to operate.  Early childhood providers and services approved to operate under the National Quality Framework (NQF) are listed on the National registers | ACECQA for education and care providers and services on the Tasmanian Licensed Child Care Services Register.

The table below shows the number of approved providers and services in Tasmania.

Applications for provider and service approval must be assessed and considered against legislative requirements. Regulatory Authority powers and functions the Education and Care Unit exercise include considering applications.  

Please note, not all applications result in an approval.

The table below shows the number of applications for provider or service approval approved in Tasmania.

New approvals

Authorised Officers conduct visits to monitor quality and compliance with legislative requirements. Monitoring visits are typically unannounced.

NQF Service visits 

Approved providers are required to notify the Regulatory Authority (section 174 of the National Law) of a range of serious incidents (defined by regulation 12 of the National Regulations) and circumstances at an education and care service, including complaints received by the service or provider.

Notification and complaint 

The Regulatory Authority also receives complaints directly from complainants, such as members of the community and families, some of these will relate to the same incidents reported by approved providers.

Complaints to the Regulatory Authority

The Regulatory Authority actively monitors provider and services and investigates and responds to allegations of non-compliance when it receives intelligence (including through notifications, complaints or service visits) about possible breaches of the legislation.

Total breaches 

Top 5 breaches of the National Law 

Top 5 breaches of the National Regulations 

Statutory sanctions including but not limited to Compliance Directions, Compliance Notices, Conditions on Service Approval can be applied in response to non-compliance where further enforcement action is deemed necessary to support the health, safety and wellbeing of children attending a service.

Compliance action taken

The Education and Care Unit as the Tasmanian Regulatory Authority ensures education and care services are assessed against the 7 quality areas of the National Quality Standard.  Services are given a rating for each of the 7 quality areas and an overall rating based on these results.

Assessment and Rating visits

Quality Rating