Provider Notifications and Reporting Obligations

The National Law, providers must notify the ACT Regulatory Authority, Children’s Education and Care Assurance (CECA) of any:

• Serious incidents that occur while children are being educated and cared for by the service.
• Complaints of serious incidents or that the National Law has been contravened.
• Circumstances at the service which pose a risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of a child or children.
• Any incident or allegation that physical or sexual abuse of a child or children has occurred or is occurring while the child or children are being educated and cared for by the service.
• Provider’s reasonable belief that physical or sexual abuse of a child or children has occurred whilst being educated and cared for (where an allegation has not been made).
• Change to information about approved provider. For example, notice of any appointment or removal of a person with management or control of service or change to address, principal office or contact details of approved provider.
• Change to information about a service. For example, any change to the hours and days of operation of the service, nominated supervisor provisions or proposed change to the premises.

Information about notification types and timeframes for notifying CECA and reporting requirements about children is available on the ACECQA website.

Notification types and timeframes | ACECQA

Reporting requirements about children | ACECQA

Providers must notify CECA within 24 hours of becoming aware of a:

• serious incident – see section 174(2)(a) National Law and Regulation 176(2)(a); or
• a complaint of a serious incident or that the Law has been contravened – see section 174(2)(b) National Law and Regulation 176(2)(b).

A complaint that the National Law was contravened includes concerns about unwitnessed child injuries, lack of staffing, educator interactions, poor hygiene etc.

Concerns may be raised by a staff member, parent, or member of the public. Notifiable complaints are not restricted to those raised with the provider via a formal grievance process.

When notifying CECA, all relevant fields and checkboxes must be complete and correct before submitting.

A serious incident is defined as any of the following:

• Death of a child while at the service or following an incident at the service.
• A serious injury, trauma or illness which a reasonable person would consider requires urgent medical attention from a registered medical practitioner, or for which a child has, or ought reasonably to have, attended a hospital.
• Any emergency for which emergency services attended.
• A child appears to be missing or cannot be accounted for at the service.
• A child appears to have been taken or removed from the service without authorisation.
• A child is mistakenly locked in or locked out of the service premises.
• Notification of allegation of physical or sexual abuse.
• Child disclosures and parental information alleging physical or sexual abuse at a service are considered to be complaints. (Regulation 175(2)(e))

• The full names of all people who were involved (staff, parents and children).
• A clear and concise description of what happened.
• A timeline of what happened leading up to the incident.
• A timeline of events.
• Who was present during the incident, especially any other persons who were involved and witnessed the incident.
• Incident, injury or illness report that includes the following (fictitious examples provided):
  • Child details (including age)
    1. Jasper Thomson, DOB 28/11/18
  • Time, date and description of incident/injury/illness:
    1. At 10.15 am on 28/11/22 in the preschool outdoor space, Jasper was playing tag with friends. Jasper tripped and fell into a bush next to the fence. Jasper cut his face on a sharp protruding branch.
  • Description of injury/illness
    1. Jasper sustained a 3cm laceration below his left eye.
  • Details of any action taken, including first aid provided
    1. Nell Wilson cleaned and disinfected the wound, then applied steri-strips and a dressing.
    2. Arlo Taberner trimmed the protruding branch and checked for any others.
  • Time and date of notification:
    1. Alex McIntosh phoned Jasper’s dad, Colin Thomson at 10.19am on 28/11/22 and left a message. Alex then phoned Jasper’s mum, Marni Thomson at 10:23am. Marni said she would collect Jasper.
  • Details of witnesses to incident (this can be either seen or heard)
    1. Alex McIntosh (Bilbies room leader), Ami Nguyen (assistant educator)
• If medical attention was obtained eg ‘Jasper was taken to The Canberra Hospital Emergency Department and wound was glued’, or ‘parent was advised to seek medical attention but decided not to’.
• Whether notifications were made to other government agencies. For example, Child and Youth Protection Services (CYPS) or ACT Ombudsman.
• Supporting information for incident, such as medical reports or photos of an injury or relevant location.
• Risk mitigation measures that are in place or will be undertaken to prevent a similar incident re-occurring.

• The full names of all people who were involved – staff, parents and children.
• Contact details of the person making the complaint, if available.
• A clear and detailed description of the complaint.
• Any risk mitigation measures put in place pending inquiry.
• Supporting documents, for example, emails, witness accounts, relevant prescribed records.

Notifications are initially assessed by an authorised officer to ensure they are actioned appropriately by CECA.

Full and accurate information helps to ensure the right response can be made and action taken quickly to ensure the health, safety and well-being of children.

If the notification is not complete or is missing critical information, an authorised officer will ask for additional evidence to complete the initial assessment. Not all matters are investigated.

Notifications may require additional assessment by CECA’s internal triage processes to determine if any further steps are required.