Approved providers and persons with management or control under the National Quality Framework (NQF)
Approved providers
A provider approval is required to operate an early childhood education and care service under the NQF. Provider approvals are issued by state and territory regulatory authorities but are recognised nationally and ongoing. Approved providers can be individuals (a person) or entities (such as a corporation, eligible association or partnership), and are legally responsible for ensuring any education and care service they operate complies with the requirements of the NQF.
Prospective applicants can also seek provider approval from the Australian Government to administer Child Care Subsidy under the Family Assistance Law. For more information, visit the
Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) website.
Persons with management or control
A person with management or control (PMC) is defined under the
Education and Care Services National Law (National Law) as:
- persons within or outside the approved provider who are responsible for the executive decisions made in relation to the education and care service(s)
- persons who have significant influence over the activities or delivery of the service.
They have the same legal responsibility for the safety, health and wellbeing of children at their service as the approved provider.
Read the ACECQA fact sheets for both
prospective (PDF, 316KB) and
existing (PDF, 407KB) approved providers for guidance on who is a PMC in relation to your service.
Fitness and propriety
Approved providers and any PMC must be, and remain, a fit and proper person to be involved with children’s education and care. The Early Childhood Regulatory Authority (Regulatory Authority) assesses fitness and propriety during the provider approval process, as well as when the membership of the governing body of an existing provider changes.
Read the declaration of
fitness and propriety form for the matters the Regulatory Authority considers when determining fitness and propriety, including what constitutes evidence of management capability.
Read the Assessment of provider approval applications section for how the Regulatory Authority assesses management capability.
Acting on behalf of an NQF approved provider
Approved providers may authorise another person(s) in their service to act or communicate on their behalf with the Regulatory Authority. If doing so, they should seek their own legal advice about their legal responsibilities.
The approved provider will remain ultimately responsible under the National Law for any obligations arising from the duly authorised actions of its authorised representative(s).
The Regulatory Authority cannot disclose information about a service or service application to anyone other than the approved provider or their PMC.
Read more in
section 273 of the National Law and the notifications page.
Lodging a provider approval application
When to submit
Applicants wishing to open a new service must be an approved provider. Applications for provider and service approvals may be submitted simultaneously, however the provider approval must be granted before the service approval can be.
Applicants may apply at any time once they have all the prescribed information and documentation below. Note, if you are seeking to open your service at the start of the calendar year, you should lodge your application (and your application for service approval) prior to October in the previous year.
What to submit with your application
If you are an
individual (i.e. a sole proprietor), you will need to submit:
If you are a
person other than an individual (e.g. corporate body, parents and citizens association, partnership and government body), you will need to submit:
- all prescribed information under
regulation 15
- all prescribed information under
regulation 14 for each individual who will be a PMC of an education and care service to be operated by the applicant
- a completed
declaration of fitness and propriety form (i.e. PA02 form) and associated supporting evidence (including for management capability if relevant) for
- each person who comprises the applicant (i.e. in the case of a company this is every director on the board)
- each PMC of the proposed service (this may include all or some of the board and potentially other key officers of the corporation)
- an
application fee.
If your application does not meet these requirements, the Regulatory Authority will consider it to be incomplete and advise you in writing, specify what is outstanding and set a time period for sending it. If you do not comply, the Regulatory Authority will close the application, refund the fee and advise you in writing.
It is an offence to knowingly provide false or misleading information or documents to the Regulatory Authority.
How to submit
Visit
ACECQA for details on the process of lodging applications for provider approval, including:
- creating a
Provider Digital Access (PRODA)
- identifying PMCs
-
submitting your application in the National Quality Agenda IT System (NQA IT System).
Read the following ACECQA resources to guide you through lodging applications:
Assessment of provider approval applications
Approach
The Regulatory Authority takes a risk-based approach to assessing applications. Read more about our approach, called regulating for quality.
The Regulatory Authority will assess applications against the requirements under the National Law and National Regulations, including fitness and propriety of the applicant and any PMCs.
The Regulatory Authority may request further information to assist in deciding the application. If this occurs, you will be notified in writing.
Online assessment
To assess management capability, the Regulatory Authority may also require applicants and/or PMCs to complete an online assessment. This is a nationally consistent and rigorous way of requiring applicants to demonstrate their knowledge of the National Law and National Regulations and the responsibilities and obligations of an approved provider. For more information, visit the
ACECQA newsletter.
To prepare for the online assessment, prospective PMCs are strongly encouraged to complete the
National Law and Child Care Subsidy Approval eLearning course developed by ACECQA to learn about their roles and responsibilities.
Timeframes
Assessment of an application for provider approval commences when all prescribed information has been provided. The Regulatory Authority must decide applications for provider approval within
60 days.
If the Regulatory Authority requests further information, the time taken to provide it is not included in the 60 day timeframe. If the Regulatory Authority does
not receive the requested information within the specified time period, the application may be assessed against the requirements of the National Law and National Regulations based on the information already received.
Read the provider approval section in ACECQA's
guide to the National Quality Framework for more information about timeframes for assessing provider approval applications and how this is calculated.
Help and support
If you have questions about provider approvals, including fitness and propriety requirements, please email
ecis@qed.qld.gov.au.
Access more
supporting resources for applications from ACECQA.