The national legislative changes all have child safety at their heart. The Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) and VECRA will be publishing more information about new requirements for providers.
The Australian Government is introducing the National early childhood worker register.
The Register will improve how regulatory authorities across Australia monitor, identify and respond to risk related to people working with children in education and care services.
The Register is being rolled out in early February 2026 through NQA ITS.
All NQF services, including family day care (FDC) and outside school hours care services, will be required to upload information on their current workforce onto the Register from Friday 27 February 2026.
Approved providers must record information for all early childhood education and care service workers, including:
- educators
- volunteers
- students
- non-educator staff
- teachers (regardless of whether they are registered or accredited with a teacher registration body)
- nominated supervisors
- co-ordinators
- FDC educator assistants.
Approved providers will have until Friday 27 March 2026 to complete their Register updates.
VECRA encourages providers to prepare for the rollout of the Register, ahead of its launch in early 2026.
More information about the Register including frequently asked questions can be found on ACECQA’s website: National early childhood worker register.
Alongside the national changes, Victoria has introduced additional regulatory requirements.
Some of the changes that will impact Victorian providers and services include new obligations, for:
- services to display their compliance history
- providers to report any staff sexual misconduct to the regulator
- the ban on providers obtaining insurance that will indemnify them from penalties.
Information on the tailored information sessions for each sector type, and more detailed guidance on these regulatory changes will be shared soon in newsletters and other communications.
Read more at: Child safety reforms: National and Victoria-specific legislative changes.
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