Quality Assurance in Children's Services
The National Childcare Accreditation Council (NCAC) was appointed by the Australian Government to administer the following Child Care Quality Assurance (CCQA) systems:
- Family Day Care Quality Assurance (FDCQA) for family day care scheme
- Outside School Hours Care Quality Assurance (OSHCQA) for outside school hours care services
- Quality Improvement and Accreditation System (QIAS) for long day care centres
The broad objective of the CCQA systems is to ensure that children in care have stimulating, positive experiences and interactions that nurture all aspects of their development. The CCQA systems do this by defining quality child care, providing a way to measure the quality of care provided by the service and identifying areas for ongoing quality improvement.
While there are voluntary accreditation systems for children's services in other countries, the Australian systems are unique as they are the first CCQA systems in the world to be linked to child care funding through legislation and to be funded and supported by a Federal Government.
For more information on the National Childcare Accreditation Council click here.
CCQA and Child Care Benefit
CCQA is linked to Child Care Benefit payments received by services on behalf of the parents of children in their care. FDCQA is also linked to the Operational Assistance approval for family day care schemes. All services are required to register with NCAC and meet the requirements of the appropriate CCQA system in order to be eligible to receive Child Care Benefit.
Continued Child Care Benefit approval for services involves the service's compliance with the requirements of the CCQA five step process and its demonstrated commitment to maintaining a satisfactory standard of quality child care, including continuing improvement to the standard of care in accordance with the Quality Areas and Principles set out in the relevant Quality Practices Guide.
NCAC may report services that either fail to comply with or make satisfactory progress through CCQA to the Australian Government department responsible for administering Child Care Benefit.
The Secretary of the Department may impose sanctions on a service that has failed to meet its CCQA obligations. The sanctions may include suspending or canceling a service's Child Care Benefit approval
For more information about compliance see Child Care Quality Assurance Compliance Requirements.
Lodging a Complaint About a Child Care Service
If you have concerns about the quality of care provided by a long day care, family day care or outside school hours care service you are encouraged to discuss these issues with the service. NCAC recognises that most complaints or concerns are best dealt with and resolved directly with the service. Quality services will have clear, transparent grievance and complaints handling procedures. If you have raised concerns about a quality issue with a long day care, family day care or outside school hours care service, but your concerns remain unresolved please read the documents below.
Tips for Raising Concerns with a Child Care Service
Lodging a Complaint about a Child Care Service
Reference: National Child Care Accreditation Council accessed online 4/9/09
