One year after NSW Parliament passed stronger child safety laws for the early learning sector, the state’s independent regulator has reported increased compliance activity, suspensions and enforcement action against providers and educators.
The reforms were introduced following an independent review commissioned in early 2025 and passed Parliament in October that year.
They strengthened penalties for providers, expanded powers to suspend educators and services, and introduced tighter restrictions on personal devices used around children.
The NSW Early Learning Commission was subsequently established as an independent regulator and began operating in December 2025.
Almost 9,000 Regulatory Visits
Since its establishment, the Commission has:
- suspended 53 educators, staff or volunteers considered to pose a risk to children
- cancelled eight services and suspended another 10
- conducted 8,776 regulatory visits, with 71 per cent unannounced
- taken 876 compliance actions against providers, services and educators
- issued $324,290 in fines for breaches of regulatory requirements.
The number of compliance actions was 108 per cent higher than during the comparable period in 2025.
Recent Penalties Against Providers
Recent enforcement action includes a $17,220 fine issued to Western Future Group Pty Ltd in August over staff qualification requirements.
Guardian Community Early Learning Centres Pty Ltd was fined $20,610 in September for failing to notify the Commission of alleged inappropriate conduct involving an educator at The Rumpus Room Warabrook.
The company also received combined penalties of $45,180 in June relating to notification requirements and an alleged incident involving a child.
Affinity Education Group Pty Ltd was separately fined a combined $67,770 for failures relating to serious incident notifications and informing parents.
Stronger Oversight and Information for Families
The reforms introduced a requirement for services and regulators to place children’s safety, rights and best interests at the centre of regulatory decisions.
Since November 2025, early learning services have also been required to display a short summary of their compliance and quality history, giving families greater access to information about individual services.
The Commission separately publishes enforcement actions including suspensions, cancellations and other confirmed regulatory action.
Its expanded powers also allow action against individual educators and volunteers where child safety concerns arise, including suspension or additional supervision requirements.
Recruitment requirements have also been strengthened, while restrictions apply to the use of personal devices capable of taking, storing or transmitting images while staff are working directly with children.
Further Investment in Regulation
The reforms are backed by an additional $55 million over four years to increase frontline regulatory capacity, expand service visits and support measures including CCTV.
Despite increased compliance activity, the NSW Government says applications for new service approvals in the latest quarter were 26 per cent higher than in the same period a year earlier, suggesting the tighter regulatory environment has not reduced the overall pipeline of new services.
The Commission will continue monitoring early childhood education and care services across NSW, with regulatory and enforcement data published regularly.