Child safety reforms
Strengthening the safeguards for children in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings in NSW.
Changes are being made at a national and state level to strengthen safety in ECEC.
This page will be updated regularly and outlines the current steps services and providers must take to ensure they are complying with the new child safety reforms.
NSW reforms
The Children (Education and Care Services National Law Application) Amendment Act 2025 amends how the National Law applies in NSW to strengthen the safety and wellbeing of children in ECEC.
The legislative changes in the Act fast-track and significantly expand on nationally agreed reforms and respond to findings from the independent review into early childhood education and care regulation in NSW.
The Act legislates more than 30 reforms which will commence progressively over time, starting with the following changes.
What services and providers must do
Approved providers and their services must review and amend their policies to ensure they clearly reference the new legal provisions under Sections 166A and 5AA.
Personal devices capable of taking, storing or transmitting images or videos are now prohibited while working directly with children in ECEC.
Services must display their compliance and quality history (Section 172(3) and (4) of the National Law NSW) to provide greater transparency for families.
We will update this list as further reforms are rolled out.
National reforms
Changes to the National Law, National Regulations and the National Quality Standard are being introduced in stages in response to ACECQA’s 2023 Review of Child Safety Arrangements under the National Quality Framework (PDF 2.3 MB).
What services and providers must do
Services must be free from the use of vaping substances and vaping devices (regulation 82).
Notification timeframes of incidents or allegations of physical or sexual abuse to a child while being educated or cared for by an education and care service have reduced from 7 days to 24 hours (regulation 176).
Key dates
- 20 November 2025 – All services in NSW must display their compliance and quality history by this date. This history must be displayed at the entrance of the service using the short-form compliance and quality history template.
- 1 January 2026 – Refinements to Quality Areas 2 and 7 of the National Quality Standard will commence to enhance the focus on child safety. Further information on these national reforms will be made available on the ACECQA website.
Enhancing transparency
The NSW Regulatory Authority for early childhood education and care is committed to keeping families, the community and the ECEC sector informed about the actions it takes to keep children safe.
Current transparency initiatives
- Publishing information about enforcement actions taken against early childhood providers and educators. This includes prosecutions, suspensions, cancellations and enforceable undertakings.
- NSW services needing to display their compliance and quality history (Section 172(3) and (4) of the National Law NSW).
- StartingBlocks.gov.au publishing information on a service’s:
- quality rating
- date of the last visit by the regulatory authority
- conditions (placed on a service to ensure compliance with the National Law and Regulations)
- provider-linked services.
Future transparency initiatives are under development and more information will be provided soon.