Provider Category Review
The Department is committed to ensuring the availability of quality Out of School Hours Care (OOSH) Services at NSW government schools. As part of this commitment, the Department has reviewed provider categories.
Under the agreements for the operation of OOSH services at NSW government schools (OOSH Licences), providers are allocated a provider category based on the provider meeting certain criteria. The current provider categories are:
| Provider categories | |
|---|---|
| Category A | Parents and Citizens (P&C) Association incorporated under the Parents and Citizens Associations Incorporation Act 1976 |
| Category B | Not-for-profit organisations other than those in Category A |
| Category C | For-profit organisations |
Provider category confirmation
The provider category review has included steps taken to confirm that current providers meet the relevant criteria for the provider category identified in their OSHC Licence. For example, if a provider’s OOSH Licence identifies the provider as:
- Category A – searches of public registers and/or surveys and requests for supporting documentation from providers were undertaken to determine if the provider is a P&C Association or if the provider meets the criteria for ‘an other incorporated school-based parent organisation’
- Category B – searches of public registers and/or surveys and requests for supporting documentation from providers were undertaken to determine if the provider is a not-for-profit organisation
After undertaking this process, it was determined that the vast majority of OOSH Licences identify the correct provider category.
The steps taken to confirm providers meet the criteria for the provider category identified in their OOSH Licence do not affect existing OOSH Licences. Failure to confirm a provider meets the relevant criteria does not result in a recategorisation of that provider in their existing OOSH Licence or a change to licence fees.
The purpose of the provider category confirmation was to gather information about provider categories, including information about how the current category criteria applies in existing OOSH Licences and data about the distribution of the different provider categories across all existing OOSH Licences.
Information Sessions
The Department held an OOSH Provider Category Review Information Session for service providers at 11 am on Wednesday 22 December 2021.
A second Information Session was held on 19 January 2022. This session also ran through the OOSH tender process.
An OOSH industry briefing was held on 19 June 2024. You can find a recording to this session here and a recording of the Q&A session is available here.
If you have any further questions, please contact us at BASCReform@det.nsw.edu.au