Licensing criteria for home-based ECE services
Section 10 of the Education and Training Act 2020(external link) defines home-based ECE services as the provision of education or care, for gain or reward, to children who are under the age of 5 years, or who are aged 5 years but not enrolled at school, in:
- the children’s own home; or
- the home of the person providing the education or care; or
- any other home nominated by a parent of the children.
These services are licensed in accordance with the Education and Training Act 2020 under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008(external link), which prescribe minimum standards that each licensed service must meet. Licensing criteria are used to assess how the services meet the minimum standards required by the regulations.
For each criterion there is guidance to help services meet the required standards.
The publication of the criteria on its own can be downloaded as a PDF [PDF, 1.3 MB] and printed.
The licensing criteria were last updated in September 2022.
Health and safety practices
46 Health and safety practices standard: general
(1) The health and safety practices standard: general is the standard that requires every licensed service provider to whom this regulation applies to—
(a) take all reasonable steps to promote the good health and safety of children enrolled in the service; and
(b) take all reasonable precautions to prevent accidents and the spread of infection among children enrolled in the service; and
(c) take all reasonable steps to ensure that the premises, facilities, and other equipment on those premises are—
(i) kept in good repair; and
(ii) maintained regularly; and
(iii) used safely and kept free from hazards; and
(d) take all reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate procedures are in place to deal with fires, earthquakes, and other emergencies.
(2) Each licensed service provider to whom this regulation applies must comply with the health and safety practices standard: general.
The criteria in this section are grouped together by topic. Each criterion has also been given a short, descriptive title. These titles are provided only to help you navigate around more easily on the website - they do not form part of the criteria themselves.
In this section
- Hygiene - Criteria and guidance for HS1-HS3
- Emergencies - Criteria and guidance for HS4-HS7
- Sleep - Criteria and guidance for HS8-HS10
- Hazards and outings - Criteria and guidance for HS11-HS15
- Food and drink - Criteria and guidance for HS16-HS20
- Child health and wellbeing - Criteria and guidance for HS21-HS27
- Child protection - Criteria and guidance for HS28-HS32
- Notification - Criteria and guidance for HS33
- Supervision - Criteria and guidance for HS34