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What you need to do#
You must tell the Education Review Office (ERO) if you decide to close your licensed early learning service for a short period of time. If you do not apply, you might be in breach of the Education and Training Act 2020 and the ECE Funding Handbook.
You need to state:
- when you intend to close
- how long you intend to close for
- the reason you are closing.
Apply for a temporary closure#
If you want to temporarily close your service, you must apply by completing an EC4 voluntary temporary closure application form.
From 1 September 2026, the Education Review Office (ERO) is responsible for licensing and regulating early childhood education services.
Funding and RS7 returns#
If your service closed temporarily, you must record this as a temporary closure in your student management system (SMS) or ELI Web.
Emergency closures#
The rules are different if you need to close your service for an emergency.
ECE Funding Handbook: 7-5 Emergency closure
How long you can close for#
You can temporarily close for up to 3 months. In some circumstances it may be possible to extend this. Contact the Education Review Office (ERO) to discuss this.
Email: [email protected]
If the closure lasts longer than the agreed amount of time, ERO may consider cancelling your licence.
What happens to funding when you close#
You will not receive funding while your service is voluntarily closed.
What you need to do to reopen your service#
Before your service can reopen, you must meet all the conditions outlined in your notice of voluntary temporary closure. These conditions must be fully met by the service provider who was granted the voluntary temporary closure prior to reopening.
If you intend to sell or transfer your service, you must first meet all the conditions in your closure notice and reopen the service before any amendment can be processed.
