What is the childcare incident notification timeframe?
For a serious incident, the approved provider must notify the state or territory regulatory authority as soon as practicable and within 24 hours of the incident, or of becoming aware of it. Parents must also be told within 24 hours. A smaller group of circumstances, such as a general risk to children's health or safety, has a 7 day timeframe under the National Regulations.
Education and Care Services National Law, section 174
Education and Care Services National Regulations, regulations 12, 86, 87, 175 and 176
ACECQA, Notification types and timeframes
ACECQA, National Decision Tree
What counts as a serious incident
Regulation 12 of the Education and Care Services National Regulations defines a serious incident. It includes the death of a child, an injury, trauma or illness for which a child attended or should have attended hospital or received urgent attention from a medical practitioner, attendance by emergency services, a child who appears to be missing or cannot be accounted for, a child taken from the premises without authorisation, and a child mistakenly locked in or out of the premises. Section 174 of the National Law creates the duty to notify. The provider also has to notify any complaint that alleges a serious incident has occurred, or that the National Law has been breached.
The 24 hour and 7 day categories
Regulation 176 sets the timeframes. Serious incidents, and complaints alleging a serious incident, must be notified within 24 hours. Since 1 September 2025, incidents and allegations of physical or sexual abuse of a child while in care must also be notified within 24 hours, where the previous timeframe was 7 days. Any incident that requires the service to close, or reduces the number of children who can attend, is also a 24 hour notification. Circumstances that pose a risk to the health, safety or wellbeing of children, but do not fit the categories above, sit in the 7 day category. Family day care educators must report serious incidents to their approved provider, who then notifies the regulator.
Telling parents and keeping records
Regulation 86 requires the service to notify a parent as soon as practicable, and no later than 24 hours, of any incident, injury, trauma or illness involving their child, not just serious ones. Regulation 87 requires an incident, injury, trauma and illness record to be completed, again as soon as practicable and within 24 hours. In practice this means the same event can trigger three timelines at once, the parent notification, the written record and the regulatory notification. Services should have a clear procedure that names who is responsible for each step so nothing is missed on a busy day.
How to notify
Notifications go to the regulatory authority through the NQA IT System, the national online portal. ACECQA publishes a National Decision Tree that walks you through whether an event must be notified and which form to use. If you are unsure whether something meets the threshold, notify anyway and explain your reasoning, as regulators would rather receive a notification that turns out not to be required than miss one. Requirements are national, but each state and territory regulatory authority may publish its own guidance, so check the regulator for your jurisdiction.
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