The focus on childcare centres has been growing in intensity as of late following multiple incidents highlighting concerns around child safety particularly regarding negligent hiring, negligent supervision, general negligence, negligent training, and negligent retention and investigation.
Further reform
Recent increased scruitny on childcare centres has highlighted multiple areas of concern for the sector leading to a number of reforms under the National Quality Framework (NQF) by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority to promote child safety, notably the following:
- NQF Reporting Reform (2025) – As of 1 September 2025, early learning centres under the National Quality Framework must notify regulatory authorities within 24 hours of any allegation, complaint, or incident involving physical or sexual abuse; this represents a significant shift from the previous 7 day window.
- Victoria’s Child Abuse Insurance Mandate (2019) – Organisations funded by the Victorian Government that provide services to children must be insured against child abuse.
- Ban on Mobile Phones – A nationwide ban on mobile phones within childcare centres will take effect from September 2025.
- Mandatory Child Safety Training – All childcare workers will be required to undergo mandatory national child safety training from 2026.
What childcare operators can do to reduce their risk
With the above in mind, childcare operators must ensure that their safeguarding strategy remains robust and compliant with evolving state and national requirements. Some proactive steps include:
- Revising existing policies and introducing new child safety policies and procedures.
- Ensure policies and procedures are regularly updated and current versions are made available on the organisation’s website.
- Establishing a clear incident reporting procedure, with separate channels for children, young people, and staff.
- Undertaking an enhanced recruitment process by requiring new staff to provide at least two references, completing qualification validation, undertaking both a police background check, and a Working With Children Check for all staff, not just those who require it and cross-referencing any results with the Barred Persons Register.
- Making child safety a standard agenda item in Board meetings.
- Designating child safety officers at both the Board and staff levels.
- Providing regular child safety training for all personnel.
- Ensure you have protocols in place to enable rapid response (within the mandated 24 hours) to any allegations.
Risk transfer via insurance
To complement the existing risk mitigation strategy, childcare operators are encouraged to review their existing insurance cover. Historically, under a General Liability policy, cover for abuse and molestation risks may have been ‘silent’ or added via a small sublimit. However, recent shifts in insurer appetite have led to these exposures being routinely excluded or heavily restricted utilising wording such as the below:
This Policy does not indemnify the Insured or any third-party beneficiary for any liability directly or indirectly caused by, arising out of or in any way connected with Abuse.
For the purpose of this Exclusion Abuse means: (i) acts of hurting or injuring mentally or physically by maltreatment or ill-use (ii) acts of forcing sexual activity, rape, or molestation (iii) repeated or continuing contemptuous coarse or insulting words or behaviours.
As a result, organisations are now increasingly required to obtain a standalone Sexual Abuse and Molestation Liability (SML) policy which is designed to protect organisations such as childcare operators, for allegations of sexual abuse, molestation, or mistreatment of a sexual nature. See further details on coverage under a SML policy here. Whilst childcare operators may be particularly concerned with ensuring cover for the elements detailed within part (ii) of the exclusion above, consideration should also be given to coverage for psychological risk exposures. See our article here for further information.
