Childcare complaints policy: what regulation 168(2)(o) requires

Last reviewed: 29 October 2026. Checked against the Education and Care Services National Regulations, reprint current as at 12 August 2026.

This page sets out what the complaints policy must contain, the notification and display rules that attach to it, how the 2026 child-focused requirement is read, and the gaps officers most often record under Element 7.1.2.

What regulation 168 requires

Regulation 168(1) carries a penalty of $3,300 for not having the policy, and a compliance direction may be issued. Regulation 170 requires the provider to take reasonable steps to ensure staff follow it, regulation 171 requires it to be accessible to staff and available for inspection, and regulation 172 requires 14 days’ notice to families before a change that may significantly affect them.

The provisions the procedures must comply with

Provision	What it requires	Penalty
s 174(2)(b) Law	The approved provider must notify the regulatory authority of any complaint alleging that a serious incident has occurred or is occurring while a child was or is being educated and cared for, or that the Law has been contravened.	$13,500 individual, $68,700 otherwise
r 176(2)(b)	Time to notify a section 174(2)(b) complaint: within 24 hours of the complaint.	Part of s 174
r 175(2)(e), r 176(2)(bc)	An allegation that physical or sexual abuse of a child has occurred or is occurring while being educated and cared for (other than one already notified under s 174(2)(b)) must be notified within 24 hours of the allegation being made or the provider becoming aware of it.	Part of s 174
s 174A Law, r 176A	A family day care educator must notify the approved provider of any complaint alleging a serious incident or a contravention of the Law.	$6,600
r 173(2)(b), s 172 Law	The name and telephone number of the person at the service to whom complaints may be addressed must be displayed so it is clearly visible from the main entrance.	$10,200 individual, $51,600 otherwise (s 172)
r 173(2)(e)	The contact details of the regulatory authority must be displayed in the same place.	As above
r 181	Information in records kept under the Regulations, including complaint records that identify a child or staff member, may only be disclosed in the circumstances listed (care or treatment of the child, the parent under r 177, the regulatory authority, as required by law, or with written consent).	$6,600
r 12	Defines serious incident: death, serious injury or trauma needing urgent medical attention or hospital, serious illness needing hospital, emergency services attending, a child missing, taken in contravention of the Regulations, or locked in or out.	Definition

The duty in section 174(2)(b) is triggered by the allegation, not by whether the service thinks it is made out. A parent who says a child was left unsupervised, or hit, or that ratios were breached, has alleged a contravention of the Law, and the 24-hour clock starts when the complaint is received.

What the policy must contain

1. Who receives complaints. The named person and phone number (regulation 173(2)(b)), how the role is covered when that person is absent, and the regulatory authority’s contact details alongside.
2. Channels a child can use. The child-focused requirement in 168(2)(o)(i): how children are told they can raise a concern, who they can tell, that they will be listened to and believed, and how an educator records a disclosure. The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations (Principle 6) describe what child-focused complaint processes look like and are the reference assessors use.
3. Classification on receipt. A step that sorts every complaint on the day it arrives: does it allege a serious incident (regulation 12)? a contravention of the Law or Regulations? physical or sexual abuse? harmful sexual behaviour by a child? If any apply, the notification procedure runs in parallel with the response.
4. The 24-hour notification procedure. Who lodges the notification through the regulatory authority’s portal (the NQA ITS), what it contains, who is told internally, and how the time the complaint was received is recorded so the 24 hours can be shown.
5. Harmful sexual behaviours. The procedure for 168(2)(o)(ii): immediate safety of all children involved, informing the parents of each child, notification to the regulatory authority where section 174 or regulation 175 applies, any child protection reporting duty under the state law (regulation 84 requires staff to be told what that duty is), and the support plan for the child exhibiting the behaviour as well as for any child affected.
6. Acknowledgement and timeframes. When a complainant is acknowledged, who investigates, how long each stage takes, and how the outcome is communicated. The Regulations set no timeframe for the service’s own response; the policy sets one and the service is then measured against it.
7. Records. A complaints register, what is recorded, who can see it, and the confidentiality rule in regulation 181. Complaint records relating to a child are kept under regulation 183 for 3 years after the child last attended, or until the child is 25 if the complaint relates to an incident, injury, trauma or illness.
8. Escalation and external options. That a complainant may go to the regulatory authority directly, and for CCS matters to the Commonwealth, and that doing so will not affect the child’s place.
9. Review. How complaints feed into the Quality Improvement Plan and policy review, and how the policy itself is reviewed.

What assessors look for

Complaints sit under Element 7.1.2 (management systems, which since 2026 must enable a service that is child safe) and Standard 6.1 (families are supported, their views respected). Officers ask to see the register, pick a complaint and trace it: when it came in, how it was classified, whether a notification was due and when it was lodged, how the family was told the outcome, and what changed afterwards. A policy that reads well but has no register, or a register with entries that should have been notified and were not, is recorded as a gap under 7.1.2 and, where a serious incident was involved, as a compliance matter in its own right.

Common gaps

• No child-facing pathway. The policy describes how a parent complains and says nothing about how a child does.
• The 24-hour duty is treated as applying only to incidents the service witnessed, not to allegations made by families.
• The displayed complaints contact is a former nominated supervisor.
• Complaints about staff conduct are handled as HR matters and never classified against section 174(2)(b).
• No procedure for a complaint about a child’s sexualised behaviour, which the 2026 amendment now requires expressly.

Frequently asked questions

This page is a research summary, not legal or compliance advice. Element and regulation wording is reproduced from the current reprint of the National Regulations; confirm the position with your regulatory authority before relying on it for a compliance decision.