How to open a childcare centre: provider and service approval

Last reviewed: 8 November 2026. Checked against regulations 14 to 16, 24, 25, 27 to 29, 31 and 55 of the Education and Care Services National Regulations and ACECQA’s opening a new service guidance on 8 November 2026. Planning, building and council approvals are outside this guide.

The sequence, what each application must contain, the conditions that attach to a new service, and what you must have in place in the first months.

The steps in order

1. Check local requirements: planning and development approval from council, building rules, food business registration and working with children checks. ACECQA lists these as things to check before applying.
2. Apply for provider approval through the NQA ITS. Each person with management or control (PMC) needs a PRODA account to verify their identity.
3. Apply for service approval for the site, with premises plans, policies and a nominated supervisor. You can apply before your provider approval is decided (regulation 24(a)(ii)).
4. Apply for Child Care Subsidy approval from the Australian Government if families will claim CCS. This is assessed under Family Assistance Law, after National Law approval.
5. Prepare your QIP within 3 months of the service approval being granted (regulation 55).

The regulator may ask applicants to complete an online knowledge assessment or an interview. ACECQA also offers a National Law and Child Care Subsidy approval course whose completion certificate can be submitted with an application. See ACECQA’s opening a new service page for the current process.

Provider approval

A provider approval lets a person or organisation apply for service approvals anywhere in Australia. An application by an organisation must include, among other things (regulation 15):

• its name, trading names, addresses and a contact person;
• documentary evidence of its legal status and constitution;
• a financial declaration; and
• information about each individual who will be a person with management or control of a service.

Each PMC must be a fit and proper person. In assessing criminal history the regulator must consider whether the person holds a current working with children check or card (or is a registered teacher) where the jurisdiction has a working with children law, and, except in Queensland, any matters in a criminal history record check (regulation 16). Each PMC completes ACECQA’s declaration of fitness and propriety. The regulator must decide within 60 calendar days of receiving a complete application. In NSW, the regulator’s guidance says a service approval must be applied for within 12 months of receiving provider approval.

Service approval for a centre-based service

A centre-based service application must include (regulation 24):

• the provider approval number (or contact details if the provider application is still pending);
• the service name, proposed start date, ages and maximum number of children, and hours and days of operation;
• a description of the service and of any proposed regular transport of children;
• a statement that the applicant has prepared the policies and procedures required by regulation 168; and
• each nominated supervisor’s name and contact details, with their written consent unless the supervisor is the provider.

It must also include premises information (regulation 25), including the street address and plans prepared by a building practitioner showing buildings, play and shaded areas, entries and exits, fences and gates, toilets, nappy change and food preparation areas, landscaping and natural environments, and a building practitioner’s calculation of unencumbered indoor and outdoor space (3.25 m² and 7 m² per child). For premises in a multistorey building, the regulator also considers whether each storey has direct egress to an assembly area for safe evacuation of all children, including non-ambulatory children (regulation 27). See the premises requirements guide.

The regulator may refuse if it is not satisfied the applicant can operate the service in a way that meets the Law, the Regulations and the National Quality Standard, for example because of financial or management capacity (regulation 28). It must decide within 90 calendar days of a complete application. Family day care applications have their own requirements in regulation 26: see the family day care guide.

Conditions on every new service approval

• Insurance: public liability cover of at least $10 million, or a state or territory government policy or indemnity (regulation 29).
• Quality improvement plan: the current QIP must be kept at the premises and made available to the regulator and, on request, to enrolled and prospective families (regulation 31), and the first one prepared within 3 months (regulation 55). See the QIP guide.

What to have ready before opening day

• All regulation 168 policies written and staff trained in them.
• A roster that meets ratios and qualification rules: use the roster checker, and see the early childhood teacher requirements.
• First aid, anaphylaxis and asthma trained educators on site at all times (regulation 136).
• Emergency and evacuation procedures with a risk assessment (regulation 97).
• Child protection and child safety training for every staff member, volunteer and student (child protection requirements).
• The prescribed information displayed under section 172 of the Law and regulation 173, and records systems for attendance, enrolment, medication and incidents (record keeping).

A new service is usually assessed and rated after it has been operating for a period. See NQS ratings explained and assessment and rating preparation.

Frequently asked questions

This page is a research summary, not legal or compliance advice. It is written in our own words from the sources linked on the page; confirm the position with your regulatory authority before relying on it for a compliance decision.