WA Education and Care Services National Amendment Regulations 2018

On 23 January, Western Australia made the Education and Care Services National Amendment Regulations 2018 which amend the Education and Care Services National Regulations 2012. The amending regulations support changes to the assessment and rating process, which come into effect nationwide on 1 February 2018. In particular, they adopt the revised National Quality Standards.

The amending regulations adopt many of the regulations made by the Education and Care Services National Further Amendment Regulations 2017 (in relation to assessment and rating) adopted in other jurisdictions (see previous blog):

• amendment of regulation 59 regarding Significant Improvement Required rating 
• inclusion of Part 7.11 which relates to transitional provisions in relation to the assessment and rating process following the changes to the NQS
• amendment of Schedule 1 which is the new NQS
• amendment of Schedule 2 in relation to fees for applications for the highest rating 

Interestingly, the WA regulations do not include new regulation 70A adopted in other jurisdictions. Regulation 70A states that an application for the highest rating level (excellent rating) can only be made if the service is rated at the second highest rating level (exceeding NQS) in each quality area. This is apparently inconsistent with section 152(5) which states that:

An application may be made for the highest rating level only if the current overall rating of the service is the second highest rating level.

This is because regulation 62(3)(b) allows the awarding of an overall exceeding rating without a service obtaining an exceeding rating in all quality areas. These provisions are in similar terms in both sets of legislation.