Licensing criteria for home-based ECE services

Section 10 of the Education and Training Act 2020(external link) defines home-based ECE services as the provision of education or care, for gain or reward, to children who are under the age of 5 years, or who are aged 5 years but not enrolled at school, in:

  • the children’s own home; or
  • the home of the person providing the education or care; or
  • any other home nominated by a parent of the children.

These services are licensed in accordance with the Education and Training Act 2020 under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008(external link), which prescribe minimum standards that each licensed service must meet. Licensing criteria are used to assess how the services meet the minimum standards required by the regulations.

For each criterion there is guidance to help services meet the required standards.

The publication of the criteria on its own can be downloaded as a PDF [PDF, 1.3 MB] and printed.

The licensing criteria were last updated in September 2022.

GMA8 Annual budget

  • Criteria

    • Criteria

      Governance Management and Administration criterion 8

      An annual budget guides financial expenditure.

      Documentation required:

      An annual budget setting out the service's estimated revenue and expenses for the year. The budget includes at least:

      • staffing costs, including leave entitlements;
      • professional development costs;
      • equipment and material costs for the ongoing purchase of new equipment and consumable materials; and
      • provision for operational costs and maintenance of the premises as appropriate.
      Rationale/Intent:

      The criterion will provide the Ministry of Education with evidence of the service's ability to continue to meet regulatory standards and criteria and afford the financial costs of providing a quality licensed ECE service.

      Amended 21 July 2011

  • Guidance

    • Guidance

      Any examples in the guidance are provided as a starting point to show how services can meet (or exceed) the requirement. Services may choose to use other approaches better suited to their needs as long as they comply with the criteria.

      An annual budget must be prepared.

      When setting and reviewing the budget, the service provider can:

      • develop criteria for allocating resources
      • identify priorities for expenditure
      • establish clear procedures for monitoring income and expenditure.

      A budget of income and expenditure should be broken down on a monthly basis.

      The annual budget should be developed at the same time as the annual plan.