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.

HS31 Use of alcohol and other drugs by other people at the home

  • Criteria
    • Criteria

      Health and Safety practices criterion 31

      All practicable steps are taken to ensure that children do not come into contact with any person on the premises who is under the influence of alcohol or any other substance that has a detrimental effect on their functioning or behaviour.

      Rationale/Intent:

      The criterion aims to uphold the safety and wellbeing of children by ensuring children attending the service are not exposed to the risks of persons under the influence of alcohol or other harmful substances.

  • 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.

      It is important for service providers and educators to have considered in advance the types of situations that might occur in a home-based service and how these would be best handled. This would be an appropriate discussion during an induction process and could include:

      • What would the educator do if a parent or caregiver arrived to drop off or collect a child and they were under the influence of alcohol or any other substance?
      • What to do if the educator is working in the home of the child and an adult present at the premises consumes alcohol in the presence of the educator and/or child.