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What an incident is
An incident is an event that caused, or may have caused, harm to a child while in care of a service.
Reports about an incident at an early learning service can come from:
- the service itself, or another service
- whānau | families
- members of public
- a statutory agency such as the Police.
Notifying a specified agency
If a service has had to notify a specified agency of an incident, you must also notify us.
A specified agency is any government agency or statutory body. This includes:
- New Zealand Police
- Ministry of Health
- Oranga Tamariki
- WorkSafe New Zealand
- the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand.
What happens when we receive a complaint or report of an incident
If we are notified of a reported incident or receive a complaint, we usually contact the service provider first.
Sometimes we need to keep the identity of a complainant confidential. We will contact the complainant to let them know if we are investigating.
We will:
- acknowledge the complaint or incident report within 2 working days
- confirm whether the complainant has followed the service’s complaints policy and procedure
- assess risk on children's education, health, safety and wellbeing
- decide whether further action is required from us.
We may review your policies, procedures and records to make sure your service has complied with regulatory requirements.
We may also ask your service to investigate an incident or complaint and report your findings to us.
You can follow your own processes for this, or use our complaint or incident investigation templates.
Investigation report template - complaintInvestigation report template - incidentVisiting your service
We may visit your early learning service to inspect the premises, observe teaching and ask staff for information. This is permitted under section 626 of the Education and Training Act 2020.
Section 626 of the Education and Training Act 2020 – New Zealand Legislation
We usually contact a service before a visit.
Visiting unannounced
We may visit unannounced when we have serious concerns about children’s health and safety.
If we visit unannounced, one of our officials will:
- introduce themselves and explain why they are there
- provide evidence of their authorisation to enter the premises – this is located on the back of each officials' identification card
- let you know when they leave.
After our visit, we will write to you to outline next steps. We will explain any requirements your service needs to meet.
Investigations by other agencies
Other agencies, such as the New Zealand Police or the Teaching Council, may also investigate a reported incident.
If this happens, we will let you and the complainant know.
We will tell you:
- the purpose of their investigation and area of responsibility
- how information will be shared between agencies and how the complainant's privacy will be protected
- any agreed actions decided between all agencies involved.
What happens to your licence during an investigation
We may issue a written direction. Your licence may be reclassified to provisional or suspended during an investigation. This depends on the health and safety risk to children.
After an investigation
We will contact you to let you know of the investigation outcome.
If we find no evidence of regulatory non-compliance, the complaint or incident will be closed.
If we find areas of non-compliance, we may:
- issue a written direction
- place your service on a provisional licence while you meet areas of non-compliance within a specified timeframe, or
- suspend or cancel your licence in serious cases of non-compliance.
This also applies if we find issues of non-compliance that are not related to the reported incident or complaint we were investigating.
Licence changes are permitted under the Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008.
Secretary may reclassify licence as provisional licence – New Zealand Legislation
Suspension of licences – New Zealand Legislation
If other agencies are also investigating, we may need to wait for their results before the incident can be closed. We will contact you with information about this.
Making a complaint about an investigation
If you are not happy with how an investigation has been managed, you can contact the Manager Integrated Services at your regional office.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can make a formal complaint with the Office of the Ombudsman.
