List of childcare centres that have never been inspected in Australia

An increasing number of childcare centres are operating without ever being inspected by a government official. Is your child’s centre one of them? See the list.

Taxpayers are paying millions of dollars in subsidies to childcare centres that have never been inspected by government officials.

One in 10 childcare centres have never had a government inspection, according to data from the last quarter.

That number of centres that have not been rated has jumped by a third in the last year, up from 1079 to 1625.

The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) data up until July 1, shows that the states and territories with the biggest backlogs are WA with 15 per cent of centres yet to be inspected and Victoria with 14 per cent.

Nine per cent of centres have not been rated in Tasmania; eight per cent in NSW, seven per cent in the NT, six per cent in Queensland and four per cent in SA.

Inspections are the responsibility of states and territories.

In the last year, 534 new centres have opened, half of which have not been assessed.

Centres are assessed on seven criteria – education; health and safety; physical environment; staffing; relationships with children; partnerships with families and communities and governance and leadership.

KindiCare founder Benjamin Balk. Picture: Supplied.

KindiCare app and website founder Benjamin Balk said in some cases services have been operating for three years or more but have never been inspected.

“If you ask any parent, they would have an expectation that if they pay for childcare that the centre they are paying is rated within two years,” he said.

“From a parent’s point of view you want to understand the quality of that service compared with the rest of the market.

“If they are charging more than average, parents want to know if what they are getting is value for money?”

Mr Balk said it was also an issue for taxpayers who were paying millions of dollars in subsidies to centres with no idea whether they are a quality service.

Has your childcare centre been inspected by officials? Photo: iStock

“Will Victoria still be using Covid as an excuse next year?” Mr Balk said.

“Is the department employing more people to cull the backlog?”

Mr Balk, who has just released the 2022 KindiCare Quality Index rating every childcare centre in the country, has given every service a unique score based on government ratings, parent and community reviews and feedback, plus other historical assessments.

He said his system downgrades centres that have not had an inspection within two years.

He said while his latest index has more than 1630 centres ‘not rated’, there are some that have been pulled into the bottom category, ‘fair’, if they have been operating for more than two years without an inspection.

A spokesman for the Department of Education said the Australian Government is working collaboratively with state and territory governments to improve the safety and wellbeing of children attending early childhood education and care services.

“States and territories are responsible for administering the National Quality Framework (NQF) and for the quality and safety of services, including assessments of these services,” the spokesman said.

The department did not respond to News Corp’s questions originally directed to Education Minister Jason Clare as to why the numbers have jumped and whether more pressure should be put on the state and territories to undertake these inspections in a timely manner.