2-1 The link between licensing and funding
Introduction
This section provides a brief overview of the link between licensing and funding.
For more information on any of these topics, contact your Ministry local office. Details are on the Contact Us page.
Licensing
There are legal requirements that must be met to operate any premises as an early childhood service.
Licences are issued to early childhood education services under the Education (Early Childhood Centres) Regulations 2008.
Licences set the standards for curriculum, premises and facilities, health and safety, and governance and management of early childhood services.
Certified playgroups
Certificated Playgroup funding is not covered in this Handbook.
Playgroups are exempt from licensing requirements. This is in recognition that, with Playgroups, more than half the children attend with a parent, and that Playgroups do not operate for longer than four hours per day.
Playgroups do not receive the same level of funding as licensed ECE services.
- Certificates are issued to Playgroups under the Education (Playgroups) Regulations 2008.
- Certificates set the standard for curriculum, ratio, premises and facilities, health and safety practices and administration.
- Funding information and requirements for Playgroups can be found in the online Playgroup Funding Handbook.
Contact your Ministry local office for further information.
Support for licensing
The Ministry can provide information to help groups to set up early childhood education (ECE) services.
Steps for setting up services, useful website links and other handy resources are available to all groups on the Establishing an ECE Service section.
Contact your Ministry local office for further details.
How to find legal information
Below is a list of links to the important documents referred to in this section. They are all available from the Government's legislation website or at any bookstore that sells government publications.