Before you sign with a childcare management company, find out how often they will visit your service in person, who your team will speak to each week, how quickly they respond and what is written into the agreement. Then ask to speak with Approved Providers they already support. Their day to day experience will tell you what a sales meeting cannot.
Signing with a childcare management company is a big decision for any Approved Provider. The agreement usually comes with a significant cost, and the support you receive will shape how your service runs for months or years. So our advice is simple. Do your research, ask questions and, wherever you can, speak to existing clients.
Promises are easy to make in a first meeting. The question to ask is what the relationship looks like six months after the agreement is signed.
Why your choice of management company matters
Under the Education and Care Services National Law, the Approved Provider holds the legal obligations for an early learning service. ACECQA sets out those obligations in its guide to the National Law and Regulations. A management company can carry a lot of the day to day work, from policy reviews to leadership coaching, but the responsibility stays with you. That is why you need a clear picture of how a management partner works on the ground.
Quality Area 7 of the National Quality Standard covers governance and leadership. Good governance depends on accurate, current knowledge of what is happening in your rooms, with your educators and with your families. A partner who rarely visits cannot give you that.
What Approved Providers have told us in 2026
Throughout 2026 we have heard from a large number of Approved Providers moving their services to ELC Group, and many describe the same experience. They signed agreements with significant costs attached. The support promised during the sales process never turned into regular service visits. In some cases, months went by without anyone from the management company visiting the service or working alongside the team.
These providers were paying for a partnership and receiving an invoice. Most only found out how little support they would get after they had signed, which is why the questions you ask at the start are so important.
What questions should you ask a childcare management company?
Take these questions into every meeting, and ask for the answers in writing. A company that plans to deliver regular support will have no trouble committing to it.
| Question to ask | Why it matters | What a good answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| How often will you visit our service in person? | Regular visits are how a partner gets to know your service, your team and your families. | A set schedule of onsite visits, written into the agreement. |
| Who will we speak to each week? | Your Centre Director needs a reliable person to call when something comes up. | A named consultant who knows your service and makes contact every week. |
| How accessible is your team between visits? | Compliance, staffing and family concerns rarely wait for the next scheduled visit. | Clear response times and a direct phone number or email. |
| What does the support include, and what costs extra? | An unclear scope leads to surprise invoices and gaps in support. | A written scope that lists each service area and any additional fees. |
| How will you work with our Centre Director and educators? | Advice that skips your team rarely changes practice in the rooms. | Coaching, mentoring and shared problem solving alongside your leaders. |
| Can we speak with providers you currently support? | Existing clients can tell you what the relationship looks like after signing. | A willing yes, with contact details for current Approved Providers. |
How to check references with other Approved Providers
When you speak with a current client, keep your questions practical. Ask when someone from the management company last visited their service and what they did while they were there. Ask who they speak to each week and how quickly that person gets back to them. Ask whether the support has matched what was promised in the first meeting, and whether they would sign the same agreement again.
If a company is reluctant to connect you with existing clients, treat that as useful information.
How can you tell a partnership from a contract?
Once an agreement is in place, the signs show up quickly. This table sets out what to look for in the first few months.
| Area | Signs of a working partnership | Warning signs |
|---|---|---|
| Onsite presence | Consultants visit consistently and spend time in the rooms with educators. | Visits are rare, cancelled or replaced with emails. |
| Weekly contact | A named person checks in with your team every week. | You have to chase someone for a reply. |
| Communication | Problems are talked through openly and solved together. | Updates arrive as reports with no conversation. |
| Your team | Centre Directors and educators build skills and confidence. | Your team is left to work things out alone. |
| Value | You can point to the support you received each month. | Invoices arrive but the support is hard to name. |
Why onsite presence matters for quality and culture
It is hard to understand a service or build a strong culture from a distance. Every service is different. Each team has its own strengths and challenges, and the issues that affect quality often only show up when you are in the building, watching how the morning routine runs or how an educator talks a family through a tricky moment.
Regular, collaborative onsite visits build the kind of trust that lets a Centre Director raise a concern early, before it turns into a compliance issue. Presence matters for educators too. When the same consultant turns up week after week, educators get to know them, ask questions and try new ideas with support close by. That is how capability grows inside a team.
How ELC Group works with Approved Providers
At ELC Group we see childcare management as relationships, collaboration and being present. Here is what that means in practice.
| Our commitment | What it means for your service |
|---|---|
| Weekly contact | Regular contact with your team every week, so questions get answered while they still matter. |
| Consistent onsite visits | Time at your service with your Centre Director and educators, working through real issues together. |
| Open communication | Honest conversations and shared problem solving with Approved Providers, Centre Directors and educators. |
| Building capability | Coaching and mentoring that grow your team's skills in quality, compliance and educational practice. |
Our consultants come from teaching, Educational Leadership, centre management and Approved Provider roles, so our advice is grounded in practical experience. Through our childcare management consultancy we support services with regulatory compliance, leadership coaching, educational leadership, child safety, operations, payroll compliance and financial oversight. We also help with assessment and rating, recruitment, training and staff development and branding and marketing.
We want every Approved Provider we work with to feel supported and confident that we are invested in their success. A management agreement works when both sides treat it as a working partnership, and that is the standard we hold ourselves to.
Frequently asked questions
What does a childcare management company do?
A childcare management company supports Approved Providers to run their early learning services. Depending on the agreement, that can include compliance with the National Law and Regulations, policy and procedure reviews, leadership coaching, educational leadership, recruitment, financial oversight and preparation for assessment and rating.
How often should a childcare management company visit my service?
There is no single rule, and every service has different needs. What matters is that visits happen on a regular, agreed schedule and that the schedule is written into your agreement. If months pass between visits, the company cannot know your service well.
Is the Approved Provider still responsible if a management company is engaged?
Yes. Under the National Law, the Approved Provider holds the legal obligations for the service. A management company supports you to meet those obligations, which is why regular contact and visibility matter.
What should a childcare management agreement include?
Look for a clear scope of services, how often onsite visits will happen, who your weekly contact is, expected response times, all fees and how either party can end the agreement. If something was promised during the sales process, ask for it in writing.
Does ELC Group work with providers outside Victoria?
Yes. ELC Group is based in Melbourne and supports Approved Providers in every state and territory.
Talk to ELC Group about support for your service
If you are weighing up a childcare management company, or you are not getting the support you expected from your current one, we are happy to talk it through. Call 0417 590 173 or email contact@elcgroup.au.
Get in touchFurther reading
Related articles from ELC Group cover the educator shortage in 2026, occupancy pressure and what to do about it and how to achieve Exceeding NQS. ACECQA's pages on the National Law and Regulations and Quality Area 7 are useful references for every Approved Provider.