The Early Childhood Council (the ECC) is subject to a constitution that can be found on our website under “”.It is recommended members take the opportunity to read this document to better understand the purpose of the ECC.
The ECC is a membership body for independent licensed childcare centres. Under our Constitution, no other type of ECE service can join the ECC.
Our focus is on supporting centre owners, governance committees and managers to run successful centres.
Membership
4. The ECC offers two types of centre membership:
Provisional membership – for new centres that are still in the process of obtaining a license from the Ministry of Education.This membership class attracts a flat subscription. Provisional membership is annual and is generally renewed for up to two-years, although this can be extended on application.
Provisional Members have no voting rights
Full Membership – it is the centre that is the member, not individuals.Membership entitles the member to all the services the ECC has to offer, including free access to our website and tools and templates; discounted rates for professional development workshops, conference and publications; and access to special ranges of, or prices for, products or services from our range of preferred suppliers.The membership subscription is a formula based on your total licensed numbers across all centres under common ownership.
All the centres under common ownership are required to join.
Full Members have voting rights at General Meetings.
5. Invoices for current members will be sent in late January/early February for the following financial year (commences 1 April each year).
6. Members who pay their membership subscription between mid-March and 1st April pay the full subscription rate.
7. Members who have not paid their membership subscription by 1st April will remain on the membership register but will have their access to the member’s only section of the website suspended until the subscription is paid.These members will be contacted by the National Office to encourage renewal of their membership.This may include advising the member of the impact of the loss of their preferred supplier benefits.Details of these members will also be shared with Preferred Suppliers in an effort to encourage re-subscription.
8. Members who remain unfinancial as at 1st May will be removed from the membership register.Should the centre wish to re-join the ECC, they will be required to re-apply for membership as new, including payment of the joining fee.
9. New members who join the ECC after 30 June to the date the National Office closes for Christmas each year will pay a pro-rata of the full year’s membership subscription for that current financial year.
10. New members who join the ECC between January and March of the current financial year will pay a pro-rata amount for the remainder of that financial year plus the full subscription for the following year (so the maximum will be 15 months’ subscription).
Joining Fee
11. New members must pay a one-off membership fee of $100 (2022).This is exclusive of GST ($115 inclusive).
Payment Terms
12. Members have the option of paying their membership subscription in full at the time it is due, or electing to pay in three equal instalments (“spread payments”) coinciding with the Government’s bulk funding timetable (first working day of March, July and November).The spread payments option has an additional 10% admin loading.
13. All members paying by spread payments must meet the repayment schedule.If a payment is missed, the total amount outstanding is due immediately.
a. If a payment default relates to a membership subscription, the member’s membership is suspended from the moment the payment is defaulted.
b. If the total amount outstanding is not paid within 20 days following the default, the member’s membership is cancelled.
c. If the payment default relates to event registrations (conference and/or workshops), the member’s membership is suspended from the moment the payment is defaulted.
d. If the total amount outstanding remains unpaid for 20 days following the default, the total amount outstanding will be referred to debt collection with any additional debt collection costs added.
e. If any events related to the total amount outstanding have not yet occurred at the time of the default, and are at least one month past the default date, the amount of the registration will be credited against the total outstanding and the event registration cancelled.The revised balance becomes the total amount outstanding and is due immediately.
14. Any member who defaults a spread payment shall lose the future right to elect to pay by spread payments.
Provisional Membership
15. Centres may join as Provisional Members until they are licensed.They must shift to a standard membership upon becoming licensed, when they will either receive a rebate or pay extra fees, depending upon their circumstances.
16. The Provisional membership fee will be a fixed fee.
17. Provisional members are not subject to any early payment discount.
18. Provisional members may not join or retain their membership if they work at a non-member centre and each Provisional member’s compliance with this rule will be checked annually.
19. Applications to become a Provisional member must be approved by the ECC Executive.
20. Provisional members are required to pay the joining fee as detailed in clause 12 above.This is not charged again when they migrate their membership to a full membership.
21. The term of a Provisional membership shall not exceed two years, but may be reviewed at that point by the ECC Executive.
Transfer of Membership
22. Where the owner/manager of a member centre advises that the member centre has been sold, closed or transferred ownership
The ECC membership may be transferred to the new owner by sending the ECC an e-mail advising of the change.The new owner may be required to pay the joining fee outlined in clause 12.; or
The owner will be eligible for a refund of 1/2 of their subscription for the current financial year (1 April to 31 March) if before half-way through the year (ie: before 30 September).No refunds will be given in the second half of the year.
23. Where the owner of a current member centre sells only some of their centres, the centre(s) that has(have) been sold would need to apply for full membership as a new member, and pay the new member application fee and either the appropriate pro-rata of the full year subscription depending on the time of year. The old owner is not entitled to any (partial) refund from the ECC in such cases.
Privacy
24. Members’ names and contact details are not made available to anyone other than to ECC staff, the Executive, and ECC Preferred Suppliers (with whom the ECC has a contractual relationship that includes privacy responsibilities.