The Early Childhood Council (the ECC) is subject to a Constitution [link] that states the organisation’s governance processes and objectives. The Constitution also underpins ECC Membership Terms and Conditions.
The ECC is a membership body for independent licensed education and care services (either private or community owned). Under our Constitution, no other type of ECE service can join he ECC.
Our focus is on supporting centre owners, governance committees and managers to run successful early learning services.
1. ECC Membership – Eligibility and Types
1.1 Eligibility
Early Childhood Education services classified as Education and Care Services by the Ministry of Education are eligible to become ECC members. This includes groups of education and care service providers under common ownership and stand-alone owner-operated education and care service providers.
Membership is considered pre-approved until signed off by the ECC Executive Committee.
1.2 Types of Membership
The ECC offers two types of membership: Full and Provisional.
1.2.1 Full Membership
Full membership entitles the member access to all the services and benefits the ECC has to offer, including tools and templates, discounted rates for professional development webinars/workshops, conference and publications, and access to special ranges of, or prices for, products or services from our range of preferred suppliers.
It is the centre or group of commonly owned centres that is the member, not individuals. All the centres under common ownership are required to join.
The membership subscription is a formula based on total licensed numbers across all centres under common ownership.
Full members have voting rights at General Meetings.
1.2.2 Provisional Membership
Provisional membership is for new centres or groups that are still in the process of obtaining a license from the Ministry of Education. They must shift to full membership upon becoming licensed, however they are not required to pay the full subscription amount until the following invoicing period.
Provisional membership is a fixed fee, which is paid annually and is generally renewed for up to two-years, although this can be extended on application. Provisional members are not subject to any early payment discount and are required to pay the joining fee; this is not charged again when they migrate to a full membership.
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.
Applications to become a provisional member must be approved by the ECC Executive. The term of a provisional membership shall not exceed two years but may be reviewed at that point by the ECC Executive.
Provisional members have no voting rights.
2. Joining ECC
“New member” refers to a centre or group of centres that has not previously been a member with ECC. Former ECC members who did not have current membership on 31 March of the previous membership year are considered a new member.
New members must pay a one-off membership joining fee of $150 + GST and have their membership approved by the ECC Executive Committee, who have five days from receipt of the monthly new member report to raise an objection.
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 14 months’ subscription). New members who join prior to the next invoicing period will receive the previous years pricing.
New members who join the ECC after 30 June to the date ECC closes for Christmas each year will pay a pro-rata amount of the full year’s membership subscription for that current financial year.
3. Renewing Membership
Emails will be sent to current members on or before 1 March for the following membership year (starting 1 April), advising them to check their centres and total licensed places on the ECC portal. After this information has been confirmed, an invoice will be automatically generated and emailed to the member key contact.
Members are obligated to confirm centre and licence data at the beginning of each new membership year. If ECC finds that this data was incorrect and resulted in an invoice that was not accurate, we reserve the right to seek further payment to cover the difference.
Invoices for the proceeding membership year are due on 1 April. Members who have not paid their membership subscription will remain on the membership register until 25 April (inclusive); after this date, access to member exclusive material will be revoked. These members will be contacted by ECC to encourage renewal of their membership and advise the member of the loss of benefits.
Members who pay their invoice between 1 March and 25 April will receive a prompt payment discount (removal of the $100 + GST admin fee).
Members who have not paid their membership subscription after 25 April will be removed from the membership register. Should the centre or group wish to re-join the ECC after this date, they will be charged an administration fee of $100 + GST.
4. Payment Terms
4.1 Instalment Payments
Members have the option of paying their membership subscription in full before it is due or electing to pay in instalments either coinciding with the Government’s thrice-yearly bulk funding timetable (first working day of March, July and November) or monthly. The instalment payment option attracts an additional 10% administration fee.
All members paying by instalments must meet the repayment schedule. If a payment is missed, the total amount outstanding is due immediately.
Any member who defaults a spread payment shall lose the future right to elect to pay by instalment payments.
4.2 Payment Default
If a payment default relates to a membership subscription, the membership is suspended from the date the payment is defaulted.
If the total amount outstanding is not paid within 20 days following the default, the membership is cancelled.
If the payment default relates to event registrations (conference and/or webinars and workshops), the membership is suspended from the date the payment is defaulted.
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.
If the event(s) that the defaulting member has registered for have not occurred at the time of the payment default and is at least one month in advance of the date of payment default, the event ticket costs paid by the defaulting member will be credited against the total outstanding payment and the event registration will be cancelled. The revised amount becomes the total outstanding payment and is due immediately.
5. Transfer of Membership
When a member sells a centre or centres, ECC membership is automatically revoked.
If the new owner(s) is not a current member but wishes to join ECC, they will need to apply for membership and pay the joining fee and appropriate subscription amount depending on the time of year.
If the new owner(s) is already a current member with ECC, the additional licensed spaces will be accounted for in the next membership year.
Should the new owner not wish to join ECC, they are not eligible to any refund.
6. Purchase of New Centres / Increase of Licensed Places
If an ECC member purchases a new centre part way through a membership year or increases the number of total licensed places at a current centre, they are advised to inform ECC of this change.
Members will not be required to pay for additional licensed places until the following membership year.
7. Refunds
Members who close or sell a centre or centres part way through a financial year are not eligible to any refund on their ECC subscription.
8. Privacy
As part of ECC membership, members imply consent for names and contact details to be make available to ECC staff, the ECC Executive Committee, and ECC Preferred Suppliers (with whom the ECC has a contractual relationship that includes privacy responsibilities).
