Working with children requirements
Working with Children Checks
Employers have legal obligations around working with children. It is against the law to engage anyone who is 18 years or above in child-related work without a current Working with Children Check (the Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012).
Services must verify Working with Children Checks prior to employees engaging in child-related work, and every time the Working with Children Check is renewed.
Service policies and procedures should clearly outline processes for ensuring Working with Children Checks are checked and verified before an educator, including volunteers, students and other staff can engage in child-related employment at the service, and who is responsible for this process.
For family day care (FDC) services, the approved provider must also ensure Working with Children Checks for FDC assistants and people aged 18 years or over who reside at an FDC residence (regulation 163). Keep accurate records to ensure you continue to meet your obligations.
If a Working with Childrens Check of your employee has been suspended or barred, you will be notified by the Office of the Children’s Guardian.
Information and resources can be found on the Office of the Children’s Guardian website.
Other helpful information might include:
- information and resources for employers, including verifying a staff member or volunteer, templates and sample documents
- multilingual information about the Working with Children Check
- updating record keeping requirements (PDF 124KB) to support child protection
- record keeping (PDF 891KB) in family day care.
A Working with Children Check is the assessment of a person’s ability to work safely with children based on any known incidents that indicate the person poses a risk of harm.
It is important services implement child safe practices in addition to adhering with Working with Children Check requirements to ensure the safety of children.
Prohibition notices
Employers are responsible for verifying their staff do not hold a prohibition notice issued within NSW or any other states and territories. It is an offence to engage a person affected by a prohibition notice (regulation 188).
Prohibition notices issued from other states and territories still apply in NSW.
Checking prohibition notices on National Quality Agenda IT System (NQA ITS)
Providers must check the NQAITS portal during the recruitment process for any prohibition notices issued to an individual.
Providers can request information about specified prohibited persons and suspended Family Day Care educators by selecting the ‘Register Search’ button in the portal and searching the individual’s name.
Prohibition notice declaration forms
ACECQA’s Prohibition Notice Declaration form (DOCX 135KB) should also be completed by prospective staff before employment, for example, during the application, interview or onboarding stages before working directly with children. This form can be used by prospective staff to declare they do not have any prohibition notices that would prevent them from working with children.
The Compliance history form (DOCX 135KB) should also be completed by prospective person in day-to-day charge, nominated supervisors and family day care educators before employment, for example, during the application, interview or onboarding stages before working directly with children.
Guidance on prohibition notices and enforceable undertakings
Providers should capture prohibition checks through NQAITS. The Prohibition Notice Declaration and Compliance history forms should also be captured in their recruitment processes and supervision policies and procedures to ensure all staff are suitable to work with children before they commence employment.
Providers are also encouraged to ask staff to disclose any enforcement actions, including enforceable undertakings that are issued to them.
For guidance on enforceable undertaking and prohibition notices, visit ACECQA’s website.
Staff, volunteers or students under the age of 18
Individuals under 18 years old are exempt from holding a Working with Children Check. This means there is no restriction on engaging a staff member, volunteer or student who is under 18 years old in a service.
Under the Education and Care Services National Regulations, educators under the age of 18 must not work alone at a service and must be adequately supervised by an educator over the age of 18 at all times (regulation 120). Persons in day-to-day charge, nominated supervisors and family day care educators and assistants must be at least 18 years old (regulation 117B, 117C and 119).
Additional child safe strategies to consider if engaging someone under 18 might include:
- providing clear expectations about staff interactions with children
- review of onboarding and induction processes, and providing additional training and guidance for new staff as required
- organisations should undertake a police check if needed (a guardian is required to sign on behalf of the person under 18).
Child protection training
Child protection training is an important way for educators to develop skills and knowledge to support and protect children who are at risk of harm, address educators’ duty of care requirements, and promote children’s rights and safety.
In NSW, nominated supervisors and persons in day-to-day charge must complete a child protection course approved by the NSW Regulatory Authority (section 162A of the National Law). Services also have ongoing responsibilities to ensure that the nominated supervisor, staff members, volunteers and students at the service maintain up-to-date knowledge of child protection law and their obligations under this law (regulation 84 of the National Regulations).
For more information, see the department’s guidance on Child protection training requirements. This includes information on services’ child protection training and awareness requirements, approved courses refresher training, and considerations under the National Quality Standard.
In addition to the information on working with children requirements provided on this page, there are minimum qualification requirements for staff working in services. More information on qualification requirements can be found on ACECQA’s website.
Mandatory reporting obligations
Staff working in early childhood education and outside school hours care services have obligations to report child safety issues or child protection concerns. More information on reporting obligations, including who to contact, can be found on the department’s website.