The legislation is the Child Protection (Working With Children) Act 2012.
Under the legislation, a child is defined as a person under the age of 18 years.
Child-related employment is defined as any employment that primarily involves direct unsupervised work with children in a range of settings. For example, work in schools and TAFE institutes, hospitals, residential settings, child care services and foster care are regarded as child related employment.
It is the employer's responsibility to:
- Register online with the new Working With Children Check
- Verify every new paid employee online before hiring them
- Verify current paid workers and all volunteers (new and current)
An employer must ensure the worker has a clearance to work with children, or a completed Check application is in progress.
The only way to accurately determine a person's clearance status is by verifying their Working With Children Check online. Paper evidence of a clearance should not be accepted.
Further information for employers on the Working With Children Check are available on the Office of the Children's Guardian website.
Commissioner for Vocational Training