A Working with Children Check (WWCC) tells the Office of the Children’s Guardian one very important thing – if there is something in a person’s background, known and on record, that means they cannot work with children.

Because of the WWCC, thousands of adults who pose an unacceptable risk to children have been banned from child-related work.

However, a WWCC doesn’t flag the potential for harmful conduct that may occur towards children or patterns of behaviour that are a risk to their safety if an incident or concern has not been discovered and reported to the relevant authorities.

When you’re recruiting staff or engaging adults to work with children in early childhood education and care, the WWCC is just the first step.

WWCCs must be implemented along with strong child safe recruitment, policies and reporting practices. This will help make sure you’re not just keeping out the wrong people, you’re welcoming in the right people in.

Identify who needs a WWCC

The first step to meeting your WWCC obligations is to identify which roles at your service require a WWCC clearance and ensure everyone in, or applying for, those roles has a valid clearance.

Parent volunteers who participate in one-off activities and individuals under 18 years of age – including paid employees, students and volunteers – don’t need a WWCC.

However, services should have policies and procedures to manage regular visitors and maintain appropriate child safety measures, such as determining when a parent who volunteers regularly and has direct contact with children is required to hold a clearance.

Verify staff WWCCs

Before a person starts work in a child-related role at your service, you must verify their WWCC clearance online using the Office of the Children’s Guardian’s employer portal. Sighting a person’s WWCC clearance number is not enough. You must also keep a record of your verification.

When your service verifies an employee’s WWCC clearance number online, it tells the Office of the Children’s Guardian that the person has worked for, or applied to work at, your service.

A key strength of the WWCC system in NSW is that a WWCC isn’t just a point-in-time check – it’s continuously monitored for new records.

If an employee gets a new relevant police or workplace record, the Office of the Children’s Guardian is notified and may change the status of their WWCC. The Office of the Children’s Guardian will then contact your service, and any other employer who has verified the worker’s WWCC, to remove the person from child-related work.

Check WWCC clearances upon renewal

Staff and volunteers who require a WWCC must continue to hold a valid WWCC clearance during their employment or period as a volunteer at your service.

A WWCC lasts for 5 years and must be renewed before it expires, otherwise the person cannot continue in child-related work.

Verification isn’t a one-off activity. Employers must verify renewed WWCC clearances within 5 working days after the expiry date.

If an employee leaves your service but later returns, their WWCC clearance must be verified again, just as it would for any new staff member.

Keep accurate records

With good record keeping, WWCC verifications and renewals can be easily tracked. Remember, it is an offence to employ a person without a valid WWCC clearance in child-related work and penalties apply.

The key records you must keep for each employee under the Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012 include the individual’s:

• full name (first, middle and last name)
• date of birth
• WWCC number
• verification date (the date you verified their WWCC)
• WWCC status (clearance, barred, interim barred or not found)
• WWCC expiry date
• worker status (paid or volunteer).

The Office of the Children’s Guardian provides record keeping and checklist templates that you can use to meet your WWCC obligations.

Practise child safe recruitment

The WWCC helps reduce the risk of employing people who may be unsuitable for child-related work, while child safe recruitment practices help identify people who are suitable to work with children.

People who want to work with children should be able to show they understand child safe practices and how to maintain professional boundaries with children and families. They must demonstrate an understanding of their reporting obligations and that the safety and wellbeing of children is your service’s priority.

In your role descriptions, job advertisements and interview questions, demonstrating your commitment to child safe practices will help to attract the right people and deter the wrong people.

Once you have a preferred candidate, conducting reference checks and verifying their employment history is vital.

The Office of the Children’s Guardian’s handbook, Child Safe Recruitment and the Working with Children Check, includes a referee interview template to help you make sure a candidate is not only qualified, but suitable to work in your service.

The handbook includes other templates and tips that will help you choose the best people to work with the children in your care.

You can also register for the Office of the Children’s Guardian’s free face-to-face and online seminars for more information and guidance on the Child Safe Standards, risk management, child safe recruitment and more.

Embed child safety in policies, practice and service culture

When a new staff member joins your service, it’s important that you welcome them with a clear set of expectations about child safety. Use the Office of the Children’s Guardian’s Induction Checklist to review and strengthen your service’s existing onboarding processes.

As part of building a child-safe environment, your service’s code of conduct, statement of commitment to child safety, and reportable conduct and child safe reporting policy should be made available to every applicant, all staff members and every parent.

The Child Safe Standards require organisations to create processes that respond to complaints in a child-focused way. A child-focused complaints process supports children and others to raise any issues or concerns around child safety.

A culture where questions, concerns and complaints from parents, staff and children are welcomed and acted upon helps build safety and trust in your service.