The NSW Children’s Guardian Janet Schorer has issued an alert to all adults who are in child-related roles to check the expiry date of their Working With Children Check.
The Working With Children Check has been operating in NSW for five years so people who got their Check at the beginning will soon be due to renew.
“Some WWC numbers issued by the Children’s Guardian will start to expire from 15 June 2018,” Ms Schorer said.
“If your contact details are up to date, we will contact you three months before your WWC number expires explaining what to do to renew.
“We have started contacting people to renew, but there are over five thousand people with Working With Children Checks in the system who have incomplete contact details.”
People holding a Working With Children Check are encouraged to take a moment to make sure their contact details are up to date in the system. Do this by going to www.kidsguardian.nsw.gov.au/check and choosing ‘update my details’.
“You don’t have to apply for a new Working With Children Check, simply renew your existing number for another five years.”
The expiry date for a Working With Children Check can be found in the original Working With Children Check notification email. The expiry date can also be retrieved online at www.kidsguardian.nsw.gov.au/check.
WWC numbers can be renewed any time from three months before expiry.
Since the start of the ‘new’ Working With Children Check online system in June 2013:
- Over 1.5 million people have obtained a Working With Children Check
- 975,000 are paid employees
- 590,000 are volunteers
- 27,000 employers, organisations and parents are registered to verify the Check
- 3,000 people have been barred from working with children in NSW.
It is an offence to work with children in NSW without a valid Working With Children Check clearance.