Working with Children Check - Glossary

An agreement to work can be a written or unwritten agreement between a person and another person or an organisation, to carry out child-related work on a paid, unpaid or volunteer basis.

It can refer to both child-related employment and a child-related business as defined in the Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004.

An Assessment Notice is the term given to a WWC Card in the legislation. 

An Authorised Officer is an officer from the WWC Screening Unit who has been appointed to the role by the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Communities. An Authorised Officer can authorise other people to assist them in carrying out their powers, for example a locksmith to open a locked cabinet or door. 

A blanket policy refers to an organisation’s policy which requires all employees, volunteers, students, and self-employed contractors to hold a valid WWC Check, regardless of whether they engage in child-related work or not.

Categories of child-related work refers to the 18 prescribed categories listed under section 6 of the legislation. They are:

1. a child care service.
2. a community kindergarten registered under the School Education Act 1999 Part 5.
3. an educational institution for children.
4. a coaching or private tuition service of any kind, but not including an 'informal arrangement' entered into for private or domestic purposes.
5. an arrangement for the accommodation or care of children, whether in a residential facility or private residence, but not including an informal arrangement made by a parent of the child concerned or accommodation or care provided by a relative of the child.
6. a placement arrangement or secure care arrangement under the Children and Community Services Act 2004.
7. the performance by an officer, as defined in the Children and Community. Services Act 2004 section 3, of a function given to the officer under that Act.
8. a detention centre, as defined in the Young Offenders Act 1994 section 3.
9. a community child health service.
10. a counselling or other support service.
11. a religious organisation.
12. a club, association or movement (including of a cultural, recreational or sporting nature and whether incorporated or not) with a significant membership or involvement of children, but not including an informal arrangement entered into for private or domestic purposes.
13.  a ward of a public or private hospital in which children are ordinarily patients.
14. a baby sitting or child minding service, but not including an informal arrangement entered into for private or domestic purposes.
15. an overnight camp, regardless of the type of accommodation or how many children are involved.
16. a transport service specifically for children.
17. a school crossing service, being a service provided to assist children to cross roads on their way to or from school.
18. a children’s entertainment or party service. 
    There are two additional categories of child-related work that relate specifically to staff of the WWC Screening Unit or other work as prescribed in the Working with Children (Screening) Regulations 2005.

A child refers to a person under 18 years of age.

Child-related business is defined in the legislation as child-related work carried out by an individual for gain or reward otherwise than in the course of child-related employment.  

This can include self-employed people, company directors or partners in a business or a managerial officer of a child care service.

Child-related employment is defined in the legislation as child-related work carried out:

• by an individual under a contract of employment or training contract (written or unwritten)
• on a voluntary basis by an individual under an agreement (written or unwritten) with another person
• by an individual as a minister of religion or in any other capacity for the purposes of a religious organisation or
• by a student with another person that may or must be undertaken as part of the student's course of study.

Child-related work is defined in section 6 of the legislation as being work in which the 'usual duties' involve or are likely to 'involve contact' with a child in connection with at least one of the categories of 'child-related work' unless an 'exemption' applies.

A Class 1 offence is an offence as prescribed under section 7(1) and listed in Schedule 1 of the legislation. This can include offences under the law of another jurisdictions, such as another state or territory, or offences under the Commonwealth Criminal Code as prescribed in Schedule 2 of the WWC Regulations.

A Class 2 offence is an offence as prescribed under section 7(2) and listed in Schedule 2 of the legislation. This can include offences under the law of another jurisdictions, such as another state or territory, or offences under the Commonwealth Criminal Code as prescribed in Schedule 3 of the WWC Regulations.

A Class 3 offence is an offence that is not considered a Class 1 or Class 2 offence under the WWC Act. This can include offences under the law of another jurisdictions, such as another state or territory.

Contact is defined in the legislation as any form of physical contact, oral communication (face to face, telephone or otherwise) and electronic communication.

It does not include contact in the normal course of duties between an employer and an employee, or between employees of the same employer working alongside each other, or 'incidental contact' with children.

Deemed withdrawn refers to the cancellation of a WWC Check application by the WWC Screening Unit after:

• attempts to confirm a person’s identity or child-related work with the individual or their nominated organisation have been unsuccessful or 
• the nominated organisation representative fails to verify that a person is or proposes to be employed in child-related work.

An education provider is defined in the legislation as:

• a university established or continued under an Act of this state, the Commonwealth, or another state or territory
• the university company as defined in the Bond University Act 1987 (Queensland) section 2
• a college or other vocational and training institution as defined in the Vocational Education and Training Act 1996 section 5(1)
• a school specified under the Vocational Education and Training Act 1996 section 6(1)
• an authorised non-university institution
• a recognised Australian university
• a recognised overseas university as defined in the Higher Education Act 2004 section 3
• any other provider of an educational or vocational course prescribed by the regulations.

An exemption refers to the prescribed circumstances in the Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004 where certain people who engage in 'child-related work' do not require and are therefore ineligible to apply for a WWC Check.

A formal arrangement might include a person advertising their services, running a business providing the relevant service; or promoting their service to children in general and not just responding to children within their own social network. 

Incidental contact refers to contact with children that may occur in the course of a person’s work duties, but this contact is not required for the person to complete their work duties.

The term individual can refer to an employee, a student, a volunteer, or a self-employed person.

The WWC Screening Unit considers an informal or private arrangement to be one that is made available only to a limited number of people associated with a private friendship or family group and organised on a casual basis.

It is important to note that some arrangements may start informal but then become formal, which may then require a WWC Check.

An Interim Negative Notice refers to a notice issued under the Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004 by the WWC Screening Unit when they receive information relevant to the immediate safety of children. 

It immediately prohibits a person from engaging in 'child-related work' until a final assessment on whether the person poses an unacceptable risk of harm to children.

A Negative Notice refers to a notice issued under the Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004 by the WWC Screening Unit when a person is assessed to pose an unacceptable risk of harm to children. 

It immediately prohibits a person from engaging in any 'child-related work' and remains current until cancelled. 

A non-conviction charge is a criminal charge of an offence which has been disposed of by court otherwise than by way of a conviction.  Examples of a non-conviction charge include:

• where a person is found not guilty of a charge for an offence
• where a charge is withdrawn
• where a prosecution is discontinued or
• where a conviction is overturned or set aside on appeal.

The term organisation can refer to an employer, a volunteer organisation or an education provider.

An organisation representative refers to the person authorised by an employer, volunteer organisation or education provider to verify the person applying for a WWC Check is engaging in 'child-related work' at the organisation. The organisation representative may be contacted by the WWC Screening Unit with any queries regarding WWC Check applications they have confirmed.

Paid employee refers to a person receiving a regular salary or wage under a contract of employment.

A parent is defined in the legislation as a person who:

• is the mother, father, stepfather, stepmother of the child
• at law has responsibility for the long-term or day to day care, welfare and development of the child
• is in a de facto relationship with a person referred to in either of the above or
• is specified as the child's prospective adoptive parent under the Adoption Act 1994. 

A pending charge means a charge for an offence that has not yet been finalised, or disposed of, by a court.

The types of reports captured by this section are, by their nature, likely to contain very sensitive and confidential material and are often subject to prohibitions or restrictions on their disclosure.

However, the information contained in prescribed reports will likely be highly relevant to the assessment of risk required to be undertaken under the Act including the mitigation of that risk.

Relative is defined in the legislation and refers to a child’s:

• parent, grandparent or other ancestor
• sibling
• uncle or aunt
• cousin
• spouse or de facto partner.

This applies whether the relationship is established or traced through, consanguinity, marriage, a de facto relationship, a written law, or a natural relationship.

This includes a person regarded as an equivalent relative listed above under the customary law or tradition of the child’s Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community.

A relevant change in a person’s criminal record occurs if a person is charged with or convicted of a 'Class 1 offence' or a 'Class 2 offence'. 

Relevant information is intended to be a broad definition to capture an extensive range of information that is essential to the conducting of an assessment or review proceedings, and relevant to the assessment of risk or mitigation of identified risk.

A renewal refers to a WWC Check application lodged by an individual continuing in child-related work, within three months of their current WWC Card’s expiry date.

Reportable conduct refers to conduct review outcomes or findings from the Teacher Registration Board of WA or those reported to the Ombudsman WA under the reportable conduct scheme and provided to the WWC Screening Unit.

Conduct review findings or outcomes will include relevant disciplinary and/or misconduct matters that relate to criminal offending, or other behaviour of concern, against children. 

The short term visitors to WA exemption is a prescribed exemption under the Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004 which allows people who are not ordinarily resident in WA to carry out child-related work for a defined period of two weeks after their arrival in WA.  

This exemption cannot be used for more than two weeks in any 12 month period and cannot be used in conjunction with the one-off national events and national tours exemption within the same 12 month period. For more information see Factsheet CRW02: Exemptions, One-off national events and national tours.

A spent conviction is a conviction a person is not obliged to declare, however, certain agencies have exemptions to access this information under the Spent Convictions Act 1988.

Student is defined in the legislation and refers to a person who is undertaking an educational or vocational course of study with an education provider and who may or must undertake child-related work as part of that course.

An unpaid person is an individual who engages in child-related work for no financial reward or wage. This can include a 'volunteer', a student on 'placement' and other situations where work is performed for no payment, such as a work for the dole scheme.

Usual duties refer to the common, normal, everyday or ordinary duties of a role.

A volunteer is an individual who engages in child-related work for no financial reward or wage. 

A person who receives payments that just cover the costs of carrying out their child-related work is considered to receive ‘no financial reward”’ and is considered a volunteer by the WWC Screening Unit.

Organisations should carefully consider whether any amount paid to an individual can reasonably be considered either income or a payment to cover costs. This should be done prior to determining any applicable exemptions or signing a WWC Check Application Form or renewal application.

When making this decision organisations may find it useful to consider the following questions:

• What are the costs to the individual providing the work?
  • Their costs may include travel expenses, phone calls, uniforms, stationery, sports equipment, and other items if they are necessary to engage in their child-related work.
• Over what period is this service provided and the payments made?
  • For example, if payment provided to the individual is no more that can be reasonably expected to cover the person’s costs incurred over the year, the person may be considered a volunteer.
• Does the payment the individual receives exceed the costs of the individual carrying out the work?
  • If so, they would be considered a paid employee. It is irrelevant whether the work occurs frequently or infrequently and whether there are small frequent payments or large infrequent payments.