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Do I need a Working with Children Check?

If you meet all 5 criteria, then you qualify for a Working with Children Check.

If all 5 of the statements below are true, then you qualify for a Working with Children Check and should apply online at Service Victoria.

NOTE: If you don’t qualify, you’ll still need to get a Check if your organisation requires you to do so.

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  1. 1You are an adult volunteer, paid, or self-employed worker caring for children under 18 years of age.

Some examples of volunteer child-related work are:

Some examples of paid-child related work are:

  1. 2You work or care for children in any of the occupational fields referred to as ‘service, places, bodies or activities’ in the Act.

List of occupational fields

Service or place of work Details (Code)
Camps All overnight camps for children (10)
Child care services Child care services including: centre-based long day care (14) occasional care (16) family day care (18) in-home care (20) outside school hours care (22)
Child employment - supervisors Supervision of a child 14 years of age in employment under the Child Employment Act 2003 (76)
Child minding Babysitting or child minding services arranged by a commercial agency (12)
Child protection services Child protection services (24)
Children’s services Children’s services including kindergartens or preschools under the Children’s Services Act 1996 and Education and Care Services National Law (Victoria) Act 2010 (26)
Clubs & associations Clubs, associations, or movements of a cultural, recreational or sporting nature that provide services or conduct activities for, or directed at, children or whose membership comprises primarily children (42)
Coaching & tuition Coaching or private tuition services of any kind specifically for children (28)
Counselling services Counselling or other support services for children (28)
Educational institutions Educational institutions for children, specifically: state schools (all primary, secondary, technical and special state schools) (44) non-government schools (all primary, secondary and special non-government schools) (46) TAFE colleges and TAFE divisions of universities providing VCE and /or Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) subjects (48) some adult education providers offering VCE and/or VCAL subjects (50) other institutions providing children’s study or training programs (52)
Entertainment & party services Commercial entertainment or party services for children unless they are merely incidental to or in support of other business activities (30)
Foster care Fostering children (54)
Gym or play facilities Commercial gym or play facilities for children unless they are merely incidental to or in support of other business activities (32)
Kinship care Caring for a child placed by Child protection under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (80)
Out-of-home care services Out-of-home care services (under the Children,Youth and Families Act 2005) (38)
Paediatric wards Paediatric wards of public, private or denominational hospitals as defined in the Health Services Act 1988 (58)
Photography services Commercial photography services for children unless they are merely incidental to or in support of other business activities (34)
Refuges Refuges or other residential facilities used by children (62)
Religion Religious organisations (64)
School crossings School crossing services (66)
Student exchange / homestay arrangements Student exchange / homestay arrangement under Part 4.5A of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, including accommodation in a person’s home (78)
Talent & beauty competitions Commercial talent or beauty competitions for children unless they are merely incidental to or in support of other business activities (36)
Transport Publicly funded or commercial transport services specifically for children (60)
Youth justice Youth remand, residential, or justice centres, supervision units and probation services within the meaning of the Children Youth and Families Act 2005(56)
  1. 3Your work usually involves direct contact* with children.
  1. 4Your contact with children is part of your duties.

For example:

Contact with children at a junior sports clubroom is not part of the work a plumber does, but is incidental to their duties.

Therefore a plumber would not require a Working with Children Check to work at this location.

  1. 5You are not otherwise exempt.

List of exemptions under the Act

Children People under 18 years of age are exempt from the Check.
Some student volunteers Students aged 18 or 19 years of age do not need a Check to do volunteer work organised by, or held at, their educational institution.
Parents volunteering in the same activity as their child Parents are exempt and do not need a Check to volunteer in the same activity their child is participating, or normally participates in.
Family members and close relations of children (with the exception of kinship carers) If you are closely related to each child you work with, and are not a kinship carer, you do not need a Check. Closely related to a child means: spouse or domestic partner parent, step-parent, mother-in-law or father-in-law grandparent uncle or aunt brother or sister, including half sibling, step sibling, brother inlaw or sister-in-law. In the case of domestic partners, a person who would be closely related to the child if the domestic partners were married to each other
Teachers If you’re a teacher with the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) you are exempt from the Check. However, if your VIT registration is suspended or cancelled, the exemption no longer applies. Although you don’t need a Check, if you’re a registered teacher and do any child-related work that is not teaching in a school or an early childhood service, you will need to notify WWCCV by completing the Teacher notification form which is available on the Service Victoria website.
Police officers Victoria Police officers and Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers are exempt from the Check. However if the officer is suspended or dismissed from Victoria Police or the AFP, they are no longer exempt and must apply for a Check. They must notify in writing every organisation that engages them in child-related work within seven days of the suspension or dismissal.
Visitors from another Australian state or territory doing child-related work in Victoria Visitors who normally live outside Victoria and hold an equivalent Check from their home State/ Territory, you can do child-related work in Victoria without a Check for a maximum of 30 days in a calendar year, which can comprise one or several events or occasions. Visitors who normally live outside Victoria and don’t hold an equivalent Check from their home State/ Territory, can do child-related work in Victoria without a Check on only one occasion or event per calendar year, which may last for a maximum of 30 days.

If you meet all 5 criteria above, then you qualify for a Working with Children Check.

NOTE: If you don’t meet all the criteria, you’ll still need to get a Check if your organisation requires you to do so.

Apply online at Service Vic

Law, crime & justice

Updated 13 February 2026

Working with Children Check transactions online at Service Victoria

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