How to track Working With Children Checks across your OSHC staff

The rules depend on where you are

WWCC and equivalent clearances are run by the state or territory, not nationally. The name, the length of validity, the way you verify a card and the rules for visitors and volunteers all differ. Some jurisdictions call it a Working With Children Check, others a Working with Vulnerable People card or a Blue Card.

Before you build a process, read your own regulator's page and your approval conditions. ACECQA (acecqa.gov.au) explains how the National Law and Regulations treat staff records, and your state regulator will tell you what the clearance requires locally. This guide describes a way of working, not the rule for your state.

What to record for each person

A line in a spreadsheet that says 'WWCC: done' is not enough. When a regulator or a parent asks, you want to show what you checked and when. For each educator, keep:

• The clearance number and the jurisdiction that issued it
• The expiry date as shown on the check or in the issuing body's online lookup
• The date you verified it, and who verified it
• A copy of the card or confirmation, if your process keeps one
• Whether the person is a paid educator, a casual, a student or a volunteer, since the requirement can differ

Verify once, then watch the date

Looking up the issuing body's online service is the check that counts. A photo of a card shows what the educator was holding on the day. Do the lookup before the first shift, write down the date, and then your job becomes watching the expiry rather than repeating the lookup every month.

Some jurisdictions can revoke or suspend a clearance before its printed expiry. If your state offers a way to link or subscribe an employee to your service so you are told about changes, use it, and record that you have done so. Where it does not, decide how often you will re-check and write that down in your policy.

Build warning time into the system

Renewal takes the educator time, and some people forget. Aim to flag every check well before it expires, with a longer lead for casuals who are not in the building every week. A common pattern is a first flag at around 90 days, a second at 30 days, and a stop-the-roster rule on the expiry date itself.

Keep the flag in one place that the director actually opens. A calendar reminder on one person's phone fails the week that person is on leave.

Where it goes wrong

Most gaps come from the same few places: a new casual starts before the lookup is done, a renewal arrives and nobody updates the record, a student on placement is missed because they are not on the main staff list, or an old PDF is trusted after the real expiry has passed. A single register that covers every person who works with children closes most of these.

How Lighthouse handles it

Lighthouse keeps each educator's WWCC with its number, expiry and verification date in the staff record. The director verifies a check once and it stays marked with that date. Anything missing or due soon lands on a Needs attention list, so you do not have to open every profile. South Australian rules come first, and other states and territories are added on request. It replaces the spreadsheet and the folder of PDFs, not your judgement about who is cleared to work.

Common questions