Working With Children Check NSW: Who Needs One, Cost, Bars and Reviews

By James Stevens, Director and Solicitor, Go To Court Lawyers. Last reviewed 10 April 2026.

In NSW, anyone 18 or over in paid or volunteer child-related work needs a Working with Children Check, which costs $112 for paid workers, is free for volunteers and lasts 5 years; since September 2025 a bar can no longer be taken to NCAT, and is instead reviewed by the Office of the Children's Guardian if you apply within 28 days of the decision and pay $224.

Checked on 23 October 2026 against the NSW Office of the Children's Guardian and Service NSW.

Who needs a Check

Child-related work, paid or voluntary, means providing services to people under 18 where the work normally involves face-to-face contact with children that is more than incidental to the work. You must be 18 or over to apply.

• Also needing a Check: an adult who lives or stays regularly (several nights a week) at the home of an authorised carer; home-based education and care and family day care providers caring for children at home; potential adoptive parents; and the head of an organisation covered by the Child Safe Scheme.
• Exemptions include: people under 18; workers visiting NSW for a short time; and parents and close relatives volunteering at their child's usual school or activities, except when they provide personal care for a child with disability, take part in a formal mentoring program, or go on an overnight camp.
• Disability work: if you work with children with disability, you may also need an NDIS Worker Check.

The examples are the Office of the Children's Guardian's, which says the list is a general guide only. If you apply and turn out not to need a Check, the fee is not refunded.

Applying, cost and how long it lasts

• Starting work: under the law you can start child-related work once you have your application (APP) number. But NSW Health, the NSW Department of Education, early childhood education and care services, and roles needing NESA teacher accreditation require a clearance before paid work starts.
• Volunteer to paid: a volunteer Check does not cover paid work. Upgrade within 30 days of starting paid work.
• Employers must register, verify each worker's APP or WWC number online (education employers need the clearance number), keep records, and remove anyone barred, interim barred or expired from child-related work. Employers cannot verify their own Check.

Criminal records and risk assessment

• What is checked: your national criminal history, including convictions (spent or not), charges (whatever the outcome, even if never heard or dismissed) and juvenile records; and findings of reportable misconduct in a workplace, such as sexual misconduct or grooming, or a serious physical assault of a child.
• A record does not always mean a bar. Records listed in Schedule 2 of the Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012, and equivalent interstate records, bring an automatic bar. Records in Schedule 1 (such as charges for violence or sexual offending against a child, whatever the outcome, serious animal cruelty, filming or intimate images of a child, drug offences involving children, and offences such as poisoning or arson), findings of misconduct, and other records relevant to children's safety lead to a risk assessment.
• The risk assessment looks at the nature, seriousness and circumstances of the conduct, how long ago it was, any victims and your relationship to them, and your conduct since. The Office will ask for your side of the story, and warn you and invite more information before any bar. It can take more than 12 months.
• Working meanwhile: most people can keep working on their APP number during an assessment, unless the Office issues an interim bar because of a likely risk to children.
• Overseas records: the Office has a separate process if you have been charged with certain offences overseas.

Bars, interim bars and your rights

• If you are barred (including an interim bar), you must stop child-related work at once, paid or voluntary. It is an offence to keep working with children, and any employer who verified your Check is told to remove you; the reasons are not shared without your consent. A bar after a risk assessment lasts 5 years.
• No Tribunal appeal since September 2025. A change to the law means you can no longer ask the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to review a Check decision. Instead the Office of the Children's Guardian's internal review team, separate from the original decision-makers, can:
  • review a refusal or cancellation made after a risk assessment, or an interim bar that has been in place for more than 6 months; or
  • reassess an automatic disqualification for a Schedule 2 record, except while proceedings for the offence are still running, or if you were sentenced to full-time imprisonment for certain Schedule 2 offences or remain subject to certain orders.
• The deadline: apply within 28 days of the date of the decision on your notice. An interim bar can be reviewed only after 6 months.
• The fee: $224, paid by electronic funds transfer; the application is not accepted until it is paid.
• An early application may be possible under section 13A of the Act; the Office explains it on its review pages.

Free help in New South Wales

How Go To Court Lawyers can help

Our free line, 1800 577 015, answers at any hour. Jen, our AI legal information assistant, gives general legal information and takes your details; Jen is not a lawyer and does not give advice about your case. A 60-minute consultation with a lawyer who practises in New South Wales is a fixed $295, by phone, video or in person where the lawyer offers it. The lawyer can help you prepare your side of the story for a risk assessment, advise whether to seek an internal review or reassessment, and prepare the application within the 28 days. Requests are taken at any hour; how soon a lawyer can see you depends on who is available. Request a $295 consultation.

General information only, not legal advice. Updated 23 October 2026. Checked against the NSW Office of the Children's Guardian's pages "Apply for a WWCC" (updated 6 October 2026), "Frequently asked questions about the WWCC" (8 October 2026), "Who needs a Check" (15 June 2026), "Risk assessment" (29 September 2025), "WWCC bars and your rights" (30 June 2026), "Seeking a review or reassessment of a WWCC outcome" (15 September 2026), "Role of the employer" (7 July 2026) and "Contact us" (14 September 2026), and Service NSW's "Apply for a Working with Children Check" (1 July 2026), on 23 October 2026. The Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012 itself could not be read on the NSW legislation website that day; it is described as the Office of the Children's Guardian describes it.