Working with children requirements for early childhood services

Approved providers must make sure that all people working with children hold:

a valid Working With Children Check (WWCC), or
Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) registration.

It is a criminal offence to work in an early childhood service without a valid registration. This applies to services regulated under the National Quality Framework (NQF) or Victorian Children’s Services Act (CS Act).

Applications that are pending or in progress are not acceptable.

Who needs a WWCC or VIT registration

All people working with children must hold a current WWCC or VIT registration.

This applies to:

staff, including casual staff from agencies and family day care (FDC) assistants
nominated supervisors
persons with management or control
persons in day-to-day charge
volunteers and students (excluding students under 18 years of age).

Residents over 18 that live at FDC residences must also have a WWCC. This enables approved providers to ensure that residents are fit and proper people to be around children.

Approved providers

A current WWCC is required as part of the application process to become an approved provider.

This applies to each person:

with management or control
listed as a company director (if the applicant is a company).

For more information, see: Organisations and the Working with Children Check.

Special circumstances

Services may set local policies to increase requirements for:
- contractors, such as maintenance staff or gardeners
- visitors to their service.
This may include a need for contractors and visitors to have a valid WWCC or other checks.
The Worker Screening Act 2020 (Vic) sets out the minimum requirements for a WWCC.
For information on WWCC requirements under this act, see Working with Children Check Victoria.
If provider approval is granted in another state, you must get a WWCC if you work directly with children in Victoria.
This applies to:
- person with management or control
- company directors.

Check WWCC or VIT before a person starts work

You must check the status of staff and volunteer WWCC or VIT registration before they start work.

This check must be done by:

the approved provider, or
the nominated supervisor, or
a person in charge of daily operations.

This applies to:

educators
registered teachers
students on placement
other staff, such as cooks and administration staff
volunteers.

Approved providers must also check these details before appointing:

a nominated supervisor, or
a person in charge of daily operations.

Ongoing responsibilities

Monitor registration status

You need to make sure your staff and volunteer WWCCs or VIT registrations stay valid.

You can check the status through:

Service Victoria for WWCC
VIT register for VIT registered teachers.

For more information on managing staff WWCCs, see: Your staff's Working with Children Checks.

Notify us of changes

You must notify us if a staff or volunteer WWCC or VIT registration is suspended or cancelled using the NQA ITS system.

Failing to notify us is an offence under the National Law.

Email us at vecra@education.vic.gov.au if you operate an occasional care or limited hours service regulated under the CS Act.

For more information on legal obligations, see: Legal obligations for organisations.

Maintain records

You must keep the following details for each staff member:

WWCC or VIT registration number
WWCC or VIT registration expiry date.

You must also keep these details for the nominated supervisor.

For more information, see:

Managing workers’ checks
Management of records (Guide to the NQF) – Operational requirements.

Early childhood

Updated 1 June 2026