Changes to Victoria’s Working with Children Check System From 19 October 2026: What Organisations Need to Know

Changes to Victoria’s Working with Children Check System From 19 October 2026: What Organisations Need to Know

Working with Children (WWC) Checks are an important part of Australia’s child safety framework, helping organisations assess whether people are suitable to work or volunteer with children. From 19 October 2026, Victoria is introducing significant changes to its WWC Check system, including a new online service for organisations, and mandatory child safety training for people applying for or renewing a WWC Clearance. These reforms will introduce new responsibilities for organisations engaging people in child-related work and reinforce the importance of maintaining accurate records and effective safeguarding practices.

What Is Changing?

The Victorian Government has announced two key changes to the WWC Check system, which will commence on 19 October 2026. The changes reflect broader reforms to strengthen Victoria’s child safety framework and implement recommendations from the 2025 Victorian Rapid Child Safety Review.

The reforms are intended to improve oversight of people working with children, strengthen the information available to the Social Services Regulator (SSR), and promote a consistent understanding of child safety responsibilities across the child-related workforce.

The two changes are:

• The introduction of the WWC Connect online service.
• Mandatory online child safety training for people applying for or renewing a WWC Clearance, including those changing from a volunteer Clearance to an employee Clearance.

Both changes have practical implications for organisations, their recruitment processes and their ongoing child safety responsibilities.

Introducing the WWC Connect Online Service

From 19 October 2026, organisations and sole traders engaging people in child-related work will be required to use WWC Connect to notify the SSR about the workers and volunteers they engage.

WWC Connect is a new online service designed to record the connection between an organisation and the people it engages in child-related work. It will also help the SSR maintain accurate and up-to-date information about where WWC Clearance holders are working or volunteering.

The service will help the SSR identify which organisations need to be informed if a person’s WWC Clearance status changes.

What Will Organisations Need to Do?

 Organisations engaging people in child-related work will have four key responsibilities under the new system.

Check: Before engaging a person in child-related work, organisations must use the WWC status checker to verify that the person is eligible to undertake the work. This includes confirming that they hold a valid WWC Clearance or have an applicable exemption or otherwise meet the relevant requirements for undertaking child-related work.

Connect: Once an organisation decides to engage a worker or volunteer, it must connect them to the organisation through WWC Connect within the required timeframe.

Record: Organisations must maintain appropriate records demonstrating that they have completed the required checks and notifications.

Maintain: Organisations must keep their WWC Connect information up to date, including changes to a worker’s details and when they start or stop undertaking child-related work.

These requirements apply to paid workers and volunteers engaged in child-related work, regardless of whether their contact with children is supervised.

What Are the Notification Timeframes?

Organisations must connect workers and volunteers through WWC Connect within specific timeframes:

• Workers: Within seven days of engaging them.
• Volunteers: Within 21 days of engaging them.

Organisations must also update relevant information when a worker or volunteer’s details change or when they cease undertaking child-related work. Separate timeframes apply to updating details for workers and volunteers.

Organisations should also be aware that the requirement to connect a person is distinct from verifying their WWC status. Both steps must be completed.

What About Existing Workers and Volunteers?

Organisations are strongly encouraged to connect their existing workers and volunteers through WWC Connect. Doing so will help organisations maintain oversight of their workforce and ensure they receive notifications if a person’s WWC Clearance status changes.

Organisations should begin preparing by reviewing their existing WWC records, confirming that worker and volunteer details are accurate, and identifying any gaps in their current processes.

Mandatory WWC Child Safety Training

From 19 October 2026, mandatory online child safety training will become part of the WWC Check application process.

The training will be required for:

• People applying for a WWC Check for the first time.
• People renewing their WWC Clearance.
• People changing from a volunteer WWC Clearance to an employee WWC Clearance.

Applicants must complete the training before their WWC Check application can be finalised.

The online, self-paced training will take approximately 45 minutes and is designed to establish a consistent foundation of child safety knowledge across Victoria’s child-related workforce. 

What Will the Training Cover?

The training will address several key areas of child safety, including:

• The shared responsibility for keeping children safe;
• Respectful and appropriate behaviour when interacting with children;
• The prevalence of child abuse in society;
• Recognising concerning behaviour and grooming risk factors; and
• Responding appropriately when concerns arise about a child’s safety.

The training is intended to help people recognise potential risks, understand their responsibilities and take appropriate action when they have concerns about a child or young person.

There is no pass-or-fail examination. However, completing the training is a legal requirement for people applying for or renewing a WWC Clearance from 19 October 2026.

Do Existing WWC Clearance Holders Need to Complete the Training Immediately?

People who already hold a WWC Clearance do not need to complete the training immediately upon the changes commencing.

Existing clearance holders will generally need to complete the training when they next apply to renew their Clearance after 19 October 2026, or if they apply to change from a volunteer WWC Clearance to an employee WWC Clearance.

In the meantime, existing clearance holders should ensure their contact details are up to date so they can receive important information and reminders.

Does the Training Replace Existing Organisational Training?

No, the mandatory WWC Child Safety Training does not replace an organisation’s existing child safety responsibilities, induction processes, supervision arrangements or training requirements.

Organisations must continue to meet their applicable legal and regulatory obligations, including providing role-specific training and ensuring workers understand the organisation’s child safety policies, procedures and reporting processes.

For organisations operating in sectors with additional training requirements, such as early childhood education and care, the new WWC training should be considered alongside those existing obligations.

Record-Keeping and Compliance Obligations

The introduction of WWC Connect also reinforces the importance of maintaining accurate records about people engaged in child-related work.

Organisations must retain specified records for at least seven years after they stop engaging a person in child-related work. These records include the person’s contact details, evidence of the checks undertaken, the date they commenced and ceased child-related work, and any changes to their details.

Where a person is exempt from holding a WWC Clearance, organisations must also retain evidence of the exemption and the relevant eligibility checks.

Failing to comply with the applicable record-keeping and notification requirements may constitute an offence, and penalties may apply.

Organisations should therefore ensure their recruitment, human resources (HR) and compliance teams understand the new requirements and have appropriate systems in place to meet them.

What This Means for Organisations

The changes commencing on 19 October 2026 are an important reminder that a WWC Check is only one part of an organisation’s broader child safety responsibilities.

While WWC Connect will help the SSR maintain more accurate information about people working with children, organisations must still take responsibility for verifying eligibility, maintaining appropriate records and responding to changes in a worker’s circumstances.

Organisations should prepare for the changes by reviewing their recruitment and onboarding processes, checking existing WWC Clearances and exemptions, and preparing to connect their workforce through the new system.

Practical steps include reviewing recruitment and HR procedures, confirming that worker and volunteer records are accurate, establishing processes for meeting notification deadlines, and informing relevant staff about the changes.

Organisations should also ensure their child safety training remains appropriate to the roles people perform. Completing the mandatory WWC training does not, by itself, demonstrate that an organisation has met all its child safety obligations.

These reforms provide an opportunity for organisations to review whether their broader safeguarding frameworks are effective, consistently implemented and supported by a culture that prioritises the safety of children and young people.

How Can Safe Space Legal Help?

The team at Safe Space Legal has extensive experience supporting organisations to strengthen their safeguarding frameworks and meet their legal obligations. We work with organisations across Victoria and Australia to help build a culture of safety and accountability and support organisations to have robust recruitment strategies to keep children and young people safe.

We provide the following services to ensure organisations meet their legal obligations:

• Drafting legally sound policies, procedures, and codes of conduct;
• Providing policy audits and developing safeguarding policies, procedures, and complaint handing processes;
• Providing root cause analysis to identify gaps in policy and/or practice which put organisations at risk of non-compliance with their sector-specific obligations;
• Conducting safeguarding investigations which are compliant with relevant state and territory legislation and regulations;
• Delivering tailored safeguarding training to ensure organisations are aware of their sector-specific requirements and obligations;
• Ensuring that complaints handling and reporting processes are compliant with legal obligations;
• Provide sound legal advice on risk mitigation.

Contact office@safespacelegal.com.au or call (03) 9124 7321 to organise a complementary discussion in relation to your organisation’s child safety and safeguarding needs.