Working with Children Checks - Follow-Up

Report 10: 2019-20

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Auditor General's overview

This report contains the findings from our follow-up of my Office’s 2014 Working with Children Checks performance audit.

Keeping children safe is a priority. The core principle of the Working with Children (Criminal Record Checking) Act 2004 is that the best interests of children are the paramount consideration. The Working with Children Check is one of a range of strategies to help make organisations child-safe and reduce the risk to children. The number of Working with Children Check cardholders in the State continues to grow.

 

 

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Report content

Executive summary
This performance audit follows-up our 2014 audit Working with Children Checks. The objective of the audit was to assess...
Chalk board with the word recommendation
Recommendations
The Department of Communities should improve the analysis and reporting of WWC Check applications...
Response from Department of Communities
The Department of Communities welcomes the Summary of Findings and supports the recommendations...
Audit focus and scope
The objective of the audit was to assess whether the management of the WWC Check has improved since the 2014...
Audit finding - WWC Checks are an important part of a system to keep children safe
The number of people with a WWC Card in WA continues to grow. At June 2019, there were 377,199 cardholders...
Audit finding - Assessing WWC Check applications is more efficient, but cases resulting in negative notices still take a long time
Overall, we found that the process to assess WWC Check applications has improved. Significant improvements...
Audit finding - The level of automatic monitoring has improved however delays still exist for completing reassessments
The Screening Unit continually monitors cardholders. They run the list of cardholders against the WA Police Force...
Audit finding - Communities has not implemented risk-based monitoring and enforcement, and has little assurance about employer compliance
Communities can provide little assurance that employers and volunteer organisations with people in child-related work...
Audit finding - Communities does not ensure its own compliance with the WWC Check legislation
Communities does not know the total number of its employees who require a WWC Card. Since the Machinery of...
Audit finding - Internal information and reporting on the effectiveness of the WWC Check is inadequate
We found difficulties in obtaining accurate and consistent information to analyse trends and demonstrate performance...
Appendix 1 - Categories of child-related work and exemptions
Child care service; as defined by the Child Care Services Act 2007 or an education and care service defined in the Education...
Appendix 2 - Recommendations made in 2014 report
The Department for Child Protection and Family Support (now Department of Communities) should...