Children’s worker safety checking and child protection policies

About the Children’s Act 2014

The Children’s Act 2014 (previously titled the Vulnerable Children Act 2014) introduced measures that will ensure that children can be better protected from abuse and neglect both in their homes and in the community. This advice is for the health and disability sector on requirements under the Act.

At 1 July 2019, it is a requirement in the Children’s Act 2014 for all existing, non-core children’s workers in the health workforce to have passed an appropriate check of their suitability to work with children (a worker safety check). This means any workers that meet the definition of children’s worker and who have not yet been safety checked as specified in the Act, will need to have passed a check by 1 July 2019.

Employer responsibility

It is the responsibility of those who employ or engage those working with children to ensure their staff have had the appropriate checks.

Any checks performed overseas will not meet the requirements of the Children's Act as a New Zealand Police check is a specific requirement in the Act. While an overseas check can form part of the required risk assessment, it will not be sufficient to be accepted on its own. The full safety check process should be performed by an employer or on behalf of the employer (in the case of the third party service, CV Check) in New Zealand.

The Ministry has also endorsed CVCheck Ltd as a third party provider of Safety Checking for children’s workers. You may wish to consider whether this is the best option for your situation (for example, where you are self-employed and cannot perform a check on yourself).

Children’s worker safety checking

Children’s worker safety checking helps identify the small number of people who pose a risk to children.

From 1 July 2015, new government safety checking regulations made under the Act that required all paid employees and contractors who work with children for state-funded organisations to be safety checked started to be phased in. The regulations also apply to people doing unpaid work with children as part of an educational or vocational training course (eg, trainees or students).

The regulations set out clear standards to achieve more consistent, higher quality safety checking across the entire children’s workforce in New Zealand.

When to do the safety checks

These regulations have been phased in from 1 July 2015, with this phasing happening over four years for new and existing employees and contractors. This phased approach provides organisations with enough time to comply with the new regulations and also prioritises safety checking of their children’s workforce.

This means that safety checks are not required to be done all at once and will assist New Zealand Police to manage demand for the vetting service. The key dates for conducting the children’s workforce safety checks are:

New employees:

1 July 2015 – all new core children’s workers must be safety checked before starting employment or engagement as a children’s worker from this date
1 July 2016 – all new non-core children’s workers must be safety checked before starting employment or engagement as a children’s worker from this date

Existing employees:

1 July 2018 – all existing core children’s workers must have been safety checked by this date
1 July 2019 – all existing non-core children’s workers must have been safety checked by this date

The entire state-funded children’s workforce is required to be safety checked by 1 July 2019 and workers need to be rechecked every three years.

What the safe checks involve

Workforce safety checks involve gathering a range of key information about a person and evaluating this information to determine whether they pose any risk in being employed working with children.

The regulations require that the worker safety checks include:

identity verification
police vetting
reference checks
employment verification checks
checks with professional registration bodies or licensing authorities
interviews
a risk assessment that considers the specific child safety related risk.

From 1 July 2015, all these steps of the safety check must be completed before a person is employed or engaged to start in a new role as a children’s worker.

For existing children’s workers who are already employed or engaged by the organisation, fewer checks are required and these checks do not need to be completed until 1 July 2018 (for core children’s workers) and 1 July 2019 (for non-core children’s workers).

For all children’s workers the safety check needs to be updated every three years and the following steps need to be followed when a worker is being re-checked:

confirmation of any name change by the worker in the past 3 years and provision of any official documents associated with any name change
police vet that is VCA applicable
check of relevant licensing/registration (person to report on their membership and then employer/engaging agency to confirm with the relevant body)
risk assessment and final decision.

Who must be safety checked

All paid new and existing employees and contractors who work with children (up to 17 years of age) in a state-funded organisation that provide regulated health services.

Regulated health services

Services provided at a public hospital.
Services provided at a publicly-funded medical practice or facility, including blood and cancer centres, treatment centres, outreach clinics, and mental health services.
Services provided through medical practices belonging to primary health organisations (PHOs).
Services provided by health practitioners.
Well Child / Tamariki Ora services (eg, Plunket).
Home-based disability support services.
Residential disability support services.
Ambulance services.
Maternity services, including lead maternity carers and midwives

The Act has created two categories of children’s workers, core children’s workers and non-core children’s workers.

A core children’s worker is defined as:

a children’s worker who works in or provides a regulated service
who has primary responsibility or authority for a child or children
involves regular or overnight contact with a child or children
who works alone with a child or children – work must take place without a parent or guardian of the child being present
includes for example, doctors, nurses, pediatricians, youth counsellors – who see children or young people (up to the age of 17) in their clinics or office.

Non-core workers are those who have regular but limited child contact, eg, general hospital staff, health administrative staff.

Self-employed, sole practitioners and owner operators – Cross Agency Independent Safety Check Service

A Cross Agency Independent Safety Checking Service (the Service) has been set up to ensure that ‘self-employed’ children’s workers or sole practitioners who receive state funding are able to be safety checked in accordance with the safety checking requirements under the Act.

On behalf of Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora, CV Check (NZ) Ltd, an external supplier, will carry out safety checks for the following groups of children’s workers:

LMCs, funded under the Notice made under section 88 of the NZ Public Health and Disability Act 2000 Primary Maternity Service Notice for the provision of Maternity Services.
GP owner operators
Owner operator Dentists contracted under the Combined Dental Agreement

CV Check (NZ) Ltd will also carry out safety checks for other children’s workers on behalf of the other specified agencies.

This Service has been established as a ‘user pays’ service and the costs will range between $120 (incl. GST) and $360 (incl. GST) depending on the type of check required. The cost varies because under the Act there are different safety checking requirements depending on your situation and type of employment.

Note: If you are a provider of primary maternity services via the Primary Maternity Service Notice 2007, specific information is available at Safety checks for Primary Maternity Service Providers.

The Service will involve gathering a range of key information about a person and evaluating this information to determine whether they pose any risk in being employed working with children.

Specifically the Service will include:

identity verification
police vetting
reference checks
employment verification check
interviews
information from relevant professional organisations
a risk assessment that considers the specific child safety related risk.

Following completion of a safety check using the Service, the applicant (the children’s worker) will be provided with a report confirming that they have met the safety checking requirements under the Act. This report will be valid for three years. If during this three year period a children’s worker changes jobs they may not have to be re-checked, ie, the safety checks are transferrable and can be relied on, if all the safety checking requirements have been met.

Organisations don’t need to repeat a safety check for a person, if they have previously conducted one or if a check was done on their behalf by another organisation within the last three years to the required standards and adequate records have been kept. An organisation can use safety check information completed on their behalf by another organisation, if they are confident it meets the necessary requirements and they have a process in place to verify the identification of the worker.

‘On behalf of’ means that organisations need to know and agree who can undertake check on their behalf, and who they can rely upon to provide evidence of previous checks. Within health, DHBs, PHOs and general practice can rely on checks undertaken by CV Check, and by each other. Further information about this process and to begin the application process, visit the CV Check website.

For the purposes of claiming for Primary Maternity Services under the Primary Services Notice 2007, a provider needs to send evidence of a safety check to the Ministry of Health at DunedinAASupport@health.govt.nz.

This will either be in the form of a report from CV Check or, if the provider has been safety checked by another organisation such as a DHB, the provider will need to complete an Employer Verification Form. Once signed by the organisation which did the safety check, the Employment Verification Form should be submitted to the Ministry of Health as evidence of a completed safety check.

Trainees or students

Safety checks apply to people doing unpaid work with children as part of an educational or vocational training course (eg, a trainee doctor or student nurse on placement as part of their medical/education qualification).

Most training providers already undertake safety checks as part of their normal vetting process at the pre-registration/enrolment stage and before students go on their clinical placements. Providers will need to ensure their existing safety checks and practices meet the new safety checking regulations.

Organisations will need to ensure that the safety check has been done on their behalf by the training provider and to the new regulations before engaging the trainee as a children’s worker.

Workforce restriction

Under the Act a workforce restriction has been developed preventing people with certain serious convictions from being employed as a core children’s worker, unless they have been granted a Core Worker Exemption. These convictions are specified in Schedule 2 of the Act.

If a Core Worker Exemption is granted, it will last indefinitely, unless it is revoked.

The workforce restriction has applied since 1 July 2015 to people seeking new roles as core children’s workers, prohibiting their employment unless they held an Exemption. For employees and contractors already employed in core workforce roles the restriction will apply from 1 July 2016. This means that organisations can no longer continue to employ or engage these staff in a core children’s worker role from 1 July 2016.

Core children’s workers who have been convicted of these offences have until 1 July 2016 to apply for a Core Worker Exemption, or they will no longer be able to continue in these roles.

Core Worker Exemption

If an individual is granted a Core Worker Exemption, it is (subject to conditions) no longer against the law to employ that person as a core worker.

It is up to the individual to apply for the exemption and provide all the necessary documentation.

Applying for an exemption

It is up to the children’s worker to seek a Core Worker Exemption, and all Exemptions are granted through one process. This process, administered by the Ministry of Social Development, is for all people seeking a Core Worker Exemption, even those that work in the health, education or justice sectors. Employers cannot grant an Exemption themselves.

You can apply for a Core Worker Exemption during training to work in the children’s workforce, before you are employed, or while you are already employed in a core children’s workforce role.

You can also read more about workforce restriction and the process for applying for a Core Worker Exemption on the Te Kāhui Kāhu website.

Information for employers

When the transition period for existing core workers ends on 1 July 2016, if employers believe that a core worker they employ or engage has a conviction for a specified offence and does not have a Core Worker Exemption then they must apply Section 28 of the Act.

Section 28 outlines a process of suspension and possible termination that employers or funders must follow. In addition to suspending or terminating the person, employers may also respond by moving the person into another position outside of the core children’s workforce. Once a person has a Core Worker Exemption they can then recommence work as a core worker.

These requirements apply even if an employee has made an application for, but has not yet been granted, a Core Worker Exemption.

Non-compliance may lead to criminal prosecution. As outlined in Section 28 of the Act, a specified organisation that contravenes subsections in Section 28 commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000.

Further information for employers is provided on the Oranga Tamariki – Ministry for Children website: Children’s Act requirements.

Child Protection policy

Under the Children’s Act 2014, the board of Health NZ is required to develop, adopt, publish and report on a child protection Policy. Health NZ must also ensure that any contracted service providers who may have contact with children also have a child protection policy.

The board of Health NZ must ensure:

a copy of the policy must be made available on the agencies’ websites
that any contracted service providers who may have contact with children also have a child protection policy
the policy is reported on in its annual report
the policy is reviewed every three years

Health NZ Child Protection Policy

The Health NZ child protection policy is currently under development and should be in place by early 2024. It will affirm Health NZ’s commitment to ensuring the wellbeing and safety of children and young people who are receiving services from Health NZ or from service providers funded or contracted by Health NZ.

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