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Who Can Work With Children

People from a variety of backgrounds with differing qualifications and experience work with children in a range of capacities and organisations. Not everyone whose work brings them into contact with children will need a Working with Children (WWC) Check. The WWC Check applies to people engaged in 'child-related work' as defined in section 9 of the Working with Children Act 2005.

Unless they are eligible for an exemption, people who work or volunteer in connection with these 20 child-related occupational fields and have regular, direct contact with children which is not directly supervised by another person will require a WWC Check.

Passing the WWC Check is one measure of a person's suitability to work with children. WWC Check card holders who apply to work or volunteer in child-related fields might still be required by their employer, agency or volunteer organisation to undergo a selection process and reference checking to determine their suitability for specific roles.

Who cannot work with children

A person is not allowed to undertake ‘child-related work’ if that person is:

• a registered sex offender within the meaning of the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004
• subject to the reporting obligations imposed by the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004
• subject to an interim extended supervision order or extended supervision order under the Serious Sex Offenders Monitoring Act 2005
• subject to a supervision order or detention order under the Serious Sex Offenders (Detention and Supervision) Act 2009
• a holder of a Negative Notice (because they failed the WWC Check). 
• not a holder of a current Assessment Notice and not exempt from the requirement to do so under the Working with Children Act 2005.

A person cannot re-apply for a WWC Check until five years after the date of the Negative Notice (unless there has been a ‘relevant change in circumstances’). If a person has been given a Negative Notice, the person cannot engage in child-related work, even where that work is being directly supervised.