Does a criminal record stop you getting a Working with Children Check?
Not by itself, and this is the most important thing to understand. A criminal record does not automatically disqualify you from a Working with Children Check in Victoria, because the Worker Screening Act 2020 (Vic) treats only certain offences as relevant to child safety. Plenty of people with a record hold a valid clearance, because their history has nothing to do with the safety of children. The question is never simply “do you have a record?”, it is “what is on it, and what does it say about risk to children?”.
It helps to remember what the check is actually for. It is not a general test of good character or a punishment for having a record, it is a targeted screen aimed squarely at protecting children in the settings where the law requires it, such as schools, childcare, coaching, and many volunteer roles. That focus is why so much of a person’s history is simply irrelevant to it, and why the assessment zeroes in on offending that bears on the safety of children rather than on wrongdoing in general.
Which offences are actually relevant?
Broadly, the serious ones, and mostly those touching on harm. The relevant offences are generally serious sexual offences, serious violent offences, and serious drug offences, as The Law Handbook explains.
A minor, unrelated matter from years ago will often have no effect at all, while an offence involving a child, violence, or a sexual element is treated very differently. This is why two people with a criminal record can have completely different outcomes, and why the category your offence falls into matters so much.
How are offences assessed: Categories A, B and other offences?
The Act sorts relevant offences into a tiered system, and the tier decides how your application is treated. There are three broad groups, and moving from one to the next changes everything about your prospects. The table below sets out how they work.
| Category | Type of offence | Effect on your check |
| Category A | Most serious (e.g. sexual or violent offences against a child) | Mandatory exclusion |
| Category B | Other serious sexual, violent, or related offences | Presumption against a clearance |
| Other relevant offences | Serious offences not in A or B | Individually assessed for risk |
Category A: a mandatory exclusion
Category A is the strictest, and it leaves no discretion. If you have been convicted or found guilty of a Category A offence, which includes the most serious sexual and violent offences against children, the law requires that you be given an exclusion, and the screening unit cannot grant a clearance regardless of the circumstances. These are the offences Parliament has decided are simply incompatible with child-related work.
Category B: a presumption against a clearance
Category B reverses the usual position, so the burden is on you. For a Category B offence there is a presumption against granting a clearance, meaning you will be excluded unless you can satisfy the decision maker that a clearance would not pose an unjustifiable risk to children.
It can be done, but it requires a genuine, evidence-based case about who you are now, and it is exactly the kind of assessment where careful preparation matters. Satisfying the exception is not about arguing the offence never happened, it is about demonstrating, with evidence, that you no longer present a risk. That can include the time that has passed, completed treatment or counselling, stable employment and personal circumstances, insight into the offending, and references from people who understand your situation. The decision maker is looking for a genuine, well-documented picture, not assurances, which is why these applications succeed or fail on the quality of what is put forward.
Other relevant offences: the risk assessment
For other relevant offences, the outcome turns on a full assessment. Here the screening unit weighs your history against the central test, whether allowing you to work with children would pose an unjustifiable risk to their safety, considering the nature and age of the offending, its relevance to children, your circumstances, and evidence of rehabilitation. This is the most individual part of the system, and it is where a well-presented application, showing context and change, can make a real difference to the result. It is a similar discretionary judgement to the one made when a firearms licence is assessed against a criminal record.
In weighing risk, the screening unit looks closely at how old the offending is, whether it involved or was directed at children, whether there is a pattern or a single lapse, and what has happened in your life since. A serious but isolated matter from long ago, followed by years of stability, reads very differently from recent or repeated offending. None of these factors is decisive on its own, and it is the overall picture, honestly presented, that shapes the outcome.
What else does the check look at besides convictions?
Much more than convictions, which surprises many applicants. The Working with Children Check draws on your national criminal history across every state and territory, including charges regardless of their outcome, along with findings of guilt where no conviction was recorded.
It also considers professional conduct findings from bodies such as the Victorian Institute of Teaching, any current or past sex offender reporting obligations, and allegations of reportable conduct, whether or not they were substantiated. The breadth of this is important, because a person who assumes that only recorded convictions show up, a misconception our guide on whether a caution shows on a police check also addresses, can be caught off guard.
Even an intervention order can form part of the picture, as our guide on whether an intervention order shows on a police check explains. The reach is also national, not just local, because the check pulls criminal history from every Australian state and territory, so a matter interstate does not stay behind you when you apply in Victoria. This breadth is deliberate, since the whole point of the scheme is to make sure relevant information about a person’s history is not missed simply because it sits in another file or another state.
Do spent or old convictions still count?
Often, yes, and this is a crucial difference from ordinary employment checks. The protections that normally hide old, minor convictions after a waiting period do not apply in the same way to working with children screening, because child safety is treated as an exception.
That means a conviction that would not appear on a routine police check for a general job can still be considered when you apply for a Working with Children Check. If you are relying on a conviction being spent, our guide on removing or sealing a criminal record in Victoria explains why the rules for child-related screening are stricter, and why old history is not always behind you here.
What happens if you get a new charge after your check?
Your clearance is not set and forget, because it is continuously monitored. If you are charged with or found guilty of a relevant offence after you receive a clearance, the screening unit can reassess you, and your clearance can be suspended or revoked, with your employer notified. This ongoing monitoring is one of the defining features of the scheme, and it means a new matter can affect your ability to keep working in a child-related role even years into a five-year clearance. It is a strong reason to get proper advice the moment you are charged with anything while holding a check, rather than hoping it will not surface.
Can you challenge a refusal or exclusion?
Sometimes, and the answer depends on the category. Where an exclusion is based on a discretionary assessment, there is often a right to seek review of the decision at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), which can look at the matter afresh. The most serious mandatory exclusions, such as those based on Category A offences, generally cannot be reviewed, because the law removes the discretion entirely.
Because the review paths and time limits are specific, and the stakes for your livelihood are high, this is not something to navigate alone. It is also worth knowing that the scheme is under active review, following the Victorian Government’s 2025 examination of child safety screening, so the framework may change, and current advice is important.
Where a review is available, it is a genuine second look rather than a rubber stamp, because VCAT can consider the matter afresh and reach its own decision on whether a clearance would pose an unjustifiable risk. That makes preparation just as important at the review stage as at the application, with the same emphasis on evidence of who you are now. Given how much a clearance can matter to a career or a volunteering commitment, the effort of putting a proper case together is almost always worthwhile.
What should you do if your record might affect your check?
Get advice early, be honest, and prepare your case properly. If you have a record and child-related work matters to you, find out where your offences sit before you apply, gather evidence of rehabilitation and the context of any old matter, and never do child-related work without a current clearance, which is itself an offence.
If you have been excluded, or a new charge threatens a clearance you already hold, the review and reassessment processes reward a careful, well-evidenced response. If a criminal record may affect your Working with Children Check in Victoria, have your history assessed, so you understand exactly where you stand and can put your strongest case forward, because getting on top of these issues early is worthwhile for your work, your travel, and other parts of your life.
