6 min read · Updated 2026-10-18
In short
In NSW, every tutor who teaches children face to face needs a Working with Children Check, and the centre must register as an employer, verify each check online and keep a record. A paid check costs $112, a check lasts five years, and a volunteer check is free. Anyone whose check becomes barred, interim barred or expired must be taken out of child-related work at once.
General information, not legal advice. Laws and the regulators' rules change: check the sources below, and talk to your own adviser about your centre.
It is the first week of term and you have hired three casual tutors in a hurry. One sends a screenshot of an email with a number on it, one says theirs is "in progress", and one is sure they had a check at their last job. Meanwhile a family has asked whether every tutor at your centre is cleared. This article sets out what NSW asks of you, and how to make the answer true every day rather than only after an audit.
A Working with Children Check (WWCC) is the NSW clearance for people in child-related work. The Office of the Children's Guardian (OCG) runs it under the Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012. The duties fall on the business as well as the tutor. This article covers NSW only: other states run their own schemes with different rules.
Who in a tutoring centre needs a check
The OCG defines child-related work as services to people under 18 where the work normally involves face-to-face contact that is more than incidental, and its list of examples names tutors. In practice:
- Every tutor who teaches students under 18, whether at a campus, online or in a family's home.
- Paid tutors need a paid check. Volunteers, such as a former student helping in a homework club, need a volunteer check, which is free. Upgrade it before that person is paid.
- Owners and managers who teach, cover lessons or supervise a room need one for the same reason as any tutor.
- Front desk staff are a judgement call. Contact that is only incidental needs no check, but a receptionist who minds students waiting for a parent is doing more than that. Decide role by role and write the reason down.
The OCG also says employers must not rely on the check in place of other child safe measures by asking it of people who are not in child-related work.
Cost, timing and how long a check lasts
- A paid check costs $112, paid at Service NSW when the applicant proves their identity. The fee is not refundable.
- Results can take up to four weeks, longer if the application goes to risk assessment.
- A person may start child-related work once they hold an application (APP) number, though some employers wait for the clearance itself. Waiting is your policy choice.
- A cleared check lasts five years and moves with the person, so a new tutor who already holds one needs no new check. They can renew up to three months before it expires.
- There is no card. The clearance number arrives by email, which is why you verify online rather than looking at a screenshot.
What the centre must do as an employer
The OCG sets out four duties: register, identify the roles that need a check, verify, and keep records. Verifying is a legal requirement and the OCG says there is a fine for not doing it. A sole tutor who works alone does not register; they give each family their number, surname and date of birth, and the family verifies. Once that tutor takes on staff, they become an employer too.
- Register as a child-related employer on the OCG's employer portal, using a business email address.
- Nominate two people who can receive confidential notices about a worker's status, and keep their details current.
- Verify each new tutor online with their family name, date of birth and APP number, then again when the clearance number arrives.
- Verify again after every five-yearly renewal.
- Make sure the person who verifies has had their own check verified by someone else. Nobody can verify themselves.
- Keep a record for each worker: full name, date of birth, check number, verification date, outcome, expiry date, and whether the role is paid or volunteer.
- Remind tutors to renew before expiry, and diarise every expiry date.
Only a status of "Cleared" or "Application in progress" lets someone work with children. Verifying also links the worker to your centre in the OCG's monitoring, so if their status changes later the OCG tells you directly.
- Apply
The tutor applies and pays at Service NSW, and receives an application (APP) number.
- Verify the APP number
Your centre verifies it online with the tutor's family name and date of birth.
- The clearance arrives
The WWC number comes by email, usually within four weeks, longer with a risk assessment.
- Verify again
Verify the clearance number too. Nobody can verify their own check.
- Five years on
Renew up to three months before expiry, then verify the renewed check.
- Keep the record
Name, date of birth, number, verification date, outcome and expiry, for every worker.
When a check is barred or interim barred
An interim bar is issued while the OCG assesses a risk: the worker must stop child-related work immediately and the employer is notified. A bar is the final outcome, and the OCG instructs the employer to remove the person. You must also remove anyone whose check has expired or cannot be found. The OCG does not share the reasons without the worker's consent, so do not ask the tutor to explain before acting: take them off the timetable first, then get employment advice from your adviser.
Write the steps down before you need them: who reads OCG notices, who takes the tutor off upcoming lessons, who tells families a lesson has a new tutor, and what is said. Our guide to child safety and reports covers the reporting side.
Making it true every day, not once a year
The hard part is not the rules, it is the gap between your record and your timetable. A check that expired last Tuesday does not stop anyone booking that tutor for Thursday. That is the gap XTutio closes, and it is the first thing on our safety page.
In XTutio a tutor's check is looked at when a lesson is booked, when a series is set up for every week of it, and when a tutor is changed or a cover accepted. Your centre chooses to warn, which lets the booking through and records it, or to block. Typing a number in never verifies it: a check counts only once someone with the right permission presses Verify, and nobody can verify their own. Compliance staff see every expiry on a calendar, and the tutor and your compliance team are reminded 90, 30 and 7 days before a check runs out.
Home lessons have no setting at all. Whatever your centre chooses, a tutor without a current, verified check cannot be booked at a family's home, and on the day they cannot check in to one if it has lapsed since. Once a day, your admins and compliance staff are told in the app about any home lesson in the next fortnight whose tutor's check will have run out by then. Our home tutoring safety checklist covers the rest of the lone worker side, and home tutoring in XTutio shows the tutor's day.
Questions centres ask
- Does a casual tutor need their own Working with Children Check?
- Yes. Any tutor whose work involves face-to-face contact with children that is more than incidental needs a check in NSW, whether casual, part time or full time. A paid worker needs a paid check.
- How much does a Working with Children Check cost in NSW?
- A paid check costs $112, paid at Service NSW, and is not refundable. A volunteer check is free.
- Can a new tutor start before their clearance comes through?
- The law allows someone to start child-related work once they have an application (APP) number, and you verify that number online. Some employers choose to wait for the clearance, and that choice is yours.
- What should I do if a tutor is interim barred?
- Remove them from all child-related work immediately, including any booked lessons. The OCG will not share the reasons without the tutor's consent, so seek employment advice separately.
Sources
- Who needs a Check, NSW Office of the Children's Guardian. Read 2026-10-18.
- Role of an employer with the Working with Children Check, NSW Office of the Children's Guardian. Read 2026-10-18.
- Help to register and verify, NSW Office of the Children's Guardian. Read 2026-10-17.
- Frequently asked questions about the WWCC, NSW Office of the Children's Guardian. Read 2026-10-18.
- WWCC Bars and your rights, NSW Office of the Children's Guardian. Read 2026-10-17.
- Sole traders, NSW Office of the Children's Guardian. Read 2026-10-17.
