Overview of the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme
The Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme starts on 1 July 2024.
The Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme is designed to address risks posed by individual workers and carers that require additional interventions.
The scheme replaces the Victorian Carer Register and increases protections for children and young people in out-of-home care by expanding the range of conduct that can result in a worker or carer being excluded from working.
Before engaging with a worker or carer for the first time, service providers will be required to check with the Regulator if the person is on the excluded worker and carer database.
Scope
Workers and carers covered by the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme include:
- foster carers
- workers or carers providing services to children in residential out-of-home care services
- workers or carers providing services to children in secure welfare services.
Out-of-home care service providers that engage the above workers or carers are also in scope of the scheme.
The Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme does not apply to:
- kinship carers
- permanent carers
- adoptive carers
- persons engaged by providers on a voluntary basis other than foster carers, for example some lead tenants.
Excluded carer checks
The Social Services Regulator maintains a database of:
- carers that were disqualified from the Victorian Carer Register before the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme started. These carers are deemed to be excluded under the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme
- workers and carers excluded, including on an interim basis, under the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme, including details of the exclusion decision
- workers and carers under investigation.
Before engaging with a worker or carer for the first time, service providers must ask the Social Services Regulator to check the database and disclose whether the person is under investigation or excluded. This process is similar to requesting a disqualified carer check through the Victorian Carer Register.
Workers or carers who had a current disqualified carer check or registration on the Victorian Carer Register as of 30 June 2024, do not require a Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme database check.
Requesting a database check
Service providers are responsible for requesting database checks for all prospective workers and carers. This function cannot be delegated, for example to a temporary staffing agency.
A database check request can be submitted between 9am and 5pm on business days. Requests must be submitted by the service provider’s nominated carer recorder.
The request must include the person’s:
- full name, as they are registered under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act 1996 or an equivalent law of another jurisdiction
- shortened name or nickname, if they are known by a name different to their registered name
- current residential address
- date of birth.
Service providers are responsible for ensuring that information provided is correct. If incorrect or incomplete information has been submitted, the processing time may be extended, and the validity of the check may be compromised.
If an unexpected or urgent database request is required outside of business hours, the service provider can contact the Social Services Regulator on 0400 841 242. A verbal or text message response will be provided which is valid until the next business day. The service provider must then complete a formal database check.
Reporting obligations
Workers and carers
Worker and carers must tell all services that they work for if they are:
- under investigation
- have been excluded – including on an interim basis
A worker or carer must tell their employer(s) they are under investigation or have been excluded:
- as soon as reasonably practicable, and
- within 2 days of receiving notification from the Social Services Regulator or a panel
Failure to disclose this information to an employer is an offence.
Service providers
Service providers must notify the Social Services Regulator as soon as reasonably practicable, of any:
- incident that results in serious harm to a Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme service user
- incident that is reasonably likely to cause harm to a Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme service user.
Harm may be of a physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, financial or cultural nature.
To notify the Social Services Regulator of any incident related to a Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme service user, service providers will be able to use the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme - section 48 incident notification form.
Completed forms and any relevant attachments must be encrypted and password-protected before being emailed to WCESdatabase@ssr.vic.gov.au.
Any other person
Any other person can report the alleged conduct of a worker or carer in scope of the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme using the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme – section 197 report form.
Completed forms and any relevant attachments must be encrypted and password-protected before being emailed to WCESdatabase@ssr.vic.gov.au.
Investigations and exclusions
A worker or carer can be excluded from working for a Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme service if they:
- have engaged in conduct that can lead to exclusion, and
- are found by a Worker and Carer exclusion panel to pose an unjustifiable risk of harm to children.
An interim exclusion may be issued to a worker or carer while an investigation or panel process is underway.
Workers and carers who have been excluded, including on an interim basis, must not:
- work in the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme sector
- apply for work as an out-of-home care worker or carer.
It is an offence to work in the Work and Carer Exclusion Scheme sector while excluded, including on an interim basis.
Any carer disqualified from the Victorian Carer Register prior to 1 July 2024, is excluded from working in the out-of-home care sector under the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme.
Carers under independent investigation as of 30 June 2024, will continue to have their matter investigated and considered under the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 by the Suitability Panel. Their details will be included in the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme database.
More information
Contact us
More information on the Worker and Carer Exclusion Scheme is available by calling 1300 310 778 or via WCESdatabase@ssr.vic.gov.au
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