Police vetting children's workers#

Police vetting is part of the part of the safety checking of children’s workers required by the Children's Act 2014.

Children’s Act 2014 – New Zealand Legislation

Learn more about children's workers and how to carry out a safety check:

Safety checking for child protection in early learning

Registered teachers#

The Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (Teaching Council) is responsible for vetting registered teachers and relief teachers. This is part of the process to hold a practising certificate or Limited Authority to Teach (LAT).

Registered teachers are expected to disclose any new convictions and serious matters to the Teaching Council. The Teaching Council will not share the content of police vets with you.

Find a registered teacher – Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand

Lapsed practising certificates#

If a teacher's practising certificate lapses, the teacher cannot continue working as a children's worker until:

• the certificate has been renewed
• an extension to teach has been received
• you get a police vet for them yourself.

You should also complete other parts of the periodic safety re-check to make sure risk has been assessed.

Police vetting people who are not children's workers#

For anyone who works in an early childhood education service who is not defined as a children's worker, there must be a completed:

• police vet
• risk assessment of the information in the vet.

This is set out in Schedule 4 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Schedule 4 of the Education and Training Act 2020 – New Zealand Legislation

Non-teaching and unregistered employees and contractors#

You must police vet and assess:

• a non-teaching or unregistered employee before the person begins work at the service
• any contractor or employee of a contractor before the person has or is likely to have unsupervised access to children.

Members of governance groups#

Police vets at a governance level are part of the process of applying for a probationary licence. Information about this is available in the EC1 probationary licence application form.

Probationary licence and application form for home-based early learning

Probationary licence and application form for centre-based early learning

Adults living in home-based care premises#

Anyone aged 17 years or over who lives in a home where home-based education and care is being provided must be police vetted.

• If the adult lives in a home that will be used for home-based education and care, you must get their police vet before the service starts operating, even if they are unlikely to be there when the service is operating.
• If an adult moves to a home that is already being used for home-based education and care, you must get a police vet for them before they move in.

Who does not need a police vet#

Under the Children’s Act 2014 or the Education and Training Act 2020, you do not need to a police vet for:

• any employee who works in a different location from the service
• any employee who only works outside of the licensed operating hours.

Volunteers#

Volunteers do not need to be police vetted under the Children's Act 2014 or the Education and Training Act 2020.

Although you are not legally required to police vet volunteers, always think about child safety. As good practice, you could safety check or police vet volunteers who have regular, overnight or one-on-one contact with children.

Apply for a police vet#

Learn more about what a police vet is and how to apply for one.

Police vetting service – New Zealand Police

• Applications may take up to 20 business days to process.
• A police vet must be updated by the employer at least every 3 years.

Police vets for overseas children's workers#

Children's workers who lived overseas for more than 1 year within the last 10 years should provide a police certificate from the country where they lived.

If they cannot provide you with a police certificate, they need to prove that they tried to get one. They must also make a statutory declaration under the Oaths and Declarations Act about whether they have any overseas criminal convictions.

Oaths and Declarations Act 1957 – New Zealand Legislation

The New Zealand Police vetting service can check staff or volunteers who have lived in Australia.

Australian criminal history checking service – New Zealand Police

The Teaching Council sets out the process for vetting teachers from other countries.

Overseas police clearance – Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand

Police vets by other organisations#

Some other organisations, including tertiary training providers and relief teacher agencies, may supply a police vet as part of safety checking a children's worker.

Your service is responsible for confirming that a full safety check has been done. This is set out in our criteria:

• GMA106 Safety checking – Centre-based services
• GMA205 Safety checking – Home-based services
• GMA306 Safety checking – Hospital-based services
• GMA7A Safety checks – Kōhanga reo
• MA6 Safety checking – Playgroups

Keeping police vet information#

You must keep a police vet for at least as long as the person vetted is employed or engaged by your service. That person must be told how long the information is kept and why. If the information is used for an audit, you must have their permission for this before they are police vetted.

You must provide a police vet to us if we request it.

Keep information confidential#

All police vetting information must be kept confidential and managed by your service in accordance with the Privacy and Public Records Acts.

Privacy Act 2020 – New Zealand Legislation

Public Records Act 2005 – New Zealand Legislation

You cannot share a police vet with other agencies or accept one from them.

Once the information is no longer required to be retained, it must be securely destroyed.