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Important

New version effective 20 April 2026

This is the new version of the licensing criterion and associated guidance.

Criterion GMA205#

Before a person is employed or engaged as a children's worker, as defined in the Children's Act 2014, a safety check as required by that Act must be completed.

A detailed record of each component of the safety check must be kept, and the date on which each step was taken must be recorded, including the date of the risk assessment required to be completed after all relevant information is obtained.

These records must be kept by, or available to, the service provider as long as the person is employed or engaged.

Every children’s worker must be safety checked every 3 years. Safety checks may be carried out by the employer or another person or organisation acting on their behalf.

Documentation required#

1. A written procedure for safety checking all children’s workers before employment or engagement of the worker commences that meets the safety checking requirements of the Children's Act 2014.

2. A record of all safety checks and the results.

Guidance#

Every licensed service provider is required to take all reasonable steps to promote the good health and safety of children enrolled in the service. 

This includes safety checking that meets the requirements of the Children’s Act 2014. Safety checking should be part of your organisation’s recruitment process for all roles that involve contact with children.

Children’s Act 2014 - NZ Legislation 

You need to safety check all new children’s workers before you employ or engage them and complete a safety re-check every three years. You cannot rely on checks done by another employer.

Who needs to be checked#

All children’s workers need to be safety checked. 

Children’s workers include both:

  • core children’s workers: a person who has access to children whose duties require them to have 'primary responsibility for, or authority over' children and/or be the ‘only children’s worker present’ and
  • non-core children’s workers: non-core children’s workers are not core workers and have regular, but limited, child contact and are never alone with children.

Nearly everyone working in your early learning service is considered a core children’s worker. This is because there will be times during the day when their duties require them to have ‘primary responsibility for, or authority over’, children and/or be the ‘only children’s worker present’.

This means anyone employed or engaged in the following roles will need to be safety checked, including:

  • all service providers, service owners, managers,
  • all other staff who have regular contact with children
  • all persons responsible (visiting teachers / coordinators) and educators in home-based services
  • all students working in your service as part of their educational or vocational training, including school students
  • staff employed by other organisations who work at your service such as early intervention teacher.

To ensure the safety of children, the Children’s Act has restrictions on who can be employed as a core children’s worker.

Workforce restriction and core worker exemption#

People who have been convicted of offences specified in Schedule 2 of the Children’s Act cannot be employed or engaged in core worker roles, unless they have applied for and received a core worker exemption.  People who are affected by the workforce restriction can apply for a core worker exemption.

The core worker exemption process is managed by Te Kāhui Kāhu on behalf of the responsible government agencies. Information about the process can be found on Te Kāhui Kāhu’s website.

Core worker exemptions – Te Kāhui Kāhu

How to complete a safety check #

Full requirements for safety checking are set out in the Children's (Requirements for Safety Checks of Children’s Workers) Regulations 2015.

Children’s (Requirements for Safety Checks of Children’s Workers) Regulations 2015 – New Zealand Legislation

Safety checking includes the collection and consideration of a range of information about the person.

A full safety check has the following components

  • identity confirmation / verification
  • work history
  • information from any relevant professional organisation or registration body
  • any other information considered to be relevant
  • an interview
  • referee information
  • police vet
  • the final step is risk assessment.

Recheck children’s workers safety every 3 years#

Every 3 years, you will need to recheck children’s workers safety to keep working with children using 4 components, from the full safety check. This is referred to as a periodic check within the Children’s Act.

You will need to check the following 4 components.

Reconfirmation of identity

Confirm whether the person has changed their name from the name on the documents provided during the initial identity check. 

Identity confirmation or verification (including previous identities)

If it has changed, then you must ask them to provide a name change document from the list below.

List of identity and name change documents – New Zealand Legislation

Information from any relevant professional organisation or registration body

Information from any relevant professional organisation or registration body

New Zealand police vet

New Zealand police vet

Risk assessment

Risk assessment

You must take into account the guidance we have provided for each component in your risk assessment.

Written procedure for safety checks #

You must have a written procedure for safety checking children's workers. 

This should at least include:

  • the purpose of a safety check
  • the definition of children's worker and how this is applied to determine who to safety check
  • detail on each of the safety check components for existing children's workers and how these are completed
  • detail on each of the safety check components for new children's workers and how these are completed
  • detail on each of the 3-yearly re-check components and how these are completed
  • detail on how the risk assessment is undertaken, and what action is taken when risk is identified
  • information about the workforce restriction (core worker exemption) and how this is/would be met
  • information on where to seek advice, if needed
  • evidence that the procedure is regularly reviewed.

Follow this risk assessment guidance and make sure your decision-making process reflects this. This is required under Schedule 4 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

Education and Training Act 2020 — New Zealand Legislation

Keep a record of safety checks  #

You must keep a detailed record of each component of the safety check including the date each step was completed and the date of the final risk assessment.  

Risk assessment for both a full safety check and recheck means reviewing all the information to decide if the person is safe to work with children. It must only be completed once all necessary information has been obtained and considered.

Store this information securely — usually in the person’s personnel file. Files must be kept in a secure place with limited access.

The results are confidential and should only be accessed by authorised staff who need them for their role. You must provide this information to the Ministry of Education or other relevant agencies if asked.

For children’s workers, safety check records must be kept while they’re employed or engaged, then securely destroyed.

Records for long-term children’s workers (employed before 1 July 2015 – existing workers)

If a children’s worker has been continuously employed or engaged with you since before 1 July 2015, their safety check records don’t need to include:

  • their previous work history
  • an interview
  • a referee check.

However, you must keep a record of:

  • their full name
  • their role in your service
  • the date they started in that role
  • whether they hold a current practising certificate and its expiry date
  • for their initial safety check:
  • how their identity was confirmed
  • that their professional membership or registration was checked (if relevant)
  • that a NZ Police vet was completed
  • that a risk assessment was done
  • the date each of these steps was completed.

These workers must still complete three-yearly re-checks, just like all other children’s workers.

Umbrella organisations carrying out safety checks

If an umbrella organisation carrying out the safety checks is the employer for staff at multiple centres, then member centres (Playcentres/kindergartens) can use the children’s workers who have been safety checked by that employer.

Relying on safety checking completed by another organisation on your behalf

Where some or all components of the safety check have been completed by another organisation on your service’s behalf, you are still responsible for making sure that these components have been completed and that a full check has been done.

If you choose to rely on their safety check, you should:

  • get permission from the person being checked to share their information
  • confirm in advance that the other organisation is doing the check on your behalf
  • get written confirmation that the check meets the standards of the Children’s Act 2014
  • do your own identity check and risk assessment, even if the other organisation has already done them
  • keep records of all safety checks for children’s workers you employ or engage.

Relief teachers must be safety checked

Relief teachers must be safety checked, even if they’re only covering short-term absences. Relieving teachers will probably be core children’s workers.

Agencies often complete parts of the safety check. If another organisation has done part of the safety check, your service must confirm that all components have been completed on your behalf and meet the required standards.

You will still need to do your own identity check and risk assessment, even if another organisation has already done them.

Keep a record of these checks on file. With the exception of a short-term emergency.

If you hire relief teachers directly (not through an agency), you must do a full safety check on them. Once completed, the check is valid for up to 3 years.

Students on vocational training (Including gateway students of any age)

Providers of educational or vocational training courses may have completed some of the components of the safety check as part of their enrolment process. For example, an interview, reference check and police vet.

Before a student starts, you must agree with the training provider on which parts of the safety check the provider will do on your behalf.

You must get:

  • a letter from the provider confirming the student’s name,
  • what components of the safety check was done, and
  • that it meets the Children’s Act 2014 standards.

You will need to do the identity check, complete a risk assessment and keep a record of these checks on file with the provider’s letter.

Consequences of not safety checking#

It is an offence to employ or engage a person as a children's worker without completing a full safety check before they start work. It is also an offence to not re-check children’s workers every 3 years.

For serious non-compliance with safety checking, we may consider referring to the Police for criminal investigation. This may lead to a criminal prosecution and a fine of up to $10,000 per person not safety checked.

Short term emergencies or unexpected situations#

If an emergency or unexpected situation occurs that increases risks to any child, to reduce those risks you can employ or engage a children's worker without all steps of a full safety check being completed, for up to 5 consecutive working days.

This is as long as the employee has a current Police vet, which is a requirement of the Education and Training Act 2020.

For example, in a homebased service the coordinator/person responsible becomes suddenly ill, the risk of not meeting the supervision requirements, outweighs the risk of engaging a children's worker (with a current Police Vet) whom you have not fully safety checked, to supervise educators and children for a day or two.

In the interests of children’s safety, we recommend that you begin the full safety checking process as soon as possible in an emergency or unexpected situation.

Buying an existing service#

If you buy an early learning service and retain the existing staff, you will need to become familiar with the safety check requirements and our guidance. This will support you to develop a written safety checking procedure for your new service.

To make sure all staff have been properly safety checked, you will need to:

  • review records on file.
  • if components are missing or incomplete, you must do make them complete. *note guidance ‘Records for long-term children’s workers (employed before 1 July 2015 - existing workers)’.
  • complete your own risk assessment

You will also need to safety check anyone new you recruit.

Approved safety check service for self-employed children’s workers#

To avoid any conflicts of interests, owners or operators of early learning services must use a third party to complete their own safety checks and checks of any person who is related or closely connected.

We have approved CV Check NZ to do safety checks on children's workers.

You can choose to use this service, or another service that meets the appropriate standards. You will need to pay to use a screening service.

Children's worker safety check – CVCheck NZ