Who must comply with Working with Children Check / Blue Card (state)?

State-issued working with children check required for child-related work.

Working with children checks are run separately by each state and territory, and Queensland does not recognise checks issued elsewhere. Queensland's check is the blue card, regulated by the Working with Children Check Act 2000 and the Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Regulation 2020 and run by Blue Card Services. A blue card or exemption card is required for anyone in regulated child-related work or business: there are 18 categories of regulated employment and 15 of regulated business. The check goes beyond a police check to disciplinary, child protection, domestic and family violence and interstate check information, and card holders are monitored daily. Organisations carry their own duties: confirm a valid card and identity before work starts, link workers through the Organisation Portal, keep an employee register, never engage a restricted person, and answer Blue Card Services' information and audit requests.

Applies when the business has an approved childcare service or a school. Where the business has children's data or industry: Education — registered training orgs / Education — higher education providers / NDIS providers, check whether your workers or volunteers do child-related work.

How the regulator frames it: In Queensland: paid employees, volunteers, trainee students and business operators in the 18 regulated employment and 15 regulated business categories, and the organisations that engage them. Other states and territories apply their own working with children laws.

What triggers it: Starting paid or volunteer work, or operating a business, in a regulated child-related category in Queensland.

Jurisdiction: Commonwealth law, so the test is the same in every state and territory.

Outcome across the 35 industries Rules Mate maps (3 of 35: only if a further fact applies; 32 of 35: no).

Structure does not change the answer in the 3 industries it can reach: for every structure the answer is "only if a further fact applies".

Size does not change the answer in the 3 industries it can reach: at every size band the answer is "only if a further fact applies".

Each line is one run of the Rules Mate applicability engine for a single business profile, with the reason the engine gives:

• Pty Ltd company in real estate agents with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: does not apply. Requires an approved childcare service or a school.
• Pty Ltd company in ndis providers with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: check whether it applies. applies only if your workers or volunteers do child-related work.

Starting from a small or large professional services company that does not otherwise meet the test, each of these single facts changes the engine's answer:

• The business holds children's personal information: it becomes worth checking, because it applies only if your workers or volunteers do child-related work.

The engine shows this obligation as "check whether this applies" when a business has children's data or industry: Education — registered training orgs / Education — higher education providers / NDIS providers. It then applies only if your workers or volunteers do child-related work. That fact is not something Rules Mate can infer from industry, structure or size.

When due

Before the person starts regulated work: card or exemption-card application in place and the person linked to the organisation. Renewals may be lodged up to 16 weeks before expiry, and a reminder is sent 10 weeks before. Self-employed operators notify changes within 7 days.

Frequency

Ongoing

Evidence to keep

Employee register for every business operator, paid employee and volunteer (name, date of birth, whether a card is needed, application status, card number and expiry); identity checks; portal link and delink records; restricted employment declarations for anyone relying on an exemption; responses to information requests.

Status

Current

Priority

Critical

Maximum penalty: Queensland, at $172.70 a penalty unit from 1 July 2026: running a regulated business without a card, up to 500 penalty units ($86,350) or 5 years' imprisonment; letting a worker start without a card or link, or employing a disqualified, negative-notice or suspended person, up to 200 penalty units ($34,540) or 2 years; failing to keep the employee register or answer an information notice, up to 50 penalty units ($8,635).

Rules Mate has not yet classified the audit or assurance level for this obligation. Any audit, review or certification requirement is set by the regulator source listed below.

Rules Mate tracks 2 published obligations tagged "child protection", 2 of them rated critical. For a professional services Pty Ltd company with 6–19 employees operating in every state, 0 of those apply outright. This obligation is rated critical priority and carries criminal liability, and is an ongoing duty.

Free tools that help with this obligation:

• Compliance calendar builder