Changes to workers covered by the Reportable Conduct Scheme

More types of workers are now included in the Reportable Conduct Scheme.

Heads of organisations already have responsibilities for the workers, volunteers and contractors they employ directly, and these responsibilities still apply. The changes mean these responsibilities extend to more individuals in your workplace, whether they are employed directly or supplied by an external provider.

The changes make sure allegations of harm and abuse by workers, regardless of their type of employment, are properly reported and investigated to create better safeguards for children in Victoria.

You can find more detailed information about these changes in our new Information sheet: New types of workers and volunteers covered by the Reportable Conduct Scheme.

What are the changes?

Changes have been made to the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 to expand the definition of an employee for the Reportable Conduct Scheme. The new definition of employee now includes more people who are over the age of 18, whether or not their work relates to children.

The new types of employees covered by the Reportable Conduct Scheme include:

workers or volunteers provided by labour hire agencies, companies or other providers
secondees
individual business owners who employ or engage staff
directors of companies where the director performs work for the organisation.

Who is a labour hire worker or volunteer?

A labour hire worker is someone who is provided by a labour hire agency, company or other provider to perform work. This means there is an arrangement between the individual and the provider, such as a labour hire agreement.

This also includes volunteers who are supplied by a provider to perform work on a voluntary basis.

Some examples of labour hire workers include:

relief teachers in schools
agency nurses working in hospitals
additional support workers at kindergartens
higher education students on placement at schools or early childhood centres.

To help you understand which workers are covered by the changes, download our new information sheet.

Who is a secondee?

Secondees are also people who are employed by a provider and are supplied to another organisation to work for a temporary secondment period.

What this means for heads of organisations

The steps you need to follow for reporting and investigating reportable allegations will stay the same. These changes relate to the types of employees that are included in the Reportable Conduct Scheme.

What this means for employees

The changes don’t create any additional responsibilities for workers, but your conduct will now be covered by the Reportable Conduct Scheme.

Find more information about the Reportable Conduct Scheme for workers.

When the changes will apply

The changes started on 1 July 2024. In some cases, conduct before this date may be covered under the Reportable Conduct Scheme.

What you need to do – for heads of organisations

Review the processes and contracts you have in place to engage workers to help you understand whether this change applies to you.

You can also read about the changes to the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 on the Victorian Legislation website.

If you work with labour hire agencies, you might need to speak with them about this change and how you will undertake investigations of labour hire workers and volunteers.

More detailed information about the changes and what you need to do is available in our information sheet below.

New information sheet: New types of workers and volunteers covered by the Reportable Conduct Scheme

We have developed a detailed information sheet to help you and your organisation understand the changes. Follow one of the links below to download the information sheet:

Watch the webinar

We hosted a short webinar to help unpack the changes and what they mean for your Reportable Conduct Scheme obligations.

Watch the recording of the webinar below.

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