CCYPCG home / The blue card system / Employers, volunteer coordinators & education providers / Managing the process
Managing the process
Please click on the links below for important information to assist you in managing the process:
- Information about disqualified persons
- How to apply for a new card
- When to apply for a new card
- Renewing a blue card
- How long will it take?
- How to check the validity of an existing card
- The decision making process
- Notifications - what the Commission will tell you
- Your reporting requirements - what you need to tell us
- Cancellation or suspension of a blue card - what you need to do
- Child and youth risk management strategies
- Employee register
Information about disqualified persons
There are certain people who are prohibited from applying for or renewing a blue card.
Please click here for more information about disqualified persons.
Employers, volunteer coordinators and education providers are responsible for applying for blue cards or exemption cards on behalf of their employees, volunteers or trainee students who do not already hold a card.
If a person in your organisation is providing regulated child-related services and requires a blue card, you must remember to:
- lodge the appropriate application form with the Commission, ensuring it is completed correctly and in full
- provide a verbal warning that it is an offence for a disqualified person to sign a blue card application form, and
- ensure you sight and verify the applicant's identification documents and that the details match those on the application, including name, date of birth and signature.
An example of how the verbal warning could be delivered is provided below:
""I am required by the Commission's Act to provide you with a warning that it is an offence for a disqualified person to sign a blue card application form. If you are unsure whether you are a disqualified person, you should contact the Commission for more information before signing the application form".
For information about the application process, please click on the relevant link below:
- Paid employees
- Volunteers and trainee students
- Business operators
- Police officers and registered teachers
- Disability service providers.
Please click here to locate the relevant forms.
Paid employees...
Paid employees who require a blue card can commence providing regulated child-related services once they have lodged a completed application with the Commission.
Please click here for more information.
Volunteers and trainee students...
Volunteers and trainee students who require a blue card must hold a valid blue card before they can commence volunteer work or a practical placement as part of their studies.
Please click here for more information.
Police officers and registered teachers only...
Exemption card holders can commence providing regulated child-related services once a completed application is lodged with the Commission.
Please click here for more information for registered teachers and police officers.
Blue cards are valid for three years, unless cancelled or suspended. The blue card renewal process involves a new national police information check, a check of disciplinary information where applicable and a complete reassessment of an applicant's eligibility.
As an employer, volunteer coordinator or education provider, you must lodge a renewal form for your paid employees, volunteer or trainee students.
The Commission will send a renewal application and reminder to the blue card holder 16 weeks before their blue card expires. You should note the expiry date and renewal date of all blue cards in your organisation's employee register and check to ensure all cards remain current and that the rules below are followed regarding renewals:
- Paid employees may continue in regulated child-related work as long as they submit a renewal form before their blue card expires, and
- Volunteers, trainee students and business operators must submit their renewal form at least 30 days before their blue card expires in order to continue in regulated work after the expiry of their blue card, unless it is suspended or cancelled earlier.
- Exemption cards do not have an expiry date and remain valid as long as the person remains a police officer or registered teacher.
Please click here for more information.
As a guide, you should allow at least 28 business days for applications to be processed.
Applications will take longer to process if:
- forms are incomplete or not correctly filled in. Please ensure each part of the form is filled in by the appropriate person and completed correctly
- there is police or disciplinary information about an applicant that the Commission must retrieve and consider before determining a person's eligibility to work with children.
How to check the validity of an existing card
If a paid employee, volunteer or trainee student already holds a valid blue card or exemption card, you must notify the Commission that they are commencing regulated child-related work with your organisation.
Please click here to locate the relevant form or here for a flow chart outlining this process.
Transferring from a volunteer blue card to paid employment or business
If a person holds a volunteer or student blue card (for which they have not paid the prescribed application fee) and they are proposing to transfer into paid employment or business, they are required to transfer their card by lodging the relevant transfer form and paying the prescribed application fee.
Please click here to locate the relevant form.
Please click here to validate an existing blue card or exemption card online. This provides a point in time status update of the card but does not replace your obligation to complete the authorisation form.
By submitting the authorisation form, you ensure your organisation will be advised of any important status updates such as suspension or cancellation of a blue card.
When making a decision about an application, the Commission’s key priority is maintaining the safety and wellbeing of children and young people in Queensland. The Commission’s Act outlines strict guidelines that must be followed before issuing a blue card or exemption card.
Please click here for more information about the decision making process.
Notifications - what the Commission will tell you
If a blue card or exemption card is issued, you will receive notification from the Commission and you must add the employee's blue card details to your employee register, noting the expiry date.
The Commission will also notify you:
- if the person withdraws their consent to employment screening or their application is withdrawn for another reason
- if the blue card is refused and the person is issued with a negative notice, or
- if a blue card is issued and later cancelled or suspended.
Reporting requirements - what you need to tell us
You must advise the Commission if:
- your employee/volunteers/trainee students advise you that they have had a change in their police or disciplinary information during the application process (for paid employees who have already commenced working) or after a blue card has been issued.
You must not continue to employ the person in regulated, child-related employment until you have submitted a 'Change in police information' form to the Commission. Your employee/volunteers/trainee students are not required to disclose the specific nature of the change, only that a change has occurred. As a listed employer/volunteer coordinator/education provider, the Commission will notify you of any suspension or cancellation of the person's blue card.
- an employee/volunteer/trainee student or blue card holder stops working or volunteering for your organisation, by submitting a 'Notice - no longer working in child-related employment' form.
Please click here to locate the relevant forms.
Cancellation or suspension of a blue card - what you need to do
If an employee/volunteer/trainee student has had a blue card cancelled or suspended or receives a negative notice after a change in police information, your organisation must:
- ensure the person does not continue to undertake regulated child-related work within your organisation, and
- if you continue to employ the person to perform work that is not child-related, ensure that appropriate policies and procedures are in place to manage any risks of harm to children and young people that may arise as a result of the person's ongoing employment with your organisation.
Child and youth risk management strategies
Safe environments don’t just happen, they require ongoing planning, commitment and maintenance. Organisations falling within the scope of the blue card system are required to implement child and youth risk management strategies which address eight minimum requirements. The purpose of these strategies is to ensure that organisations have appropriate policies and procedures in place to identify and minimise the risk of harm to child and young people in regulated service environments.
To assist organisations to develop and implement appropriate child and youth risk management strategies, the Commission has developed a toolkit to provide information and guidance on the eight minimum requirements. This toolkit will help you to provide a solid foundation for the creation and maintenance of a safe service environment for children and young people.
Please click here to access the toolkit.
In order to ensure your compliance with blue card system requirements, you must implement a register that outlines all staff. This must include particulars of:
- blue card holders or applicants
- exemption card holders or applicants, and
- individuals who don't require blue cards.
Please click here for more information and a suggested template.
Last updated: 2 August, 2012
