Negative Notice

If the WWC Screening Unit’s assessment or re-assessment of your eligibility to hold a WWC Card indicates an unacceptable risk to children you will be issued with a Negative Notice. For more information about the assessment process please click here.

Following assessment you can receive a Negative Notice, based on your criminal record on first applying for a WWC Check, or if you are charged or convicted of a new relevant offence while holding a WWC Card. A Negative Notice immediately cancels a current WWC Card.

If you are an employee, volunteer or student, your employer, volunteer organisation or education provider will also be given a copy of the Negative Notice.

While holding a current Negative Notice:

• it is an offence to engage in paid, voluntary or unpaid child-related work in Western Australia and/or the Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
• if you hold a WWC Card, you must return it to the WWC Screening Unit.
• your Negative Notice remains in effect until it is cancelled under the WWC Act.

How to have your Negative Notice decision reviewed

Your Negative Notice letter outlines the reasons for the decision made. You may apply to the State Administrative Tribunal to have this decision reviewed. An application to the State Administrative Tribunal is to be made within 28 days after the date of your Negative Notice.

You can access an application form and more information from the State Administrative Tribunal website, www.sat.justice.wa.gov.au.

Please note that if you did not provide a submission to the WWC Screening Unit after being invited to do so you cannot apply to the State Administrative Tribunal for a review of the final decision without first obtaining leave from the State Administrative Tribunal.

How to apply to cancel your Negative Notice

Under certain circumstances you can apply to the WWC Screening Unit to have your Negative Notice cancelled. To find out more please call the WWC Screening Unit.

What you are consenting to when you apply to cancel a Negative Notice

If you apply to cancel a Negative Notice you give consent to the collection, use and disclosure of information about yourself (including criminal records) for the assessment of your application to cancel your Negative Notice. Your consent is ongoing while your application to cancel is being processed or for the purpose of any legal proceedings following a decision to refuse to cancel the Negative Notice. If the application to cancel is successful, then consent will remain ongoing if the person requests the issue of a WWC Card following the cancellation of their Negative Notice.