Attention employers who engage workers in residential settings…

The Residential Care Workers Register (‘the Register’) came into effect on 18 July 2022 and requires designated agencies to provide their residential care worker details into the Register before they can provide care in a residential setting.

A ‘residential care worker’ includes: those who provide direct care and supervision to a child or young person in a residential setting; provide security services in a residential setting; or those workers who spend more than 60% of their time employed by the designated agency within a residential setting.

The Register is a restricted, centralised database and is separate to the Care Workers register as it captures residential care workers, as distinct from those workers who provide out-of-home care support in NSW. The purpose of the Register is to hold information about those workers who provide and are responsible for the care of children and young people in a residential setting.

The NSW Residential Care Workers Register provides a mechanism for agencies to exchange information relevant to the safety, welfare or wellbeing of children and young people and was introduced in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2017.

Designated agencies have a three-month grace period to enter their residential care workers in the Register, however we recommend you do this well before 18 October 2022.

For more information about the Register, including useful Fact Sheets and Guides, please head over to the Office of the Children’s Guardian at this link  - https://ocg.nsw.gov.au/organisations/statutory-out-home-care-and-adoption/residential-care-worker-register and for information for agencies - https://ocg.nsw.gov.au/statutory-out-home-care-and-adoption/residential-care-workers-register/information-for-agencies

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact CER on 02 9189 5999 or enquiry@cer.catholic.org.au and one of Employment Relations Specialists would be happy to assist you.