If you disagree with a Working with Children Exclusion

If you fail the Working with Children check, the Social Services Regulator will issue you with a Working with Children Exclusion. This means that you will be prevented from doing any child-related work for a period of five years, unless your circumstances change.

If you receive a Working with Children Exclusion, you can request the Social Services Regulator to review its decision. This is known as an internal review. The review will be carried out by a different employee at the Social Services Regulator.

You can ask the Social Services Regulator for a review of your exclusion if you are not in Category A or if you disagree with being assigned Category A.

Category A includes:

people who have been charged with very serious offences
people found guilty of very serious offences
people under serious offender orders
people registered as sexual offenders.

If you are in Category A because of offences you committed as a child, it may be possible to make a another application for a Working with Children Check. You should get legal advice if you are in this situation.

Information or evidence for the review

When you apply for internal review, you can give the Social Services Regulator any information or evidence that you think is relevant. For instance, if you received an exclusion because of old offences, you may provide a letter from a psychologist or counsellor that shows how you have addressed the issues that led to those offences.

As part of the internal review process, the Social Services Regulator may ask for information from:

you
organisations such as the police
other people.

They can end the review if they ask you for more information and you don't provide it.

Time limits for reviews

Applications for internal review must be made within 28 days from the date of the Social Services Regulator’s decision. In some instances they can accept a late application if appropriate.