Receiving notice about blue card approvals

We provide you with information about an applicant or card holder when they are linked to your organisation. However we no longer send letters notifying organisations when a blue card is approved.

Instead, you will receive these notifications electronically:

• via the Organisation Portal, or
• by email, if your organisation is not yet using the portal.

This change only applies when a blue card is issued. You will continue to receive other notifications by post, including when a:

• negative notice is issued (i.e. a blue card is denied)
• card is suspended or cancelled.

The following information will help your organisation to prepare for these changes.

If you are using the portal

You can access blue card approval notifications under the 'Notices' tab in the menu of the Organisation Portal.

Read the Quick reference guide about notices. Learn more about the Organisation Portal, including how to sign up.

If you are not using the portal

Notifications will be sent to the email address you have provided.

We recommend that your organisation updates the email to a generic email account for blue card notifications (e.g. bluecardadmin@organisation.com.au), rather than having them sent to a particular staff member's email account. Remember if you do this to send your new contact details to us.

Having a generic email means you can provide specific people with access so the notifications won’t be missed if the nominated person is on leave or leaves your organisation.

If you’re not using the portal, you will receive a spreadsheet by email whenever a blue card has been approved or renewed. This spreadsheet will contain a complete list of the blue cards issued for applicants linked to your organisation.

Recordkeeping requirements

Some organisations keep a hard copy of the card-issued notice in an employee’s file. As you will no longer receive a paper notification, you will need to update your recordkeeping procedures.

Once you have received the confirmation email from us and have updated your employee register or similar record (e.g. a database where you keep your blue card records), you have fulfilled your blue card recordkeeping obligations under the Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000.

Receiving electronic notifications

Follow these steps to ensure your organisation receives electronic notifications.

• Check we have the correct email address and other contact details for your organisation.
• Consider using a generic email address to receive electronic notifications.
• Update your organisation’s details.
• Consider your organisation’s internal processes around receiving notifications from us.
  • Who will monitor the email inbox?
  • Will you continue placing a hard copy of the card-issued notification in an employee’s file?
  • Where will you save the spreadsheet?
  • Who will have access to the spreadsheet?
• Consider registering your organisation to use the Organisation Portal.