The blue card system
Blue Card Services administers the blue card system—Queensland's Working with Children Check. This system plays a vital role in creating safe spaces for children by screening and monitoring people who work or volunteer in child-related roles.
Why the blue card system matters
Every child in Queensland has the right to feel safe, supported, and protected from harm. That includes being cared for in ways that promote their health, development, and wellbeing.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, it also means maintaining strong connections to family, community, culture, traditions, and language.
How it works
The blue card system helps protect children by regulating people working in key areas of their lives, such as childcare, education, sport, entertainment, disability services, cultural activities, and foster care.
It is regulated by the:
- Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Act 2000 (the Act)
- Working with Children (Risk Management and Screening) Regulation 2020.
We check and monitor people who work in these areas and help organisations create safe environments for children. If someone holds a blue card it means they have passed our screening process and are approved to work with children in regulated industries or roles.
There are 4 components of the blue card system:
- Who needs a blue card?
- Blue card check.
- Ongoing daily monitoring and compliance.
- Requirements to develop and implement a child and youth risk management strategy.
Each part of the system plays an essential role in keeping children and young people safe, and it works best when all parts work together.
Who needs a blue card?
A blue card or exemption card is required for anyone engaged in regulated child-related work or business in Queensland.
The blue card system has 18 categories of regulated employment and 15 categories of regulated businesses.
You only need a blue card if your work, volunteering, or business falls under one of these categories.
It’s important that organisations don’t insist on blue cards for employees and volunteers if the work they are doing is not regulated by the blue card system.
To determine if you need a blue card, we consider:
- the type of work you're doing
- the environment where the work take place
- whether an exemption applies.
Blue card check
The blue card check goes beyond a police check.
We begin by checking the National Reference System (NRS) to see if another state or territory has issued an adverse working with children decision against you, which may exclude you from holding a blue card.
We also review assessable information, which includes:
- any charges or convictions for offences in Australia, even if no conviction was recorded (including spent convictions, pending and non-conviction charges)
- certain orders, reporting obligations, or applications under the Child Protection (Offender Reporting and Offender Prohibition Order) Act 2004 or Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003
- court-issued disqualification orders that prohibit a person from applying for or holding a blue card
- disciplinary information from certain organisations (including about teachers, childcare licensees, foster carers and disability workers)
- domestic violence information
- adverse interstate working with children check information
- police investigative information relating to allegations of serious child-related sexual offences, even if no charges were laid
- other information that may indicate a risk to children, including information people must disclose when they apply for a blue card, such as child protection information).
What happens next depends on your assessable information
- if you are a disqualified person, we must refuse your application and issue you a negative notice.
- If you have any other assessable information, we must complete a risk assessment.
- If you do not have any assessable information, we’ll issue you with a blue card.
Ongoing daily monitoring and compliance
The Queensland Police Service monitors all applicants and blue card holders (including exemption card holders) daily. If there’s a change to your police information in Queensland, we’ll conduct a risk assessment to determine if you can keep your blue card.
You must notify us immediately if there is any change to your police information or disclosable information – domestic violence orders, child protection information, or adverse interstate working with children decisions.
If you are charged with a serious or disqualifying offence, we will:
- suspend your card if you are a card holder – you will become a restricted person
- withdraw your blue or exemption card application – you can reapply when the charge is finalised.
If there is a change to your assessable income and we are concerned you may pose a risk to children, we will suspend your card while we conduct a new risk assessment.
We monitor organisations and business operators to make sure they are complying with their obligations under the blue card system.
Child and youth risk management strategies
The blue card check is only one tool in the broader system to promote child-safe environments.
Every organisation or person operating a child-related businesses must have a child and youth risk management strategy (CYRMS) in place.
Your CYRMS is a framework that will help you:
- identify potential risks of harm to children
- implement solutions to minimise risks
- create consistent practices for staff and volunteers.