Child safe environment compliance (CSEC) statements

In South Australia, certain organisations (including sole traders) providing services to children and young people must provide child-safe environments and:

• have a child-safe environments policy /procedures in place and at a minimum, review them once every 5 years
• meet Working with Children Check obligations, and
• lodge a child-safe environments compliance statement with the Department of Human Services and lodge a new statement each time policy/procedures are reviewed and updated.

Lodging a compliance statement is free.

Who must lodge a compliance statement

All organisations providing services to children and young people must lodge a compliance statement. This includes (but is not limited to):

• health services including allied health practitioners
• accommodation or residential services for children (including school camp providers)
• services or activities provided by religious organisations
• childcare or child-minding services
• child protection services
• coaching or tuition services for children
• disability services for children
• commercial services provided directly to children (including recreational, entertainment, photographers and others)
• clubs and associations with a significant membership of children who provide sporting, recreational, cultural or artistic services or activities
• education services
• transport services for children
• any other service or activity declared by section 7 of the Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016.

This includes state authorities, non-government organisations, sole traders and people working in partnerships.

Section 6 of the Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016 tells you which organisations are included.

A penalty of up to $10,000 may apply if your organisation does not complete a compliance statement.

Lodge your compliance statement

Your compliance statement can be lodged via your Screening Unit Organisational Portal.

If you don’t already have an Organisational Portal, please navigate to the organisation portal registration page: https://organisationregistration.workerscreening.sa.gov.au

To lodge your compliance statement:

• login to your Organisational Portal
• select 'Child Safe Compliance' from the top menu navigation bar
• click 'Submit a New Child Safe Environment Compliance Statement'
• follow the prompts.

After you have lodged your compliance statement

Once you have completed your compliance statement, you can access a copy of your statement via your organisational portal.

To access the PDF:

• select the Child Safe Compliance tab from the top menu navigation bar
• open the relevant CSEC statement and select Related tab
• click on the CSEC Statement file to download.

You are not required to upload your child safe environment policy/procedures when completing your compliance statement. However, we may request copies of them at any time and you must provide them within 7 days.

Your child safe environment policy/procedures must meet minimum South Australian legislative requirements and align with the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.