WA Childcare Staff Must Be on National Worker Register by 30 November as Child Safety Laws Start

Early childhood education and care providers in Western Australia have until 30 November 2026 to list their existing staff on the National Early Childhood Worker Register, under child safety laws that took effect in WA on 1 November. The WA Education and Care Regulatory Unit confirmed the start date and WA's transition deadlines in an update dated 29 October. WA is the last jurisdiction to bring in the reforms, which started everywhere else in Australia between December 2025 and February 2026.

What changed for WA early childhood workers on 1 November?

The WA regulator says the Child Safety Amendments, made nationally in late 2025 and early 2026, were proclaimed to operate in WA from 1 November 2026. They were tabled in WA Parliament on 5 May 2026. The package covers education and care services regulated under the National Quality Framework.

Besides the register and training rules, the amendments make the safety, rights and best interests of children the paramount consideration in providing services. They also regulate electronic devices, expand the Regulatory Authority's powers and triple offence penalties.

Who has to be on the worker register, and by when?

The department's webinar slides say providers must give information to ACECQA, the national authority, for all staff who are not visitors. WA services get a one-month transition, matching the month other states had when the register opened on 27 February 2026.

Source: WA Department of Communities, Table of Child Safety Amendments and implementation webinar slides, published with the 29 October 2026 update.

Requirement	WA deadline
Existing workers entered on the National Early Childhood Worker Register	30 November 2026
New workers entered on the register (after the transition)	Within 14 days of engagement
Worker details updated after a change	Within 14 days of the change
Existing workers complete foundation and advanced child safety training	30 April 2027
New workers complete foundation training (after the transition)	Within 14 days of engagement, or before working directly with children if sooner
New workers complete advanced training (after the transition)	Within 3 months of engagement

Training must then be refreshed every two years. In WA, completing the foundation child safety modules counts for both the child protection and the child safety training requirements. Training finished before 1 November 2026 is taken to satisfy the new rules, according to the regulator's table of WA modifications.

What else do childcare staff need to know?

Working with Children Check holders must tell their employer within 24 hours if their check status changes, and the employer must tell the regulator within 24 hours of finding out. The department says WA is still working on the law changes needed for a full "no card, no start" rule, and it urges providers to adopt that approach now where they can.

The device rules aim to ensure staff use a service-issued device rather than their own phone when capturing images of children. The webinar slides list penalties of $6,600 or $34,200 for device offences. Across the National Law, the regulator's examples show penalties tripling, for instance from $22,900 to $68,700, and from $57,400 to $172,200.

What it means for Perth job seekers

Anyone starting a childcare job in WA after 30 November will be added to the register within their first two weeks, and will need to finish foundation child safety training within 14 days or before working directly with children.

Hiring is steady but small in our feed. On 4 November, Jobs In Perth listed 13 live childcare ads across WA placed directly by employers, including 6 childcare jobs in Perth. Among them, The Akidamy School of Early Learning was advertising educator roles in Perth and Fremantle at $33.87 to $38.14 an hour, and Stride Early Learning listed a Perth childcare worker role at $75,000 to $85,000 a year. See typical pay on our childcare worker salary page, or browse teaching jobs in Perth.

How we reported this

• Dates, deadlines, device rules and penalties come from the WA Education and Care Regulatory Unit update of 29 October 2026, its amendments table and its webinar slides.
• Jobs In Perth figures are live direct-from-employer ads in our feed, observed on 4 November 2026. Recruitment agency and aggregator ads are not included. Pay figures are as stated in individual ads.
• Cover image: AI-generated illustration, not a photo of the event.

Sources

• WA Department of Communities: Education and Care Regulatory Unit, latest updates and changes to legislation (29 October 2026)
• WA Department of Communities: Table of Child Safety Amendments applied in WA from 1 November 2026 (Word)
• WA Department of Communities: Child safety amendments webinar slides (PDF)