Working with vulnerable people (WWVP)

Why you need a WWVP card to volunteer

At Belconnen Ramblers, the safety of our junior players is the highest priority. As a community basketball club operating in Canberra, we comply with ACT child protection law — the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act 2011 — and the national privacy principles.

Who counts as an appointed volunteer

For WWVP purposes, an appointed volunteer is anyone holding an official, designated role with a team or the club:

• Head coaches and assistant coaches
• Official team managers
• Appointed club officials, coordinators and committee members

If you hold one of these roles, you must provide your WWVP registration details and verified photos of your card (front and back) before taking to the court, the team bench, or managing team activities with junior players.

What a WWVP registration is

A Working with Vulnerable People (WWVP) card is a background check and risk clearance issued by Access Canberra under the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act 2011. It ensures anyone engaging in regulated activities with children undergoes background screening and continuous national monitoring.

Junior sport is a regulated activity in the ACT. It is a statutory offence for an appointed volunteer aged 16 or over to coach, manage, or take part in regulated team activities with junior players without a valid WWVP clearance or an approved supervised-pending status. Access Canberra also runs unannounced spot-checks at venues on game weekends — engaging an unverified or expired volunteer carries fines of up to $7,000 for the individual, and exposes the club to penalties under Section 14 of the Act.

Role by role, who needs a card

Coaches and assistant coaches

Anyone serving as an appointed head coach or assistant coach directing players from the team bench must hold an active WWVP card, or have a formally logged and approved supervised-pending application (below).

Team managers

Team managers often work off the bench — in the stands or nearby — handling team admin and communication. Because they still carry direct oversight of junior players, they need a valid WWVP card too.

Score table volunteers

Parents and close relatives helping on an ad-hoc basis at the neutral score table — running the scoreboard, the iPad scoring app, or flipping score tiles — do not need a WWVP card. Under Section 12 of the Act, anyone doing this for fewer than 3 days in any 4-week period (or fewer than 7 days in 12 months) is exempt. If a parent steps into an ongoing bench role — coach or manager — the exemption no longer applies.

A pending application

A screenshot or receipt of an application is not a full registration on its own. A volunteer with a pending application may start coaching or managing only if all of the following hold:

• Belconnen Ramblers is named on their Access Canberra application
• the club executive has approved the interim arrangement
• a fully registered, verified cardholder is physically present, in continuous line-of-sight supervision, the whole time
• the applicant has never had an interim bar, negative notice, or card cancellation in any state or territory

Without a verified cardholder present for constant supervision, a pending applicant cannot take the bench or coach.

Volunteers aged 16 and over

WWVP registration is compulsory for appointed volunteers 16 and older; volunteers under 16 are exempt. If a junior volunteer is approaching 16, we recommend lodging the free application at 15 years and 9 months so they are cleared by their birthday.

How we store and protect your information

We handle your details in line with the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

• Why we collect it — solely to meet the WWVP Act and verify your eligibility to volunteer. We do not share it with third parties except where legally required for compliance audits.
• Secure storage — records and card images sit in a protected, non-public area of our Microsoft cloud environment, accessible only to authorised committee delegates using multi-factor authentication.
• Automated tracking — active volunteers can check their status through our internal system, which sends renewal alerts ahead of card expiry.
• Retention — identification documents are securely disposed of once you stop volunteering; compliance logs are kept per APP 11.2's record-keeping requirements.

How to apply or submit your WWVP details

Thanks for helping keep our players safe, and Ramblers compliant.