What is the Reportable Conduct Scheme
The Reportable Conduct Scheme requires organisations to report and investigate allegations of child abuse and misconduct by their workers. It requires organisations to take all concerns seriously and respond appropriately.
The scheme requires organisations to complete an investigation in response to concerns about a worker’s behaviour towards children and record the outcomes in a way that can be shared with other organisations to prevent harm to children. The scheme plays a critical role in identifying behaviour that is concerning but doesn’t reach the threshold for a police response.
The scheme is designed to connect information across organisations, regulators and sectors to identify people who present a risk to the safety of children.
What is reportable conduct?
Reportable conduct includes:
- a child sexual offence
- sexual misconduct committed in relation to, or in the presence of a child
- ill-treatment of a child
- significant neglect of a child
- physical violence committed in relation to, or in the presence of a child
- behaviour that causes significant emotional or psychological harm to a child.
Reportable conduct may be one or a series of acts. It does not need to have occurred as part of the worker’s employment – conduct that occurs while the worker is off duty or out of hours is still reportable.
| Conduct type | What does this mean? |
|---|---|
| A child sexual offence | This includes child sexual abuse in all its forms, including grooming and child sexual exploitation material. |
| Sexual misconduct committed in relation to, or in the presence of, a child |
Conduct that is sexual in nature, including:
|
| Ill-treatment of a child | Cruel, humiliating or inhuman conduct, including verbal abuse, making excessive or degrading demands or using inappropriate forms of behaviour management. |
| Significant neglect of a child |
Deliberate or reckless failure to meet the basic needs of the child. It can be a single serious failure to meet a child’s basic needs, or from an ongoing pattern of repeated failure to meet a child’s needs. Significant neglect of a child or young person does not include neglect that is a direct result of the child’s family or carer experiencing poverty or financial hardship. |
| Physical violence committed in relation to, or in the presence of, a child | Physical harm or force that causes or risks injury. This includes physical intimidation where a child or young person is scared that they will be harmed. A reckless application of physical force means the worker or volunteer may have not intended to use physical force but was reckless about the impact their actions could have on a child. |
| Behaviour that causes significant emotional or psychological harm to a child | Conduct that has serious, ongoing effects on a child’s emotional wellbeing and/or development. This includes harm that is serious in nature (not trivial) and is observed or professionally assessed through changes in behaviour distress, anxiety, withdrawal or a diagnoses. |
Who needs to comply?
The scheme applies to businesses and organisations that care for, supervise or exercise authority over children. Sectors that need to comply are listed in the Child Safe Organisations Act. These businesses and organisations are known in the law as reporting entities, which is a term used on this website and in our guidance.
Find out who needs to comply with the scheme.
Who can an allegation be made about?
A concern can be raised about any worker of an organisation that is required to comply with the Reportable Conduct Scheme.
A worker is a person who performs work of any kind for the organisation, including employees in all capacities, volunteers, contractors, subcontractors, consultants, labour-hire workers, trainees and work experience employees, and religious leaders.
What are organisations required to do?
Organisations need to have systems in place:
- to prevent reportable conduct by workers in the workplace, enacted through the Child Safe Standards
- that enable anyone to report concerns of reportable conduct to the head of the organisation and to us
- to investigate reportable conduct.
The head of the organisation is typically the chief executive officer or equivalent position. The head of the organisation can delegate their functions to an appropriately qualified person. If your organisation doesn’t have a chief executive officer, we will approve the person who needs to lead these activities.
If your organisation receives a report about reportable conduct, the head of your organisation is required to:
- notify us of the report within three business days
- provide us with an interim report within 30 business days
- provide us with a final report including the investigation findings as soon as practicable.
Your organisations may have existing requirements to report to other regulators, police or another body. The Reportable Conduct Scheme does not change these existing reporting requirements.
Failure to report can result in the head of an organisation receiving a financial penalty of $16,690 (100 penalty units) and details can be recorded on a public register.
Managing a report
You must act promptly when you receive a concern about reportable conduct.
For information on the process to follow to manage a report, visit our Managing a report webpage.
Our role
We are the independent regulator responsible for administering, monitoring and enforcing the Reportable Conduct Scheme across Queensland. Our priority in the first instance is on supporting organisations to meet their obligations.
What we can do
Our oversight of investigations
We ensure organisations investigate reportable conduct concerns properly.
We review an organisation’s interim and final reports to ensure organisations:
- followed lawful, fair and child-safe investigation processes
- ensured the best interests of the child at the centre of decision-making
- take appropriate and timely steps to minimise ongoing risk to children.
Our role is to support organisations through this process and to provide support where required.
We may intervene if we are concerned about capacity, timeliness, quality or independence, or if there are serious child safety concerns requiring immediate action.
We do not approve, endorse or recommend any independent investigators. If you choose to use an independent investigator, you are responsible for checking that they have the appropriate experience.
Our functions and powers under the law are further detailed in our Regulatory approach.