WA's working with children checks lacking

Western Australia's Department for Child Protection is taking too long to process working with children checks for people red flagged by their criminal record, a review has found.

Auditor General Colin Murphy's report tabled in parliament on Monday found of the 9102 applicants being processed at the end of March, almost 80 per cent had not been screened to determine if they needed a card.

Applications are not submitted for a criminal record check until they are screened.

Mr Murphy said half of the 28 assessments he reviewed where the applicant had a conviction for a sexual offence against a child aged under 13 took four months or more to complete.

He said the longer a decision took, the greater the risk to children because people could "work on application".

"I understand the practical considerations in this approach, but the department needs to consider how it can better manage the risks it creates," Mr Murphy said.

He said the department had also failed to meet its own obligations as an employer because not all of its 2577 foster carers had a working with children card.

While most of the 115 carers who did not comply had simply not renewed their expired card, Mr Murphy said addressing the issue was a priority.

Over the past eight years, almost 85 per cent of working with children applicants had no criminal record, with less than one per cent issued a negative notice prohibiting them from child-related work.

The department said in a statement it welcomed suggestions to streamline its operations but it did not accept that risk to children had not been appropriately managed at all times.

It also said it remained particularly difficult to achieve full compliance with foster carers who were reluctant to renew their cards because they didn't view providing a home to their grandchildren, nephews and nieces as work.

The department said there had not been a case of a person harming a child they were working with while an application was underway.

About 300,000 people in WA have a working with children check card.