Legal
Terms of service
Last updated 2 August 2026
1. About Village Babysitters WA
Village Babysitters WA is operated by Clifton Memorial Group Pty Ltd (ABN 50 690 843 353) trading as Village Babysitters. We are an online marketplace that introduces Western Australian families to independent babysitters. Village is a technology platform and a third party to every booking. Village does not employ, supervise, direct or supply sitters, and does not provide child care itself. Each sitter is an independent contractor engaged directly by the family who books them.
2. Eligibility and sitter requirements
You must be at least 18 years old to create a family or sitter account. To be approved as a sitter you must supply a government issued photo ID, a current Western Australian Working with Children Check, a National Police Clearance refreshed annually, current First Aid certification, current CPR certification, an active ABN and current public liability insurance. Sitters who have supplied and maintained that full set carry the Village Verified badge. The badge is removed automatically when a recorded expiry date passes, and the sitter is shown as a Standard Profile until the current document is supplied. A Standard Profile sitter may still receive and accept bookings, but only while their Working with Children Check remains current. A sitter whose Working with Children Check has lapsed cannot accept bookings until it is renewed (see clause 7). Families should review each profile and decide what is right for their family.
3. Bookings and cancellations
All bookings have a two hour minimum. The 9.9% Village booking fee is non refundable, except where the Australian Consumer Law requires otherwise. Cancellations made more than 24 hours before a booking start time receive a full refund of the sitter's amount; the booking fee is retained. Cancellations between 2 and 24 hours before start time receive a 50% refund of the sitter's amount; the booking fee and remaining sitter amount are retained. Cancellations less than 2 hours before start time are not eligible for a refund.
4. Fees, payments and GST
Creating a family account and listing a sitter profile are FREE. Booking is not free. Families pay a 9.9% booking fee on top of the sitter's hourly rate for every confirmed booking, and the full total is shown before payment. Sitters set their own hourly rate and keep 100% of it. Payments are processed securely through Stripe. Village does not hold your funds itself: card details are entered into Stripe's payment form, Stripe holds the funds until the booking is completed, and the sitter's amount is then transferred to the sitter's Stripe Express account. The 9.9% booking fee is Village's revenue. Clifton Memorial Group Pty Ltd is registered for GST, so the 9.9% booking fee is inclusive of GST: the fee includes GST of one eleventh of the fee, and that GST component is itemised on your booking receipt. Prices shown to families are GST inclusive. The sitter's fee for care is a separate supply made by the sitter to the family. Village does not collect, remit or report GST on the sitter's fee, and each sitter is responsible for their own tax and GST position under their own ABN, including registering for GST if required and issuing tax invoices to families where required.
5. Chargebacks, reversals and negative balances
Card payments are taken by Village through Stripe and the sitter's amount is then transferred to the sitter's Stripe Express account. If a family reverses, charges back or otherwise disputes a card payment, Stripe debits the full disputed amount and any dispute fee from Village's account, including where the sitter has already been paid. The sitter remains responsible for the amount they received for that booking. By accepting bookings on Village, the sitter authorises Village to reverse the related Stripe transfer in whole or in part, to withhold or offset the amount against current or future payouts, and to recover any shortfall from the sitter as a debt, together with any card network or Stripe fee charged on the reversal. Where a transfer is reversed and the sitter's Stripe Express account does not hold enough available balance, that account goes into a negative balance and Stripe recovers it from the sitter's next payouts before any further funds are released. Where a negative balance cannot be recovered from future payouts, the sitter must pay the outstanding amount to Village on request, and Village may suspend payouts or the sitter's account until it is settled. Village will notify the sitter of a chargeback and give them a reasonable opportunity to supply evidence for the response. If a dispute is later resolved in the sitter's favour and the funds are returned to Village, Village will re transfer the sitter's amount. This clause does not apply where the chargeback results from Village's own error, and nothing in it limits either party's rights under the Australian Consumer Law.
6. Conduct and safety
You agree to treat every Village member with respect, follow all Western Australian laws, and never arrange payments or bookings outside the platform. Off platform bookings sit outside Village's verification, secure payment, messaging record and dispute processes, and we cannot assist with them.
7. Child safety and reportable conduct
Sitters provide care directly to families and are solely responsible for complying with all Western Australian child safety law that applies to them, including Working with Children Check obligations, any mandatory or reportable conduct reporting duties, and their own incident response and record keeping. A sitter must not offer or accept care while their Working with Children Check is not current. If an incident, injury, allegation or safety concern arises in connection with a booking, the sitter and the family must report it to the relevant authority where the law requires it, and must also notify Village at hello@villagebabysitters.com.au within 24 hours. Village keeps records of accounts, verification documents, bookings, payments, messages and reported incidents, will suspend or remove accounts where a safety concern arises, and will cooperate with WA Police, the Department of Communities and other authorities on lawful request. Village is a platform and a third party: it does not supervise bookings, does not provide the care, and is not a substitute for the sitter's own legal obligations or the family's own judgement.
8. Higher risk care
Some care carries elevated risk, including swimming or water supervision, care involving medical needs, medication or allergies, disability support, care of infants, overnight care and travel or transport of children. Sitters must not offer, advertise or accept any service they are not competent, qualified, licensed and insured to provide, and must decline a booking that falls outside their competence. Families are responsible for assessing whether a particular sitter is right for their family and their children's needs, for asking about relevant experience and qualifications, and for giving the sitter the instructions, emergency information and consents the booking requires. Village does not assess competence for these services beyond the documents listed in clause 2 and makes no representation that a sitter is suitable for a higher risk booking.
9. Insurance
Village does not provide insurance and does not hold any policy that covers families, children or sitters for a booking. Village is a third party platform only. Sitters are independent contractors who are required to hold their own current public liability insurance, and families should satisfy themselves as to the cover a sitter holds. Nothing on this platform should be read as Village providing insurance cover for a booking.
10. Disputes
Either the family or the sitter can raise a dispute on a booking. While a dispute is open the booking cannot be completed and no payout is released. Village will review the dispute, may request information from both parties, and will decide whether the sitter's amount is released, refunded in whole or in part, or held. That decision is an administrative decision about the funds Stripe holds for that booking. It is not a legal determination of any claim between the family and the sitter, and to the extent permitted by law Village is not liable for the outcome of that decision. Nothing in this clause limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.
11. Reviews
Reviews are two way and verified. Reviews must be honest, first hand and free of harassment or discrimination. Village reserves the right to remove reviews that breach these standards.
12. Liability
Village provides the platform but is not a party to the babysitting arrangement. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Village is not liable for the actions or omissions of families or sitters before, during or after a booking, for the suitability, conduct, qualifications or performance of any sitter, or for any indirect, special or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of opportunity or loss of data arising out of your use of the platform. Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee, right or remedy under the Australian Consumer Law that cannot lawfully be excluded. Where Village is permitted to limit its liability for a failure to comply with a consumer guarantee, its liability is limited, at Village's option, to resupplying the platform service or paying the cost of having it resupplied. To the extent permitted by law, Village's total aggregate liability in connection with any booking is limited to the booking fee Village received for that booking.
13. Indemnity
To the extent permitted by law, you indemnify Village, Clifton Memorial Group Pty Ltd and its officers, employees and contractors against any claim, loss, damage, cost or expense (including reasonable legal costs) arising out of or in connection with your use of the platform, any booking you make or accept, any care you provide or receive, your breach of these terms, your breach of any law, or any content you submit. This indemnity does not apply to the extent the claim or loss is caused by Village's own negligence, fraud or breach of these terms, and nothing in it limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.
14. Force majeure
Village is not liable for any delay or failure to perform its obligations under these terms where the delay or failure is caused by an event beyond its reasonable control, including natural disaster, fire, flood, storm, epidemic or pandemic, act of government, industrial action, war, terrorism, cyber attack, or failure of telecommunications, hosting, payment or other third party infrastructure. Village will take reasonable steps to notify affected users and to resume normal service as soon as practicable.
15. Governing law and jurisdiction
These terms are governed by the laws of Western Australia, and you submit to the non exclusive jurisdiction of its courts.
16. Severability
If any provision of these terms is found to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal, that provision is read down to the minimum extent necessary, or severed if it cannot be read down, and the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect.
17. Waiver
A failure or delay by Village in exercising a right under these terms is not a waiver of that right, and a single or partial exercise of a right does not prevent any further exercise of that or any other right. A waiver is only effective if it is given in writing by Village.
18. Entire agreement
These terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any policies referred to in them, form the entire agreement between you and Village about your use of the platform, and replace all earlier representations, understandings and agreements about that subject matter.
19. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time. Continued use of Village after we publish an update constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.
20. Contact
Questions about these terms can be sent to hello@villagebabysitters.com.au.