Community service employment police checks

Australian National Character Check (ANCC) provides nationally coordinated criminal history checks to workers seeking community service employment in Australia.

Check timeframes: 70 percent of police checks are returned to applicants within 24 hours. Results are emailed on the same day they are received. Approximately 30 percent of checks may be referred to one or more police agencies and can take longer than 10 business days to be returned, due to the manual nature of this process.

Do you work in HR in a community service organisation and need police checks for workers? Australian National Character Check (ANCC) provides a streamlined solution for national police checks via our business portal.

Please apply for your nationally coordinated criminal history check via the individual portal here. If the purpose of the police check is for employment, individual applicants should select the “Employment” check category on their application form.

Businesses (e.g. community service organisations) seeking bulk background checks can apply for access to the ANCC Business Portal.

Community service workers (also referred to as support workers) are professionals who help individuals in difficult situations to have a better quality of life. Community service workers help others get the necessary resources to solve personal issues and give a voice to disadvantaged communities. Examples of these communities include the elderly, disabled, or individuals with mental health conditions.

As you can see, community service workers provide a wide range of services to different groups. Some of their key responsibilities include:

• ✔ Assessing the challenges and opportunities in the community
• ✔ Providing individual counselling services
• ✔ Developing service plans
• ✔ Providing local service connections
• ✔ Managing community organisation.

Given the charitable nature of this position, it's no surprise community services is one of the largest employers in Australia. Examples of community services roles include youth workers, social services specialists, case managers, and childcare workers.

Because community service workers work with vulnerable groups, the hiring process is rigorous. Aside from having the right qualifications, applicants must generally undergo background checks. Police checks are a crucial component of this process, and they help reveal the applicant's criminal history, providing insight into the hiring process.

A police check is a formal inquiry to reveal an applicant's disclosable criminal history. This history may include charges, court hearings, convictions (fines and penalties), finding of guilt, traffic offences, good behaviour bonds, and other court orders. In Australia, a police check is officially referred to as a nationally coordinated criminal history check (NCCHC).

Employers conduct police checks to assess candidates' suitability for the role and ensure safety compliance. This is especially true in community services because of the sensitive nature of the work.

Community services workers often work with vulnerable groups. Hence, employers must have reasonable assurance that their workers will not take advantage of the people they're supposed to help. For example, an applicant with violent criminal history may pose a grave risk to others. It would also be highly inappropriate for a convicted sex-crime offender to work as a support worker, especially around children. Those convicted of a drug-related offence may be unsuitable for a health-related community services role.

With a police check, decision makers can uncover an applicant's criminal history and assess the risk they pose and how it affects their employability.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) works with police agencies and accredited bodies across the country to make the police checking service accessible.

Here's how to get a police check as a community service worker in Australia:

You can apply for a police check through a police agency or accredited body. There are several ACIC-accredited bodies in Australia. Australia National Character Check (ANCC) is one of Australia's ACIC-accredited bodies.

The application process involves filling out an online form with your full name, date of birth, address, the purpose of the check, and other relevant information. You must also upload four identity documents as part of your application. They include:

• ✔ One Commencement of ID document
• ✔ One primary use in community documents
• ✔ Two secondary use in community documents
• ✔ A biometric link

Accredited bodies set different prices. As one of the affordable police checking agencies, ANCC charges a base fee of $52.90 + GST per police check.

After applying, the accredited body or police agency first confirms your identity through various checks. ANCC also uses the Australian government’s document verification service (DVS) for police checks. They then send your application details to the National Police Checking Service Support System for a result.

The system runs a name-matching algorithm. The system instantly returns a 'no disclosable court outcome (NDCO)' if it doesn't find a potential match. However, if it finds a possible match, it sends the details to the relevant police agency(s) for further assessment. The police agency(s) confirms the validity of the potential match. For an invalid match, the relevant police agency returns an NDCO to the body that requested the check. A valid match goes through a vetting process. In this step, the police agency applies the spent conviction scheme and information release policies to determine releasable court offences before sending the result.

The requesting body notifies you once they receive the police check result.

About 70% of police check applications are completed within 24 hours. The remaining 30% are referred for manual processing which can take longer than 10 business days.

While police checks do not technically expire, employers usually set an acceptable time frame based on operational requirements and risk assessments. Most community services employers prefer a police check less than three months old.

ANCC provides fast and affordable background checking services for:

Are you looking for employment as a community service worker? Do you need a police check as part of the hiring process? You can obtain a police check online with ANCC. All you need to do is fill out the online application form.

Are you an HR manager in the community services industry looking to conduct bulk police checks? ANCC's business portal makes it easy for hiring managers to order and track multiple police check applications in real time, making it easy to assess and compare applicants' hiring suitability. Set up a business account today to get started. All organisations undergo a process of approval prior to being granted access to the business portal.