Department of Education employment police checks

Australian National Character Check (ANCC) provides nationally coordinated criminal history checks to workers seeking employment or licensing with the Department of Education.

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 school and need bulk police checks for employees? Australian National Character Check (ANCC) provides a streamlined solution for HR workers to obtain 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. If the purpose of the check is for licensing, please select the “Licensing” check category on the application form. If the employment is with a Commonwealth government agency, please select the ‘Commonwealth’ check category.

Businesses (e.g. department of education HR workers or decision makers at schools) seeking bulk background checks for Australian based employees can apply for access to the ANCC Business Portal.

Education is the backbone of any economy because it ensures the adequate development of children as they acquire the knowledge and skills needed to be more productive members of society as they become adults. In Australia, the Department of Education works tirelessly to improve early learning, educational outcomes, and schooling through better access to quality child care, learning environments, and parent engagement. This department also ensures better access to higher education and quality research to contribute to Australia’s social well-being and economic success.

The Department of Education also ensures the safety of children in learning environments. They primarily accomplish this by conducting rigorous background checks on teachers, pre-service teachers, volunteers, and third-party employees working with or around kids. A critical component of this background-checking process is undergoing a police check.

Suppose you’re starting employment or another place in Australia’s public education facility. In that case, this post will tell you all you need to know about police checks (officially known as a nationally coordinated criminal history check - NCCHC).

A nationally coordinated criminal history check (NCCHC) reveals an applicant’s disclosable criminal history, including charges, court hearings, court convictions, traffic offences, good behaviour bonds, finding of guilt, and other court orders.

The Department of Education requires a nationally coordinated criminal history check (NCCHC) for:

• ✔ Teachers
• ✔ School board/council members
• ✔ Long-term contractors on school facilities
• ✔ Employees of other organisations doing regular work in schools (like chaplains, therapists, and canteen staff).

Police checks are a vital precaution to protect children and ensure their safety. Through a police check, decision makers can access the applicant’s criminal history and make informed hiring decisions.

For example, a candidate with a violent criminal history may be unsuitable to work in a school environment because of the potential risk they may pose to children and other employees.

In addition to police checks, teachers have to undergo other background screening like Working with Children Checks (WWCC).

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) is responsible for coordinating police checks in Australia. ACIC works with other accredited bodies and police agencies to meet the high demand for the police checking service.

Here’s how to get a police check:

Step 1: Apply through an accredited ACIC body or a police agency. You can apply for the police check through an accredited body or a police agency. All you need to do is fill out the online application form, providing information on your name, address, DOB, the purpose of the check and more. You will also have to upload four identification documents for the police check.

They include:

• A) One item from the commencement of the identity document:
• B) One item from the primary use in community document:
• C) Two items from the secondary use in the community documents
• D) A biometric link to confirm your identity (e.g. a self photo demonstrating liveness)

The next step is to pay the application fee for the police check. Australian National Character Check (ANCC) charges a base fee of $52.90 + GST per police check.

After applying, the accredited body or police agency processes your application by first confirming your identity. Afterwards, they send your application details to the National Police Checking Service Support System (NSS).

NSS is an IT owned and operated by ACIC, and it runs a name-matching algorithm to find potential matches. If it doesn’t find one, it instantly returns a ‘No disclosable court outcome (NDCO)’ to the accredited body or police agency that requested the check. If the system does find a potential match, it sends the details to the relevant police agency(s) for further assessment. The appropriate police agency(s) runs a series of checks to confirm the match’s validity. They send back an NDCO for an invalid match. Conversely, if it’s accurate, it passes through the vetting process. Here, the police agency(s) applies the relevant spent convictions scheme to determine which criminal records are disclosable before sending the final check result to the police agency or accredited body that requested the check.

The police agency or accredited body will notify you once the check result is available. If you apply through a police agency, you receive your check result on a National Police Certificate. Conversely, you will receive your check result on a nationally coordinated criminal history check certificate if you apply through an accredited agency.

About 70% of police check results are returned instantly because the NSS IT system finds no potential match. However, the IT system finds a possible match for the other 30% of applications, meaning they have to be referred for manual processing, which can take up to 10 business days or longer.

While a police check doesn’t expire, it only reflects police records on the date and time the result is released. Hence, organisations determine an acceptable time frame based on operational requirements and risk assessment. The Department of Education generally required police checks no older than 6 months from the date of release.

Are you seeking employment in Australia’s public education sector? Or are you an HR manager in Australia’s education sector? ANCC offers efficient and affordable police checking to help you accomplish your goals.

Check out our portals for:

Whether an aspiring teacher or school board member, you can get a police check through ANCC.

Our business managers make it easy for hiring managers in the education sector to manage bulk police check applications. You can order, track, and screen multiple police applications in real-time, making it easier to make an informed hiring decision.