Day care employment police checks

A daycare worker in Australia is a childcare provider who offers care and supervision for children in their own homes. Daycare is a form of home-based childcare that allows children to be cared for in a small, family-like setting.

Daycare workers are responsible for providing children with a safe and nurturing environment. They may be responsible for meal preparation, playtime supervision, and primary care such as toileting and dressing. They are also required to keep detailed records of the children in their care, including attendance records and observations of their development. Family daycare workers must be registered with the relevant state or territory government and must meet specific child safety and care standards.

To become a day care worker in Australia, an individual must complete a series of qualifications and training, sometimes including a police check, first aid, anaphylaxis and asthma training, child protection training, a Certificate III in Children's Services or higher and more.

A police check is a process where an individual's disclosable criminal history is released on an official certificate. A police check is also referred to as a background check or formally, a nationally coordinated criminal history check (NCCHC). A police check typically includes information about an individual's criminal convictions, charges, and pending court appearances.

Daycare workers may undergo police checks to become registered with the relevant state or territory government in Australia. A police check for daycare workers is to ensure the safety and well-being of the children in their care.

A police check provides employers, organisations, or government agencies with information about an individual's disclosable criminal history, which can be used to determine their suitability for working with children. Criminal convictions or charges for certain offences may disqualify an individual from working as a daycare worker.

The Australian government has set strict regulations and guidelines for day care service providers, for the workers to provide a safe and secure environment for children. This is to protect the children in their care from any potential harm.

By undergoing a police check, daycare workers can demonstrate that they have no serious criminal history that would pose a risk to the children in their care and provide parents and caregivers with peace of mind that their children are being cared for by a trustworthy and responsible individual.

To meet the high demand for police checks, ACIC works with accredited bodies and police agencies across the country.

Follow these steps to get a police check for daycare or childcare employment in Australia:

You can apply for the police check through an accredited body or police agency. This process is typically online and involves filling out an online form. You'll also have to upload four identification documents. They are:

• ✔ One commencement of ID document.
• ✔ One primary use in community documents.
• ✔ Two secondary use in community documents
• ✔ A biometric link that links the applicant to the claimed identification

You must also pay the application fee. Accredited bodies set different rates. For instance, you can get a police check with ANCC for a base fee of $52.90 + GST.

After confirming your identity, the police agency or accredited body forwards your application details to the National Police Checking Service.

The system runs a name-matching algorithm to pull out a matching criminal record. The system instantly returns a 'no disclosable court outcome (NDCO)' if it doesn't find a match. But if it does, the system sends the criminal record to the relevant police agency for manual verification. Here, the police agency ensures that those records rightfully belong to the applicant. If that's the case, they then apply the spent conviction scheme to determine which records are releasable before sending back the final police check result.

You can obtain a police check in QLD or in any other state or territory in Australia.

Once the police agency or accredited body receives the check result, they will notify the applicant. Only then can you get your police check certificate.

About 70% of police check applications are processed instantly because the system returns no match. However, the other 30% return a potential match and must be manually verified. This process can take longer than 15 business days.

An individual with a criminal record may be restricted from working as a daycare worker in Australia, depending on the nature and severity of their offences. Employers are required to consider the relevance of the conviction to the position being applied for and any legislative requirements before deciding to engage someone.

While police checks do not expire, most daycare employers want a recent police check for hiring purposes. They generally require that employees undergo police checks every year to ensure the continued safety of the children they serve.

ANCC offers a background checking service for daycare workers. Our services are available to both individuals and businesses through different portals.

Are you a daycare worker? Do you need a quick and efficient police check? You can trust ANCC to deliver excellent services at an affordable cost.

Are you looking to hire daycare workers? Do you need bulk police checks to enable you to make informed hiring decisions? ANCC's business portal is ideally suited for hiring managers looking to partly automate the background checking process. ANCC’s business portal allows authorised businesses to order, track, and monitor multiple police checks in real-time.