“Standard AA" on police checks in Australia

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Australian National Character Check (ANCC) makes every effort to provide updated and accurate information to its customers. However due to the continuously changing nature of legislations for the Commonwealth and various States and Territories, it is inevitable that some information may not be up to date. The information on the website is general information only. The contents on the website do not constitute legal or professional advice and should not be relied upon as a substitute for legal or professional advice. While we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, suitability, accuracy or availability with respect to the information.

The police check result is a nationwide report and represents an assessment of an individual's criminal history in Australia. Although it is a nationwide scheme, the different States may have various legislations that affect or cite peculiar applications of the check result.

Most organisations in Australia require a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check as a document to assess the suitability of an individual for a job role or other purpose. That is why employers or individuals should learn the details and the terms used in a police check result.

Applicants can obtain Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks online via the Australian National Character Check (ANCC) website for a base cost of $52.90 + GST. Payment options include debit card, credit card or PayPal.

Businesses and Enterprises can streamline the ordering, tracking and payments of police checks via ANCC’s business portal for police checks.

Some of the common terms used in a nationally coordinated criminal history check result are;

Standard AA

When applying for a police check, the candidate must specify the purpose of the check.

Standard AA on a police check simply tells the reader that the Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check they hold is a Standard Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check and is conducted based on the applicant's suitability for an employment related role. It means the police check is for an employment related activity.

Depending on the purpose that is stated on the check, a “Standard AA” check result will be suitable for the majority of instances including employment, licensing and registrations related roles.

Result

This term tells the reader of the certificate the summary findings of the police check result. There are two ways a police check can return;

• A disclosable Court Outcome (DCO)
• No-disclosable court outcome (NDCO)

If a police check returns with a (DCO), it means that an individual has convictions in their records that the State/Law considers releasable and useful for the purpose they have applied.

For example an applicant who applies for child-related roles but has an assault conviction in the past will have a DCO listed.

Also, if an individual has been convicted of a financial or related offence in the past, it will show in their DCO when they apply for a job in; finance or public administration.

No-Disclosable Court Outcome

An NDCO will appear as the result of a candidates police check if they do not have a conviction the State legislation considers releasable.

An NDCO does not necessarily mean the candidate has no previous convictions. It means that at present, such convictions have been expunged or are not pertinent to the inquiry or application.

Examples of NDCOs are;

• Clean criminal record
• Non-State offences/non-conviction offences

Match Date

A NCCHC police check will also include a “match date”. However, this is not to be mistaken for the “Submission” or the “Release Date”.

The Match date is the date when the check process started and ended. It includes when there was a "criminal match", finding or no find at all from the national criminal database.

The Match Date usually tells of when the automated checking process was started and completed.

Release Date

At the end of the checking process, the police authorities in various states and territories of Australia (where applicable) compare the conviction records with the State under the Criminal Release orders.

After the necessary comparisons, the police will transfer the completed check to the requesting agency.

The release date becomes the point-in-time when the police check result becomes available or “released”.

Although police checks do not have a set expiry date, usually most employers do not accept police check results that are older than three (3) months from the release date as part of their internal risk mitigation strategies.

Purpose Details

A Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check is usually for specific purposes, for example:

• Aged care worker
• Driver Licensing/Accreditation
• Firemen service
• Construction worker
• Lawyer
• Office Administration
• Miner
• Editor
• Accountant,
• And other tasks and roles.

The “Purpose detail” clearly tells the reader the specific purpose for the check and the potential employer who requested the check.

The “purpose details” reveal information up until the location and sector of the workplace.

E.g. a company that requested or obtained (with the applicant’s informed consent) a police record check for an applicant may read the following under the Purpose details section on the result;

Subject Details

The "Subject Details" is also an important part of the certificate. As with other certificates, it must bear the full legal name of the holder. And that is the portion for the Subject details; it bears the holders information.

Asides from the full basic information of the holder, the subject details contain other necessary information like the;

• Birthdate and place of birth
• Gender
• Addresses; previous and current for the past five years

With the subject details, the employer or requesting party can be sure that it is the real result of the applicant. It can help to ascertain that the applicant has not submitted a false or moribund result.

Requesting parties that obtain checks via Australian National Character Check (ANCC) can also verify Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check results via ANCC’s verify a police check feature. Note that only checks that are issued by ANCC can be verified using the “verify a check” feature on the ANCC website.

Organisation reference number;

The Organisation reference number shows the application reference number of the individual applicant that was assigned by the issuing body (e.g. ANCC). The reference number can be used by the applicant to approach the issuing body in case they have any questions about their application or the result.

Disclosable History

One of the sections most people are interested in a nationally coordinated criminal history check document is the revealed details of the convictions.

A police check result will not only state whether there is a DCO or NDCO, but in the event of a DCO, it will state the details of the conviction.

It states the following details of the offence;

• Source/Database of getting the offence from;
• The court that gave the conviction
• The date of the conviction
• The offence details
• The penalties and result of the convictions

The details in the Disclosable History section (if any history is disclosed) helps the decision maker to determine the reasons and how far ago the individual committed the offence. It also tells the decision maker if the applicant received a jail sentencing or parole for the offence.

Other details of the police check result are;

• The date the application was “submitted” to the issuing organisation.
• The “status” of the certificate; e.g. closed.

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