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POLICY STATEMENT:

A National Police Check and Working with Children Check (WCCC) is a prerequisite for anyone in child and home-care work in Australia. In line with contractual obligations to government, clients and customers, Support Network Pty Ltd ensures that all employees obtain both a National Police Check and a paid WWCC before engagement, which must be renewed before expiry. This enables Support Network Pty Ltd to provide assurances to our clients that employees do not have any relevant criminal convictions or record of professional misconduct.

The WWCC and National Police Check are two different checks,

• The Police Check is current only on the day of issue and is simply a list of the offences from a person’s criminal history that can be disclosed. It does not involve an assessment of risk or suitability by a government agency.
• The Working with Children Check is an ongoing assessment of a person’s suitability to work or volunteer with children and involves a check of a person’s national criminal history (including all spent convictions, pending and non-conviction charges) and a review of findings of workplace misconduct. The result of a Working with Children Check is either a clearance or a bar.

PROCEDURE:

National Police Check

1. All prospective employees may be able to claim the cost of the police and working with children certificates as a work-related expense for tax purposes, but should seek independent advice.
2. A police certificate discloses whether a person:
   1. has been convicted of an offence;
   2. has been charged with and found guilty of an offence but discharged without conviction; or
   3. is the subject of any criminal charge still pending before a Court.
3. All new and existing employees will be required to undergo a National Police Check before commencement of employment and must be renewed every three (3) years. These records are kept by the Manager who must be satisfied that a certificate is genuine and has been prepared by an Australian Police service or an ACIC accredited organisation.
4. Police certificates may have different formats, including printed certificates or electronic reports. Every police certificate or report must record:
   1. the person's full name and date of birth;
   2. the date of issue;
   3. a reference number or similar.
5. Police certificates for all staff and volunteers must remain current and need to be renewed every three years, before they expire. If a police certificate expires while a staff member is on leave, the new certificate must be obtained before the staff member can resume working at the service.
6. In exceptional circumstances, the MANAGER may decide that a staff or volunteer may commence work prior to obtaining a police certificate and pending an assessment of any criminal conviction identified in the certificate if:
   1. the care or other service to be provided by the person is essential; and
   2. an application for a police certificate has been made before the date on which the person first becomes a staff member or volunteer; and
   3. until the police certificate is obtained, the person will be subject to appropriate supervision during periods when the person has access to care recipients; and
   4. the person makes a statutory declaration stating that they have never been:
      1. convicted of murder or sexual assault; or
      2. convicted of, and sentenced to imprisonment for, any other form of assault
7. Where this decision is made, the MANAGER must notify Operations Manager and/or Managing Director prior to the staff member commencing employment and in writing that:
   1. that an application for a police certificate has been made;
   2. the care and other service to be provided is essential;
   3. the way in which the person would be appropriately supervised;
   4. how supervision will occur in a range of working conditions, e.g. during night shifts and holiday periods when supervisory staff numbers may be limited.

National Police check a criminal record is indicated

8. The offences that preclude a person from working in aged care and NDIS are:
   1. a conviction for murder or sexual assault; or
   2. a conviction of, and sentence to imprisonment for, any other form of assault.
9. Any person with a conviction for a precluding offence will not be employed, contracted, hired, retained, or accepted as an unsupervised volunteer in an any service subsidised by the Commonwealth Government.
10. Staff must notify their line manager if they are convicted of a precluding offence in the threeyear period between obtaining and renewing their police check, and they will not be allowed to continue as a staff member or volunteer.

Working with Children Check

11. The Working with Children Check prevents people who is a potential risk to the safety, welfare and well-being of children from being employed or engaged in child-related work, whether in a paid or volunteer capacity and applies to all roles within the Support Network Pty Ltd.
12. All new and existing employees will be required to undergo a Check before commencement of employment and must be renewed on expiry. These records are monitored by Managers.
    1. A paid Working with Children Check is valid for both paid and volunteer work
    2. A volunteer Working with Children Check is for unpaid child-related work only.
    3. Cleared applicants are given a unique WWC number and which must be verified online or by mail depending on state/ territory
13. The MANAGERS must provide the necessary information and assistance to staff members, volunteers, students, contractors and volunteers for them to be able to obtain or renew their WWCC registration and:
    1. conduct an online verification of WWCC via the Office of the Children's Guardian
    2. ensure that all paid staff members, volunteers, students, contractors have applied, and paid for the check/registration prior to commencing employment and/or volunteer placement
    3. Keep a WWCC register which includes the following details: i. Employee name ii. Employee WWCC number iii. The date on which the check was verified iv. The date of WWCC expiry
    4. log relevant WWCC information of staff members, volunteers, students and contractors into the Client Management system/database
    5. include any concerns in relation to the applicant's interactions with children, where possible, when conducting reference checks
14. A worker with an existing WWC clearance that is due to expire must reapply for a new WWCC and provide the new number to Manager who will:
    1. verify the new WWC application or clearance online within five working days of the expiry date of the old WWC clearance number

Working with Children check barred worker and preclusions

15. If any new relevant record appears that leads to the worker becoming barred, the Office of the Children's Guardian will notify the Manager who has verified the worker's WWC number online.
    Any employee who is barred will automatically be terminated from employment.
16. People convicted and imprisoned for murder, the indecent or sexual assault of a child, child pornography or incest with a child victim will never be able to appeal to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) or other relevant body in other states/ territories to overturn a ban on them working with children.
17. Persons subject to a control order, for example good behaviour bond or home detention, cannot appeal to NCAT or relevant body against a refusal decision for the duration of the order.
18. In Queensland to work with people with disability staff require a Yellow Card and/or a Blue Card if working with children. However, health practitioners registered under the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) do not require a Yellow Card. Queensland will transition to the NDIS Commission national worker screening check by mid-2020

Related Legislation and/or guidelines

• Child and Young Persons Protection (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW)
• Child Protection (Working with Children) Act 2012
• Child Protection (Working with Children) Regulation 2013
• Child Protection Legislation Amendment Act 2015
• Community Services (Complaints, Reviews and Monitoring) Act 1993
• Support Network Pty Ltd Policy Manual Governance 49
• Ombudsman Act 1974
• Aged Care Act 2017
• Fair Work Act 2009
• Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)
• Department of Health Police Certificate Guidelines March 2017
• Aged Care Quality Standards 2019
• NDIS Quality & Safeguards 2018

Related policies

• Documentation & Record Keeping policy
• Privacy & Confidentiality policy
• Protecting Children and Young people
• Protecting Older persons policy
• Safeguarding people with disabilities policy
• Security of Information policy