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Police Check Guidelines and Fact Sheet

In this section:

PDF printable version of Police Check Guidelines and Fact Sheet (PDF 174 KB)

HTML version of the Police Check Guidelines

Please find attached a copy of the Department of Health and Ageing’s Police Check Guidelines and Police Check Fact Sheet, updated November 2011.

The guidelines and fact sheet have been updated to clarify requirements under the Accountability Principles 1998, made pursuant to the Aged Care Act 1997.

Police check requirements were implemented in 2007 and strengthened in 2009 as part of the Australian Government’s ongoing commitment to protect the health safety and wellbeing of vulnerable aged care recipients. Please note no changes have been made since 2009 to the legislation in relation to the police check requirements.

Police Check Fact Sheet

Staff members and volunteers

All staff members and volunteers at Commonwealth funded aged care services are required to undergo a police check. The definitions of staff member and volunteer are set out under section 1.18 of the Accountability Principles 1998.

Independent contractors

Trades people or allied health professionals engaged to work at an aged care service on an ad-hoc or one-off basis generally do not require police checks.

Police certificates

A police certificate that satisfies requirements under the Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act) is a nation-wide assessment of a person’s criminal history, prepared by the Australian Federal Police, a state or territory police service, or a CrimTrac accredited agency.

Precluding offences

The precluding offences under the Act are a conviction for murder or sexual assault, or a conviction of, and a sentence to imprisonment for, any other form of assault.

Police certificate renewals

Police certificates must be renewed every three years, before they expire. An approved provider must be able to demonstrate that for every applicable staff member and volunteer there is a current police certificate that does not record a precluding offence.

Further information

  • By phone: 1800 200 422
  • In writing:
    • The police checks inbox
    • Police Checks MDP 452
      Department of Health and Ageing
      GPO Box 9848
      Canberra ACT 2601

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