Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check (previously known as National Police Check)

It is a certificate that details any Disclosable Court Outcomes (DCO) and pending charges associated with your name. You may need a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check certificate for specific jobs or volunteer positions.

A Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check Certificate shows Disclosable Court Outcomes (DCO). These include but are not limited to:

• Any charge found proven in court
• Details of the court that heard the charge, the date and any penalty or sentence
• Findings of guilt by a court, even if no conviction is recorded
• Court convictions, even if no sentence or penalty was given
• Good behaviour bonds and similar court orders
• Charges laid by police but not yet proven, or otherwise, in court
• Current investigations in which the subject is a suspect
• Children’s Court convictions and guilty findings
• Traffic convictions and guilty findings
• On-the-spot fines issued by police that ended up in court.

fit2work’s Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks are fast and reliable. Up to 70% of checks are returned within 15 minutes of submitting online.

30% of checks may be referred to ‘manual processing’ for further investigations by the police. Once a check has been sent to manual processing, it may take up to 10 working days or longer to return due to the complexity of the request.

Curious to know how a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check Certificate should look? Different jurisdictions have different requirements for how they undertake the process, but the minimum amount of information you should receive includes:

• subject details (including any previous names provided)
• who it was conducted for
• check type
• check purpose
• date submitted
• result date
• end date of period checked
• validation.

Log in to fit2work by clicking the login button on the top right-hand corner of our website. If you’re not fit2work registered, you will be asked to provide some details so we can send you an invitation email. You then log in to the fit2work portal to complete the data entry and consent. Upload your IDs and take a selfie for proving your identity. Submit your order for processing.

When you log into your fit2work account, you will be able to view the status of your application in the current checks tab.

fit2work began processing Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks in 2008 and today we are one of Australia’s leading providers of online screening services. Our checks draw on the Australian Government’s Document Verification System and are accredited by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC).

ACIC requires you to provide four documents from 3 categories, as below:

• ONE Commencement of ID Document
• ONE Primary Use in the Community Document
• TWO Secondary Use in the Community Documents.

In all instances, the combination of identity documents must contain at minimum your full name, date of birth and a photograph. If you have provided identity documents using a former name, such as a maiden name, you must provide evidence of the name change in addition to the four identity documents.

The nature of the documents in each of the categories is summarised below:

Commencement of ID:

• full Australian birth certificate (not an extract or birth card)
• current Australian passport (not expired) (P)
• Australian visa current at time of entry to Australia as a resident or tourist
• ImmiCard issued by Department of Home Affairs (previously the Department of Immigration and Border Protection) that enables the cardholder to prove their visa and/or migration status and enrol in services (P)
• certificate of identity issued by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to refugees and non-Australian citizens for entry to Australia
• document of identity issued by DFAT to Australian citizens or persons who have the nationality of a Commonwealth country for travel purposes (P)
• certificate of evidence of resident status.

Primary Use in Community Document

• current Australian driver’s licence, learner permit or provisional licence issued by a state or territory, showing a signature and/or photo and the same name as claimed (P)
• Australian marriage certificate issued by a state or territory (church or celebrant-issued certificates are not accepted)
• current passport issued by a country other than Australia with a valid entry stamp or visa (P)
• current proof of age or photo identity card issued by an Australian Government agency in the name of the applicant, with a signature and photo
• current shooters or firearms licence showing a signature and photo (not minor or junior permit or licence) (P)
• for persons under 18 years of age with no other Primary Use in Community Documents, a current student identification card with a signature or photo (P).

Secondary Use in Community Document

• certificate of identity issued by DFAT
• document of identity issued by DFAT (P)
• convention travel document secondary (United Nations) issued by DFAT (P)
• foreign government issued documents - for example, driver’s licence (P)
• Medicare card
• enrolment with the Australian Electoral Commission
• security guard or crowd control photo licence (P)
• evidence of right to an Australian government benefit - Centrelink or Veterans’ Affairs (P)
• consular photo identity card issued by DFAT (P)
• photo identity card issued to an officer by a police force (P)
• photo identity card issued by the Australian Defence Force (P)
• photo identity card issued by the Australian Government or a state or territory government (P)
• Aviation Security Identification Card (ASIC) (P)
• Maritime Security Identification Card (MSIC) (P)
• credit reference check
• Australian tertiary student photo identity document (P)
• Australian secondary student photo identity document (P)
• certified academic transcript from an Australian university
• trusted referees report
• bank card
• credit card

ACIC has also advised that expired identity documents will no longer be acceptable.

If you require a national check for visa or immigration purposes, you must complete the Australian Federal Police (AFP) check. Please note, our international checks are not accepted for visa or immigration purposes.

Yes. fit2work can conduct a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check for you whether you live in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory, Western Australia or Tasmania.

There are no expiry dates on Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks. But they are a point-in-time check. Policies vary between employers as to how recently they require the screening to have been done.

The fit2work online portal allows you to track and manage the status of all your police checks. You can search and schedule future refresher checks through our electronic database.

Around 20% to 30% of checks will go to ‘manual processing’ for further investigations by the police. Once a check has been sent to manual processing, it usually takes 2 to 10 working days to return. Around 5% can take up to 20 working days or longer.

The reasons for a check being referred to manual processing include:

• The applicant has a common name or a name that matches with a potential person of interest
• The check has old police history information (disclosable outcomes) that requires manual collection and processing of hardcopy records
• Information has been transferred between the various state and territory police agencies before the information can be vetted and/or released.

fit2work is not able to speed up the return on a check result if it has been referred to manual processing.

You can verify a check by going to https://www.fit2work.com.au/Public/ResultVerification and following the prompts.

A check is only deemed urgent if circumstances are relating to the critically ill, a child needs to be placed in immediate care, political reasons or vulnerable people will be in grave danger if a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check is not carried out immediately.