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

There are no rules or regulations about how often a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check should be conducted. It’s useful to keep in mind that it’s a ‘point in time’ check only, so records are checked up until the date of issue, not after. If infringements occur later, you won’t know about them, which is why regular Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks will help mitigate risk to your business.

The fit2work online portal allows you to track and manage the status of all your Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks. You can search and auto-schedule future refresher checks.

No, not necessarily. There are some occupations, such as lawyers and financial brokers, where it’s a clear-cut decision that a Disclosable Court Outcome disqualifies them from the role. But for other professions, issues like discrimination and fairness must be considered. 

The best guide to the assessment of Disclosable Court Outcomes is to be well prepared, know the laws that govern your operations and adopt a reasonable and common-sense approach to evaluation.

Refer to our Police Check eBook 

Yes, the fit2work platform offers a single centralised place to order, track and manage more than 70 different background checks. It helps business mitigate and manage risk in a changing human resource environment by providing support across the entire employee lifecycle, from initial hiring through to separation.

With seamless integration into your existing onboarding and due diligence programs, the fit2work platform offers a range of customisable tools to suit your business needs. It’s a fast and easy-to-use service that certifies employees are compliant, up to date and fit to work – all from a single dashboard.

Once the checks are underway, track their status from start to finish with a single click in the online fit2work platform.

No, the fit2work platform will automatically send your candidate an email notification of where to upload their details. Users will receive ongoing reminders, and fit2work customer care staff will be on hand to walk them through the process of uploading their identity documents.

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.

A Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check looks at all the state police records for any convictions under state laws. An AFP check looks at commonwealth police records for conviction under federal regulations. Refer to our Australian Federal Police check page for further details.

For immigration or visa purposes, you must supply an Australian Federal Police check. A Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check is acceptable for employment and most other uses.

fit2work began processing Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks in 2008 and today we are one of Australia’s leading providers of online screening services.

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

Automated search against police records

The applicant’s personal details are checked against the National police check’s database using an automated name matching algorithm.

• If the personal details do not match any information recorded in the system, the police check result will be returned to you with a ‘No Match Found’ result.
• If the personal details closely match the police information recorded in the system, the application will be treated as a potential match and is referred to the relevant police agencies for further assessment. This will be displayed as ‘Manual Processing’ in the fit2work platform.

Once further assessment is completed,

• If the police confirm the applicant’s details do not match the police information, the application will be returned to you with a ‘No Match Found’ result.
• If the police determine the applicant’s details match the police information, the application will require further assessment. This will be displayed as ‘Manual Processing’ in the fit2work platform.

When an applicant’s details match the police information found in the database,

• Police will determine what information can be released in accordance with the coinciding state or territory spent convictions legislation and/or information release policies. Police also use the purpose of the police check to further support what information can be released.
• Once the police have finished processing the police check, you will receive the 'Match Found' result.

There is far more value in conducting Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks if you have a plan for what you’re going to do with the results. Preparation and strategy are a crucial part of using background checks to benefit your business. Check out this sample process flow in our Background
Screening eBook showing the relationship between police checks and organisational policies and procedures.