NDIS Worker Screening Check Procedure

Human Resources > NDIS Worker Screening Check Procedure

Authorised by Chief Executive Officer

Revised date: 26 April 2024

Review date: 26 April 2025

This procedure explains how Kyeema Support Services will implement the NDIS Worker Screening Check (WSC). The NDIS Worker Screening Check allows all workers with a valid clearance to work anywhere in Australia.

This procedure supports Kyeema Support Services to apply Standard 2: Governance and Operational Management - Human Resource Management and apply to the NDIS (Practice Standards - Worker Screening) Rules 2018

Related legislation and policy

Worker Screening Act 2020

National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013

NDIS (Practice Standards - Worker Screening) Rules 2018

National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Worker Screening Database) Bill 2019

Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic)

Disability Act 2006

Victorian Safety Screening Policy Oct 2019

Definitions

Workers include employees, contractors and volunteers

Contact: includes physical contact, face-to-face contact, oral communication, written communication and electronic communication 

Risk assessed role means you have more than incidental contact with a person with a disability as a normal part of your role (Kyeema List of Risk Assessed Roles HRF-61)

•       key personnel roles (eg. CEO, Board members)

•       roles for which the normal duties include the direct delivery of specified supports or specified services to a person with disability

•       roles for which the normal duties are likely to require more than incidental contact with people with disability. Contact includes physical contact, face-to-face contact, oral communication, written communication and electronic communication

•       The normal duties of a role are likely to require more than incidental contact with a person with a disability if those duties include:

o  Physically touching a person with disability; or

o  Building a rapport with a person with disability as an integral and ordinary part of the performance of those duties; or

o  Having contact with multiple people with disability – As part of the direct delivery of a specialist disability support or service, or In a specialist disability accommodation setting

Worker screening unit (WSU): The body that is responsible for conducting NDIS Worker Screening Checks. In Victoria, the Working with Children Department of Justice conducts the Worker Screening Checks.

NDIS Worker Screening Database (NWSD)

The NDIS Worker Screening Database will support the NDIS Worker Screening Check. The NDIS Commission is responsible for establishing, operating and maintaining the database.

The database will:

•       have a register of cleared and excluded workers from all states and territories to enable national portability of clearances

•       support national ongoing monitoring of the conduct of workers with clearances

•       mean NDIS providers across the country can sponsor applications and check the clearances of prospective workers through the NDIS Worker Screening Database, without needing to contact individual state and territory worker screening units

•       help NDIS providers with record-keeping requirements

What is a NDIS Worker Screening Check (WSC)?

NDIS workers, operating in a risk assessed (RA) role, will undergo a Worker Screening Check (WSC). The check will help protect people with disability from harm. NDIS Worker Screening Check is a single, national standard for all NDIS workers

The Worker Screening Check will include:

•       Proof of identity check

•       National police check

•       Disability Worker Exclusion List check

The NDIS Worker Screening clearance will replace the DWES check and Police check.

Victoria is a ‘no clearance, no start’ approach to the NDIS Check.

Kyeema workers

Kyeema workers (who work in a RA role) need a NDIS WSC clearance as well as a Working with Children (WWCC) Check. This way a worker can readily move between shifts of different aged participants.

Do my existing workers need to be re-screened?

No, workers will not need to be re-screened if they were engaged prior to Feb 1^st 2021 and have acceptable safety screening checks: licence, DWES, WWCC, Police check

https://www.vic.gov.au/ndis-worker-screening-check

All workers currently employed who have a Working with Children Check (WWCC) that was obtained prior to 1^st February 2021 can wait until it expires before they must obtain an NDIS Worker Screening Check.

Who Needs a NDIS Clearance?

All new workers in risk assessed roles need to get an NDIS Clearance before they can start work. This includes:

•       CEO, Board Members

•       volunteer workers

•       workers engaged through third parties such as labour-hire agencies

•       sole traders who for the NDIS Check are both the provider and the employee

NDIS Worker Screening Checks Required HRF-66

Kyeema List of Risk Assessed Roles HRF-61

Who does not need a Worker Screening Check (WSC)?

School students on formal work experience do not require a WSC (adult students from RTO’s do require a WSC). Students on work experience must be supervised by a worker with a current Worker Screening Check or an acceptable check.

Procedure for workers - how to apply for a NDIS Worker Screening Check (WSC)

To apply:

1.     register or login to your Service Victoria account https://www.service.vic.gov.au/services/national-disability-insurance-scheme

2.     verify your identity

3.     submit your identification documents for your police check and any other background checks

4.     enter your work details, you must have the Employer ID of the organisation that you need the NDIS Check for

5.     review and provide consent for the checks

6.     pay for your application

7.     After getting the NDIS Clearance, provide you NDIS Clearance ID with your WWCC application.

8.     Complete the WWCC refund request form

•    WWCC Refund Request Form HRF-09

Your application will be sent to the NDIS Worker Screening Unit in Victoria who will assess your application. The NDIS Worker Screening Unit will send you an email confirming that your application has been received and explaining what will happen next.

Cost

An NDIS WSC Clearance is valid for 5 years from the date of notice, unless surrendered or revoked.

Applying for the fee waiver

Workers apply for WWCC fee waiver after getting the NDIS WSC Clearance.

1.     need the NDIS WSC Clearance first

2.     then provide your NDIS Clearance ID with your WWCC application and

3.     then WWCC Refund Request Form HRF-09

Volunteers apply for the 

1.       complete the Volunteer Application Pack HRF-15

2.     submit the Volunteer Application Pack to the Victorian NDIS Worker Screening Unit for assessment

3.     you will be notified of the outcome, if you pass the NDIS check you will receive your NDIS Clearance

To be eligible for the volunteer fee waiver, you must:

•       be involved in an NDIS risk assessed role

•       be engaged with a Kyeema

•       not be engaged in work experience or a placement

•       be deemed a ‘volunteer'

Further to this:

•       the role must be an ongoing volunteer role and not for a one-off event

•       the role provider is not deriving a financial or material benefit from the volunteer work

Volunteers must not rely on a volunteer NDIS Clearance to work for Kyeema in a paid role.

How does the NDIS Worker Screening Check application work?

1.     The Worker Screening Unit (WSU) uploads to the NDIS Worker Screening Database (NWSD) the clearance or exclusion outcome

2.     The employer gets an email notification that the worker’s status has changed.

3.     The employer can then log on and view the worker’s clearance or exclusion status

•    NDIS Worker Screening Check: Application Process HRF-65

Useful links for Worker Screening Check process

•       NDIS Worker Screening Check verification request

•       Link a worker

•       Find a worker and check their clearance status

•       Unlink a worker

Working with Children Check (WWCC)

•       go to Working with Children Check Victoria and complete online application https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/individuals/applicants/how-to-apply

•       provide proof of identity online or at Australia Post outlet

•       finalise, lodge your application at an Australia Post outlet, and have your photo taken

•       pay the application fee

•       cost to worker – apply for refund WWCC Refund Request Form HRF-09

Who is exempt from a Working with Children Check?

•       registered police, teachers and psychologists

•       administration support workers that have no direct contact (which includes oral, written and electronic communication) with children

•       secondary school students on a formal work experience placement. A person who has a valid Worker Screening Check must directly supervise the student

•       people under 18 years of age 

Exempt workers to complete Exemption from Working with Children Check (WWCC) Form HRF-60

Requirements for all Victorian workers after the end of the worker screening transition period

•       Workers who have a Victorian Working with Children Check (WWCC) which was in place during the worker screening transition period and is still current at the end of the worker screening transition period, will have until the expiry of their WWCC to obtain an NDIS Worker Screening Check clearance.

•       Workers whose WWCC expires during the worker screening transition period will be required to renew their WWCC, and if issued to the person before the end of the transition period will have until the expiry of the renewed WWCC to obtain an NDIS Worker Screening Check clearance.

Volunteers

Victoria is a ‘no clearance, no start’ approach to the NDIS Check.

All new workers in risk assessed roles will need to get an NDIS Clearance before they can start work, this includes volunteers.

Volunteers in risk assessed roles apply online for the free workers screening check.

•      https://www.service.vic.gov.au/services/national-disability-insurance-scheme

Volunteers can still use a manual process. If a volunteer does not have a particular form of identification (such as a current passport), please contact Service Victoria who can provide alternative forms of identification. If volunteers have applied and paid for a check in order to expedite their screening, they can request a refund of the fee.

Further to this:

•      The role must be an ongoing volunteer role and not for a one-off event

•      Volunteers must not rely on a volunteer NDIS Clearance to work for Kyeema in a paid role

Engaging Secondary School Students

During and after the transition period for worker screening, Kyeema may allow secondary school students to be engaged in a risk assessed role only under supervision by a worker with an acceptable check.

Engaging contractors

Kyeema and the contractor need to work together to ensure that any workers of a contractor, including an individual contractor themselves, have an NDIS Worker Screening clearance.

Contractors and Labour Hire Agencies

Kyeema must only allow a member of other personnel to engage in a risk assessed role, if Kyeema has:

•       identified to the relevant subcontractor each risk assessed role that the member of other personnel engages in;

•       entered into an appropriate contract with the subcontractor; and

•       taken reasonable steps to satisfy itself that the member of other personnel has a clearance

Training

Worker Orientation Module ‘Quality Safeguarding and You’

Once the Worker Screening Check is completed and verified all workers are to complete the

•       Worker Orientation Module ‘Quality Safeguarding and You’ online https://www.ndiscommission.gov.au/node/1236

Responsibilities

Incidents of worker misconduct will be notified to the NDIS. It is the responsibility of the worker to re-apply for clearance.

There is a duty to advise applicants, workers (including volunteers) of the necessity for safety screening

Kyeema to report to DFFH re workers working in the HACC-PYP program who have an adverse police check outcome, which will be evident from their Worker Screening Check outcome.

Record keeping

Records are to be kept for 7 years. It is important that Kyeema keeps records in a way that would allow the NDIS Commission or a quality auditor to know which workers were engaged in a risk assessed role on any given day in the past seven years.

A written list of risk assessed roles

•       Kyeema List of Risk Assessed Roles HRF-61

Registered NDIS providers are required to keep a list of risk assessed roles that a person engages in.

Table 1. Where to find which risk assessed role the workers is engaged in

Prior to Kyeema using Sentrient LMS, a written list of all workers who engage in risk assessed roles, WWCC, WSC and the worker excluded/suspended list was recorded on the spreadsheet

•       K:\General Items for All Staff\Data Bases\COMPLIANCE CHECKS for all Staff.xls (NDIS Worker Screening Check tab)

Complaints

Complaints are lodged with the NDIS Commission

Review and Evaluation

The Worker Screening Check is updated accordingly.

Related Policies, Procedures and Documents:

Recruitment and Selection of Staff

Exemption from Working with Children Check (WWCC) Form HRF-60

Kyeema List of Risk Assessed Roles HRF-61

WWCC Refund Request Form HRF-09

Volunteer Application Pack HRF-15

NDIS Worker Screening Check: Application Process HRF-65

NDIS Worker Screening Checks Required HRF-66

Step by Step Checklist - Selection & Onboarding Employees HRF-37

Worker Orientation Module ‘Quality Safeguarding and You’ NDIS Commission online course

NDIS Worker Screening Check

NDIS Worker Screening Requirements (Registered NDIS Providers)