ProbityPeople is an accredited body with ACIC, therefore authorised to access the National Police Checking Service to provide these services to our clients. These changes will impact the way in which police check information is administered, and in turn accessed by our clients.
Background to the implementation of these changes.
During the course of 2024, ACIC worked closely with accredited bodies on what, at the time, were proposed changes. An extensive consultation and feedback period was provided, and following that process ACIC elected to proceed with the implementation of these changes.
The purpose behind the changes aims to provide the applicant on whom the check is being performed, greater control over who receives a copy of their background information, how long their results are accessible, and to ensure that the result access is limited only to those necessary in the hiring decision making process.
What are the ACIC newly implemented changes?
These mandatory changes have been implemented for all accredited bodies authorised by ACIC who access the National Police Checking Service.
The key changes that are likely to impact you, as a user of police checking services, are as follows;
National Police Check (NPC) name change to Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check (NCCHC)
- Effective from 1st January 2025, the former National Police Check will now be known as Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check or NCCHC.
- If you are a user of Volunteer National Police Checks, these will now be known as Volunteer Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check or VNCCHC.
- The actual results and check outcome themselves will not change in any way.
NCCHC Result Sharing – SIGNIFICANT CHANGE
There are now limitations placed on what information we can share with you as our client (unless of course required to do so by law). Accredited bodies will only be able to share the results of these checks via one of the following options.
Solutions for Recruitment Agency Clients (incorporating Search, Recruitment, Staffing & Labour Hire).
Recruitment agencies have been impacted the most by these changes, as under no circumstances are accredited bodies allowed to share applicant ACIC NCCHC results with you, if you are conducting the check on behalf of your client or a third party. If you are conducting an NCCHC on a potential employee for your own organisation, you can do so via either option outlined below.
- Recruitment Agency Client (Recommended) – under this classification you can order a NCCHC on an applicant as usual, however when the result is returned, you will not be able to receive or download the ACIC Certificate of the NCCHC check result. Instead you will receive a certificate from ProbityPeople advising you of the full results of the NCCHC, and a verification link to provide confirmation that the check is genuine and what date it was conducted. It won’t however, have the actual ACIC certificate attached. We will provide you with is a link to “request the applicant to share the ACIC Certificate” with your end user client directly. There will be an additional field in the order placing process where you can add your client’s company, name and email address for the applicant to share directly with them. The ACIC prohibits any organisation to share an NCCHC Certificate with a third party. The applicant is the owner of the information contained in the check result, and can choose who they wish to share that information with. However, even if the applicant chooses to share the ACIC Certificate with you directly, you are not permitted under the new rules to on-share that Certificate with your client.
- Approved Customer – if you would like to continue to receive the actual ACIC Certificate result for the NCCHC or VNCCHC directly, you will need ProbityPeople to apply for Approved Customer status on your behalf. As an Approved Customer you will be able to receive the results of the checks as we have done for you in the past – however there are additional obligations and responsibilities for the management of the information for you to consider – most importantly the inability to share the ACIC Certificate with a third party. If you would like to understand more about the application process via ProbityPeople, the steps involved, and the obligations for ProbityPeople Approved Customers with ACIC, please contact Jessica Bartolotti, Client Services Manager jbartolotti@probitypeople.com.au for more information.
Additional Information for Recruitment Agency Clients
Staffing and Labour Hire Agencies – the above changes apply for all Recruitment Agency Clients – including Staffing and Labour Hire. For the avoidance of doubt, even though as a labour hire or staffing agency you may be the direct employer in theory, you are still not permitted to on-forward a copy of the ACIC NCCHC Certificate directly to your client/host employer. The applicant will need to share the Certificate directly with the host employer themselves, via the process outlined above.
Time Limitation on NCCHC Availability
- The result from a NCCHC or VNCCHC will only be available for download for a period of three (3) months*.
- These were previously available for a 12 month period. ACIC believes this change will more clearly reflect that results are accurate only as at the date of issue. ACIC believes the reduction in time that results are available for download, there is less likelihood of an outdated result being utilised as part of a hiring decision.
- It is important that you, as a client requesting access to the results of a NCCHC or VNCCHC, only maintain a copy of these results for the maximum period of time allowed by ACIC, being 3 months. It is important that you understand you are also obligated to protect the rights of the applicant / individual as required by the Privacy Act.
*Please note that as an accredited body, ProbityPeople is required to maintain a copy of these results for 12 months for ACIC audit purposes only.
Applicant – Consent Changes
- The ACIC has enhanced the requirements for collecting consent from an Applicant before processing a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check.
- There is no change required for ProbityPeople clients as we have always obtained the applicants consent prior to the commencement of a NCCHC.
Applicant – Disclosable Outcome Review Period
- A key change to the results returned from a NCCHC or VNCCHC is a mandatory requirement to provide a period of time for an applicant to dispute the result returned, if there is a disclosable outcome.
- There is no specific set period of time, a reasonable period of time as determined by the accredited body is acceptable, and in this instance ProbityPeople will provide a period of 48 hours for a result to be disputed. An applicant can override that timeframe and elect to release results immediately should they choose to do so.
- This change is to protect the privacy of the applicant, in addition to supporting the integrity and accuracy of the check outcome.
- ProbityPeople will manage the dispute process directly with the applicant, with no requirement for our clients to be involved in that process.
Other Changes – Applicant Process
- There is a reduction in the number of identity documents required by applicants from four documents to three, with the inclusion of a Linkage of Identity.
- An applicant is the only person who can share their NCCHC result with a third party – even if you have the consent of the applicant directly to do so.
