About criminal history - what this means and what you need to declare
When you apply for registration for the first time, you agree to the Board obtaining the results of your National Police Check with details of your criminal history from Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC). This is to ensure only disability workers who are suitable and safe to work with people with disabilities are granted registration in Victoria.
A National Police Check is a record that contains a list of disclosable court outcomes (DCOs) or no disclosable court outcomes (NDCO) for a person. A result of NDCO means that a person has no criminal history.
Under the Disability Service Safeguards Act 2018 (the Act) criminal history means:
- every conviction for an offence in Victoria or elsewhere
- every plea of guilty or finding of guilt by a court for an offence in Victoria or elsewhere, regardless of whether a conviction was recorded, and
- every charge for an offence in Victoria or elsewhere.
The National Police Check that the Board obtains shows all disclosable court outcomes. All criminal charges will be displayed, including suspended sentences, any findings of guilt, pending court charges, convictions, and all other criminal convictions, even if they are classified as ‘spent convictions’.
In Victoria, a spent conviction is a conviction for a minor offence where more than 10 years has passed (without further offending) if you were an adult at the time of the offence, or more than 5 years has passed (without further offending) if you were a child at the time of the offence. This means if your conviction becomes spent, it will generally not appear in a national police check unless there is an exception. The disability sector does have an exception and will still consider spent convictions. Other sectors include: working with children, working with vulnerable groups like the elderly, working in healthcare, public transport, rescue services, government roles, and careers involving firearms.
Having a criminal history does not necessarily mean that you are unable to be registered as disability worker or disability practitioner, but this information is needed for the Board to consider and assess your application correctly.
When you apply for registration, you need to tell us if you have ever been charged with a criminal offence at any time in your life in Australia and overseas. You’ll also need to provide details about any charges. The Board will check your responses against the results of your criminal history check.
Criminal history you must tell us about includes:
- any offence you were charged with, even if the charges were dismissed, struck-out or withdrawn
- any offence you were charged with, where you were acquitted/ found not guilty;
- spent convictions
- any guilty findings, even if they did not result in a conviction
- matters yet to go to court
- any offences you were charged with in Victorian and interstate courts.
If you have a criminal history overseas, you may be asked to provide an international police check.
Assessing criminal history
The Act requires the Board to check an applicant’s criminal history before deciding an application for registration.
The Board has made a criminal history registration standard to guide how the Board assesses criminal history. The standard is consistent with the NDIS worker screening check. This means any criminal history is assessed using the same decision-making framework in the Worker Screening Act 2020.
The assessment involves four steps:
- obtaining criminal history information
- categorising any criminal history consistent with the NDIS worker screening by assessing the circumstances of the conduct to determine whether there is an unacceptable risk of harm to people with disability or whether exceptional circumstances exist
- assessing if the applicant is not an appropriate person to practise as a disability worker and it is not in the public interest
- deciding if the applicant is suitable for registration.
Criminal offences and conduct are classified into Worker Screening Act categories A, B and C. Category A offences are serious and automatically disqualify a person from being registered. Category B and C applications are risk assessed on a case-by-case basis considering the context and circumstances of the offence or charge to determine if it is relevant to practise as a disability worker.
The Board considers:
- nature, gravity and circumstance of the offence or alleged offence
- vulnerability of the victim at the time the offence or alleged offence was committed
- relevance of the offence to providing support to people with disability
- if there was a finding of guilt
- the period of time since the offence or charge
- the age of the applicant at the time of the offence or charge and their behaviour since
- all other relevant circumstances about the offence or charge, including other relevant history.
The Board may decide that you are not suitable to hold registration if, considering any relevant criminal history, you are not an appropriate person, and it is not in the public interest for you, to practise as a disability worker.
Notifying changes
Once you are registered, you must immediately tell us about any changes to your criminal history in Australia or overseas.
The Board may obtain a report about your criminal history at any time.
Read the criminal history Frequently Asked Questions here.