Frequently Asked Questions

A National Police Check (NPC), now known as a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check (NCCHC) is a document that lists an individual’s disclosable court outcomes and pending charges sourced from the databases of all Australian police jurisdictions. Certain convictions, such as spent or juvenile convictions, may not be disclosed on a NPC in accordance with the legislation of the various police jurisdictions.

National Police Checks may also be referred to as:
• Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check (NCCHC)
• National Police History Check (NPHC)
• National Criminal History Check
• National Criminal Record
• National Criminal Record Check
• State Police Check (no longer available) 

The majority of our National Police Checks are processed, with the results returned within 1 hour to 1 business day, assuming the correct information is provided to us in the first instance.

In saying that, approximately 34% of all National Police Checks ordered within Australia are referred for manual processing. If this occurs, your result may take from 1 – 15 business days (sometimes more), to be returned. Please take in to account that neither you or Checked Australia can predict if your check will be referred and as such, we suggest you place your order at least 10 business days before you require your result.

Checked Australia will facilitate the following process on your behalf and will liaise with ACIC where required:

1. Informed Consent and Required Identification
Our first action is to gain consent from the individual that is being checked. In addition to this we will request, and verify the requested identity documents to meet the minimum standards.

2. Check submission and processing
A National Police Check request will be submitted with the details you provide. Once submitted, an automatic search is conducted against a central index (National database) which contains the names of Persons of Interest (POI) who are known to Police. The Police Agency will then draw on relevant Police information to determine whether the details are a match to the POI. If the Police confirm that your details are a match, they will then undertake vetting of any relevant Police History Information (PHI) held in their systems, to determine what will be released as part of the NPC result. The Police agency also takes into account the category and purpose of the check to determine the type and amount of information that is released.

3. Release of results and verification
The result of a National Police Check will then be provided to Checked Australia and be made available to you immediately. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the results of your NPC, you will need to contact us where we will then liaise with ACIC or assist you to liase with the Police Agencies in certain situations of dispute.

There is no difference in the legitimacy of the results provided in the National Police Check you receive from Checked Australia, compared with the National Police Certificate issued from the local police station. Although the information is presented in a different format and titled differently, the results are retrieved from the same central government system.

There is however a large difference in the speed, efficiency and delivery when you use Checked Australia. These are the areas in which Checked Australia will save you considerable cost, time and effort.

In some instances, an organisation will only accept a certificate issued by the State-Police agencies (an example being for IVF Applications in Victoria). Given this, the National Police Check issued by us, is the most common type requested, which can be delivered much faster than the same process through State-Based police agencies, and in most circumstances applicable for the same purposes. IVF and Immigration applications are not valid purposes for our National Police Check - and you must apply through State or Federal Police. If you are not sure, you may get in touch with us to confirm the validity of your application purpose.

National Police Checks (NPC) are ‘point in time’ checks and are current as of the date of issue. A National Police Check has no period of validity; it is up to employers and organisations discretion to determine the period of time for which they will accept a NPC.

A National Police Check involves identifying and releasing any Police history information held about an individual, from all Australian States and Territories. The results will indicate either:
• No Disclosable Court Outcomes (NDCO) - to indicate that there is no Police History Information that is held or that can be released
• Disclosable Court Outcomes (DCO) - to indicate that Police History Information exists that can be released. The Police History Information may include:
o Charges
o Court convictions – including any penalty or sentence
o Findings of guilt with no conviction
o Court appearances
o Good behaviour bonds or other court orders
o Pending matters awaiting court hearing
o Traffic offences

The Police History Information which is disclosed in the results is determined by each Police Agency, based on Spent Conviction Legislation and Information Release Policies. The purpose of the National Police Check and any other relevant legislation also determines what information can be released.

A National Police Check will display all releasable court outcomes from all states and territories of Australia, based on respective policies/legislation. 

This information is required by the relevant police authorities to ensure the appropriate spent convictions regime is applied. If there are any convictions recorded, this information may be relevant to determining whether or not those convictions are disclosable on this check result.

If you got your last National Police Check before the 1st July 2018, you'd be absolutely right. The previous '100 Points of ID' system that has been used for many years, was replaced by the ACIC (the government agency that regulates ALL National Police Checks in Australia) on the 1st July 2018.

This change means that for ALL Police Check providers in Australia, additional Identity requirements were mandatory. At Checked Australia, we understand this has made things a little more involved than your last Police Check.

Of course, our support team would be more than happy to help you work out what the easiest way to meet these new requirements, and our site details all of the different ID documents available to you at the ID.

In order to obtain a National Police Check in Australia, it is legally required that you provide some personal information. This includes legal names and previous names, birthdate and birthplace details, gender information, and 5 years of address history. It is incredibly important that the information you provide is accurate in accordance with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission rules. If we believe the information you have provided is incorrect, we will contact you to discuss this and adjust your application accordingly.

To do a Police Check with Checked, we additionally require email and mobile number information so we are able to contact you about your check.

We understand that the amount of information required to complete a Police Check can be complicated and confusing, so we are always happy to assist you in providing this information. If you are ever unsure, simply contact our Support Team at any time for further clarification.

As part of the application process, you will need to provide details of all the addresses you have lived at for the last 5 years. Your current address must be in Australia, but your past addresses can include international addresses, so you can still apply for the check if you have lived overseas previously. Simply click on the ‘Country’ drop down box on the address part of the application to select the country, if it is not Australia.

The identity document requirements are prescribed by the ACIC (government agency that regulates National Police Checks). These requirements and apply to all Accredited Organisations that undertake National Police Checks.

Our application form is designed to make it easy for you to know which documents you are required to upload, based on your identity.

In short, if you were born in Australia and are an Australian citizen, you must be able to provide either a Birth Certificate or a Passport as a minimum requirement to do the check. All applicants must provide four (4) documents:
• 1 x Commencement Document
• 1 x Primary Document
• 2 x Secondary Documents

In addition, you must upload a selfie of yourself holding one of these documents that contains a photo of you.

If you are not sure whether you have enough ID to do a check, please contact our Customer Success Team to discuss which documents you are required to upload.

The National Police Checking Service is a multi-jurisdictional program coordinated by the government in order to provide individuals access to their criminal history information for employment or other purposes. As part of this program, the government has put specific rules in place for accredited providers of Police Checks to ensure are followed before individuals are given checks. As an accredited provider, we are legally required to request your identity documents to ensure that we can adequately verify your identity. Given Checked offers an online application form, you are required to provide images of your documents so we can verify them digitally.

When you attend apply for a Police Check in person, the organisation performing your check can verify that you are the individual applying for that check by comparing your Photo ID to you on the spot. Given we are an online provider, we require a digital version of this verification. When you take the selfie, we can securely verify that you are the individual filling out the application form on our website and providing photos of your documents to obtain your Police Check, as this is a legal requirement of getting a Police Check. The selfie step ensures no one is fraudulently using your details to

If you are a New Zealand citizen living in Australia, it is more than likely that you are here on an automatic permanent residency visa. You may not have any documents that show this VISA (such as a VISA grant notice) but your details may be stored in the Department of Home Affairs’ electronic records system. Please provide a clear photo of your Passport in BOTH Commencement and Primary categories and submit your check, so we can verify your details.

You must provide all 4 documents in your primary name, OR produce an official Change of Name certificate or Marriage Certificate issued by the Registrar General to ‘link’ the different names on your documents and prove that they all belong to you.

Even slight changes such as misspellings, inconsistent hyphens, spaces or name formatting can mean that your documents are not considered consistent with the rules required to get a Police Check. If you are unsure about your documents, please contact our Support Team to discuss your options to avoid name inconsistency issues.

We will always do our best to ensure you do not need to provide any more documents than absolutely necessary, but sometimes documents cannot be accepted. This is simply because the rules given to us by the government will not allow us to for certain reasons.

Some of these reasons are:
• The document is not a recognised category of accepted ID (for example, private Health Care Cards or utility bills)
• The document has expired or been cancelled
• The document does not show your name or other personal details correctly
• The document shows a nickname or abbreviation of your name
• The document could not be verified with the government
• The document is not written in English
• The document is not the correct type of document for the particular category (for example, you cannot use a Bank Card as a Commencement document).

If a document cannot be accepted for some reason, we will contact you to discuss suitable replacements so that the document requirements can still be satisfied and we can proceed with the check.

To get a National Police Check, you need to meet the identity requirements regardless of which provider you use. This means that you may need to obtain new documents showing your details correctly, or have your existing documents changed to reflect your name correctly if they do not. Please contact our Support Team for some helpful suggestions on easy ways you can ensure you have the correct documents for a check.

In accordance with ACIC standards, we cannot accept documents that have expired. Please provide documents that are still in validity.

There are certain provisions in place for individuals who may not be able to obtain the necessary documents required to get a Police Check. For example, if you are unable to obtain a Birth Certificate because of special circumstances surrounding your birth, you may be eligible for special provisions. Please contact our team via email, phone or LiveChat to discuss your eligibility for these provisions.

National Police Checks can only be conducted by an ACIC Accredited Agency. Not just any company or organisation may conduct police checks, with extensive security and compliance requirements that must be achieved and maintained.

Checked Australia Pty Ltd ('Checked Australia') is duly accredited by ACIC, under its legal trading entity to provide these services. You can find our accreditation details by looking for Checked Australia Pty Ltd listed on the Official ACIC Government website available here: List of Accredited Brokers Organisation.

Checked Australia offer a smart, efficient and secure online service, allowing you to organise screening and verification checks (including National Police Checks) without ever having to leave the comfort of your home. Our unique system means you may receive your completed check results in as little as an hour and allows you to email, print or share a unique and secure link to your results.

If you believe that the results of your National Police Check are incorrect, please contact us to discuss lodging a dispute. You contact us by either phone on 1300 266 021 or by email at [email protected].

We will need to clarify the results and discuss the reason for you lodging a dispute. Once we have discussed the results, you will need to send us a clear email explaining what you believe is incorrect.

You will also need to provide as much information regarding the dispute as possible. Any additional information will help the dispute move quickly and smoothly. We will lodge a dispute form on your behalf to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC). The ACIC will investigate the dispute.

Once the dispute has been accepted, we will keep in regular touch with the ACIC regarding the progress, and we will contact you when an outcome is reached.

Please note, lodging a dispute does not guarantee that an outcome will be amended, however a further investigation into the results will be conducted.