In this article, you'll learn about the Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks offered through InterCheck Global Pty Ltd ("InterCheck"). InterCheck is a wholly owned subsidiary of Certn and is an accredited body authorised by the National Police Checking Service (NPCS) to provide Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks (NCCHCs). The NPCS is facilitated by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC).

InterCheck offers several methods for clients to order background checks on their applicants. NCCHCs are permitted only for organisations based in Australia and subject to a specific Terms of Use Agreement and approval by the ACIC. 

A Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check is a check of disclosable criminal history that applies across the whole of Australia. Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks can help your organisation make informed decisions about the suitability of applicants for a range of purposes. For example, a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History check is often part of screening for employment, volunteer, and not-for-profit positions. It is also used to help determine suitability for occupation-related licensing or for licensing applications.

How do Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks work?

Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks are processed via the National Police Checking Service, in partnership with Australian state and territory police agencies. Our platform makes it simple for you to initiate a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check, and our online application makes it easy for your applicant to submit the information that the National Police Checking Service requires to process the check. Our service includes several validation steps to help ensure that we collect all of the information that the National Police Checking Service needs to process the check. This helps to minimise potential delays in processing.

To get a better understanding of the overall process of ordering this check, refer to Stages of this check section of this article. 

What results do Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks return?

When a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check is completed, you receive a report that indicates whether or not any disclosable court outcomes have been identified. Whether records are disclosable is determined by the state or territory police agencies and information releasing policies in those jurisdictions.

Learn more in our Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check results article.

Order this check

Who can order this check?

Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks are available as self-serve background checks. To order a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check through our platform, your business must operate in Australia and have a valid Australian Business Number (ABN).

Before you can order the check, you must be credentialed and approved by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and our platform will guide you through the process.  The approval process with the ACIC can be as quick as days, or can take weeks, depending on the complexity of your organisation.  However, you can still order other background checks whilst waiting for the credentialing process to be finalised. This workflow helps you to get results as quickly as possible. 

Typically, clients who order Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks are Human Resources (HR) or compliance users who are performing screening for employment, volunteer, or not-for-profit positions or occupation-related compliance or for licensing applications. However, other acceptable purposes for using this check do exist. In any case, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have a lawful purpose for ordering a background check, in accordance with data protection laws applicable to you.

Check purpose and location 

When a case is ordered, it must include the purpose of the check (employment, probity, licence or Commonwealth), as well as the company name/requesting organisation, role type or reason for the check, and the role/position location.

Volunteers

Volunteer NCCHCs are only available to approved clients who have been approved by the ACIC to conduct volunteer checks. Volunteer checks can only be ordered if the applicant will:

• Freely hold the position or perform the role on a voluntary basis for the benefit of the community;
• Not be an employee, contractor, subcontractor, staff member or officer of an organisation; and
• Not be entitled to a salary or any other entitlements or benefits associated with the position or role; or
• Be a student undertaking a compulsory vocational placement as a requirement of an Australian-based academic institution or training course

Identity verification requirements

Our NCCHC includes an identity verification check to verify the identity of your applicant. Your applicant will need to provide at least three (3) identity documents.  The combination of documents collected must contain the applicant’s full name, date of birth and an image of them.

During the identity verification portion of the check, your applicant will take a selfie and capture an image of acceptable identity documents. If your applicant cannot successfully complete the identity verification portion of the check, they will be directed accordingly.  More information regarding the identity verification process can be found here: Documents Required for a Nationally Coordinated History Check (NCCHC).

Turnaround time for this check

When we receive your applicant's completed application, it will be reviewed to ensure it meets the requirements of the National Police Checking Service.  If all required information is present, the request is released to the National Police Checking Service for processing, typically within hours. 

Starting from the time we can submit the request to the National Police Checking Service for your check, turnaround times are as follows: 

• On average, the National Police Checking Service returns 70% within two business days or fewer.Some checks, such as those that result in a no disclosable court outcome, can even return within minutes from the time we submit your request to the National Police Checking Service.
   
• On average, 30% of checks may take or exceed three to 15 business days.

Typically, this occurs when the National Police Checking Service initial search locates records that match details that may be the same as the applicant. In this case, the National Police Checking Service refers checks to Australian state or territory police agencies who assist with manual processing. A longer processing time does not always mean that the applicant has a criminal history. The following are examples of scenarios that can increase turnaround time:

• The applicant has a common name or similar personal details to someone who has a criminal history. In this case, police agencies perform a review using your applicant’s provided information to determine whether the history found belongs to your applicant and is disclosable.
• Police agencies need additional time to coordinate with police agencies in other states or territories to complete their processing.
• Police agencies need additional time to manually retrieve or process hard-copy records.

When the check is complete, one of two standard results will be made available: Disclosable Court Outcomes (DCO) or No Disclosable Court Outcomes (NDCO).

In some cases, the turnaround time for each check can exceed its typical range. For example, a check may exceed the turnaround time if your applicant could not successfully complete the identity verification portion of this check, because manual identity verification will then be required. Learn more about next steps when manual identity verification is required. 

If you ordered this check and are looking for information about its progress, refer to Stages of this check.

Stages of this check

When you use InterCheck's web application to invite your applicant to complete a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History check, the stages of the check are as follows: 

Applicant experience

When you order an Australian Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check, your applicant receives an email inviting them to complete an online form for the included checks. Through this process, an applicant will supply InterCheck with their:  

• Passport details / Drivers licence details / Firearms licence details
• Check purpose and location full name (including previous names and aliases),
• date of birth and birth details,
• Gender (M, F, X),
• address details for the last 5 years with no gaps
• valid identity documents
• selfie, as well as a signed NCCHC informed consent

Next steps

After you've placed your order and InterCheck has received the required details from your applicant, the check begins processing.

You can view the case and check results in the client portal. Learn more in our Manage your cases Certn Help Article.

To learn more about this check’s results and what happens if the applicant can’t complete the check, see our Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check results Certn Help article.