NDIS Worker Screening Unit (NSW) (Screening Unit)
Each state and territory administers NDIS worker screening for workers in risk-assessed roles, issuing clearances valid for five years.
Responsibilities
- Assess applications for NDIS worker screening clearance
- Conduct risk assessment against criminal history and other records
- Issue, monitor and revoke clearances
A nationally required clearance, administered separately by every state and territory, against a national scheme funded entirely by the Commonwealth.
The pattern is the same one recorded for working with children checks: a worker moving between jurisdictions obtains another clearance, and a national provider operating across borders manages several regimes for one workforce.
This project does not propose relaxing worker screening for people supporting participants with disability, and would oppose a proposal to. The royal commission into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability is recent, and the reason these checks exist is not abstract.
Portability and rigour are different questions. A single clearance recognised nationally can be exactly as rigorous as eight — it is the same criminal history databases being searched. What differs is how many times a worker pays and waits. See Recognise one worker screening clearance nationally.
Where this body appears in a process
Every point at which NDIS Worker Screening Unit (NSW) can hold something up, and why.
| Process | Step | Why it waits | Clock | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Become a qualified aged care worker | Obtain worker screening clearance registration | queue | — | 45 |
| Become a qualified early childhood educator in Australia | Working with children check registration | queue | — | 45 |
| Become a registered NDIS provider | Worker screening clearances for key personnel and risk-assessed workers registration | queue | — | 90 |
| A student completes the clearances required before a mandatory placement | NDIS Worker Screening Check certification | assessment | — | 21 |