Aged Care Act 2024: provider screening and records checklist

The Aged Care Act 2024 and the Aged Care Rules 2025 made worker screening a clear, auditable provider obligation from 1 November 2025. Eleven months in, the rule has not changed: a National Police Check (Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check) no older than three years, or an NDIS Worker Screening Clearance. This checklist turns it into practical steps for the people who own compliance: confirm the right checks, handle interim starts correctly, keep the records that prove it, and know what is still coming.

It is the provider's operational companion to the Aged Care worker screening requirements, which explains the underlying rules. Everything here is checked against the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing's screening requirements page (last updated 2 March 2026) and its worker screening guidance material (version 2.0, March 2026). The Department also publishes a free Aged Care Provider Requirements Search tool that builds a tailored list of your obligations under the Act, a useful companion for the wider compliance picture.

1. Screen the whole workforce, not just carers

Confirm that every Aged Care worker and responsible person holds one of the two accepted checks: a National Police Check no older than three years that does not record certain precluding offences, or an NDIS Worker Screening Clearance. The scope is wide:

• Direct employees, plus workers engaged through associated providers, subcontractors and digital platforms
• Volunteers, contractors and labour-hire workers, including contracted health professionals
• Workers engaged through self-management and paid through you
• Support roles: kitchen, cleaning, laundry, garden, office
• Responsible persons: directors, executives, board members, directors of nursing

Check each National Police Check against the precluding offences that apply to you. For most registered providers they are a conviction for murder, a conviction for sexual assault, and a conviction with imprisonment for any other form of assault. CHSP and NATSIFACP providers work from a different list set out in the guidance material.

For responsible persons, directors and key personnel, screening is only half of it. On top of the National Police Check or NDIS clearance, confirm their governance suitability through either a Director identification number plus an AFSA national personal insolvency index search plus an ASIC banned and disqualified register check (all three), or an Aged Care responsible person suitability declaration. Keep that evidence with their screening record.

2. Handle interim starts properly

If a worker begins before their check returns, record all three conditions:

1. They have applied for the National Police Check or NDIS clearance.
2. They are working under appropriate supervision.
3. They have made a statutory declaration that they have never been convicted of a relevant precluding offence.

A statutory declaration cannot stand in for a National Police Check that is more than three years old: the guidance says the interim route does not apply to existing workers or responsible persons whose check is more than three years old. A fresh check is required. A declaration is also needed where a person has been a citizen or permanent resident of another country after turning 16.

3. Keep records for seven years

Worker screening records must be kept for seven years, starting on the day the record is made, including after a worker leaves. The guidance lists what each record holds:

• The person's full name, date of birth and address
• The National Police Check or NDIS Worker Screening Clearance, with any statutory declaration
• The name of the hiring manager or supervisor who checked it

Keep the clearance number and the issue or expiry date alongside, and the supervision arrangements that supported any interim start.

4. Check the banning orders register

Under the Act, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission keeps a register of banning orders, and registered providers must check it regularly. A banning order can be made where a person is not suitable to be involved in Aged Care, or did not comply with the Aged Care Code of Conduct. A clear National Police Check says nothing about a banning order made after it was issued, so the two checks sit side by side.

5. Track expiry, not just the initial check

A National Police Check stops meeting the rule once it is more than three years old; an NDIS clearance expires after five. You need to know which credentials are approaching that point and act before they lapse. NDIS clearances first issued from February 2021 began expiring from February 2026, so renewals are arriving across most workforces now: our guide to renewing an NDIS Worker Screening Check covers the timing. Manual tracking is where this most often fails. See worker compliance tracking for providers for what a live approach looks like.

6. Watch the SA variation

For responsible persons in South Australia and workers delivering funded Aged Care there, the Aged Care Sector Employment Check, issued under the Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016 (SA), satisfies the National Police Check requirement.

National Aged Care worker screening check: current status (October 2026)

A national worker screening check for the care and support economy is proposed. As at 6 October 2026 it has no start date:

• The Department's screening requirements page, last updated 2 March 2026, says the Government is working with the states and territories on the check, led by a taskforce within the Department of Finance. The earlier "not before mid-2026" timing no longer appears, and version 2.0 of the guidance material removed its section on future requirements.
• The Department of Finance's feasibility consultation closed on 7 October 2025, with no published outcome.
• A national registration scheme for personal care workers is separately in design, with consultation closed in April 2025 and a summary report published in September 2025.

What this means for your checklist: nothing changes until a check is legislated and commences. Keep screening against the two accepted options and keep your records clean, because whatever comes next will start from the records you hold. We track both reforms on the care workforce regulatory calendar, and what the Aged Care worker register might look like works through the possibilities.

Authoritative sources

• Screening requirements for the Aged Care workforce - Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
• Aged Care worker screening guidance material, version 2.0 - Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, March 2026
• Register of banning orders - Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission
• Aged Care Provider Requirements Search tool - the Department's free tool that builds a tailored list of provider obligations under the Act
• NDIS Worker Screening - NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission

How Koora helps

Koora's compliance engine checks worker credentials against what each role requires, tracks expiry dates, and keeps a structured, exportable record for each worker. It screens workers against the public ban registers, including the Aged Care banning orders register, and keeps screening them. National Police Checks and NDIS clearances are reviewed by a person once a worker shares their passport or you request access, or across your own records through the Crew add-on. The legal responsibility to screen your workforce and keep records stays with you; Koora makes meeting it far less work.

Frequently asked questions

How long must screening records be kept?

Providers must keep detailed worker screening records for seven years, including after a worker leaves. Records typically include the worker's name, date of birth, address, clearance details and any statutory declarations.

Do the rules apply to subcontractors and labour-hire workers?

Yes. The obligation covers workers engaged directly and those engaged through subcontractors, associated providers and digital platforms. You are responsible for confirming screening regardless of who employs the worker.

What records support an interim start?

If a worker starts while a check is pending, you should record their application, the supervision arrangements, and the statutory declaration confirming no precluding offences. A statutory declaration cannot cover a National Police Check more than three years old.