Effective from March 2025

Approved by: Chief Executive Officer

At a Glance

Five Good Friends is committed to providing safe services by engaging and appointing people who pass the required probity screening.

Scope

This policy relates to all Five Good Friends workers (employees, Helpers, contractors, Directors).

Objective

This policy supports best practice recruitment and compliance to ensure the safety and protection of Members through the attraction, selection, engagement and appointment of people who meet the necessary compliance and skills requirements to perform their roles.

Definitions

• Criminal History Check / Background Check - a generic and interchangeable term capturing the range of checks discussed in this policy of a person’s criminal history.
• Disqualified individual – as defined under section 10A-1 of the Aged Care Act 1997:
  • the individual has been convicted of an indictable offence; or
  • the individual is insolvent under administration; or
  • the individual is of unsound mind.
• Key Personnel - roles identified within the organisation in line with Commonwealth aged care and NDIS requirements that occupy key executive, management or operational positions.
• National Police Certificate - a form of criminal history check based on a search of a person’s name against criminal history records held by police services Australia-wide.
• NDIS Worker Screening Check – an assessment of whether a person who works, or seeks to work, with people with a disability poses a risk to them.
• Risk Assessed Role – is one that:
  • is a key personnel role
  • involves the direct delivery of specified supports or services to a person with a disability
  • is likely to require more than incidental contact with people with a disability, which includes:
    • physically touching a person with a disability; or
    • building a rapport with a person with a disability as an integral and ordinary part of the performance of normal duties; or
    • having contact with multiple people with a disability as part of the direct delivery of a specialist disability support or service, or in a specialist disability accommodation setting.

Policy Statement