Like Family Criminal Check Policy

The purpose of this policy is to ensure the safety and well-being of all Members and Social Carers using the Like Family platform by requiring thorough police and probity checks for all Social Carers.

Scope

This policy applies to all Social Carers who register on the Like Family platform to provide non-medical care and companionship services.

Definitions

Social Carer: A person registered on the Like Family platform to provide non-medical care and companionship services.
Member: A person registered on the Like Family platform to receive non-medical care and companionship services.
Police Check: A national criminal history check conducted by an accredited agency.
Probity Check: Includes a Police Check, Working With Children Check (or equivalent), NDIS Worker Screening Check, and any other relevant background checks.

1. Requirements

1.1 Police Check

All Social Carers must provide a valid Police Check before being approved to offer services on the Like Family platform.
The Police Check must be no older than six months at the time of submission.
Social Carers are responsible for the cost of obtaining their Police Check.

1.2 Working With Children Check

Social Carers who intend to work with Members under the age of 18 must provide a valid Working With Children Check (or equivalent) as required by relevant state or territory legislation.
This check must be current and valid for the duration of their registration on the platform.

Working with Children Checks are state-based and required for Social Carer offering services to children under the age of 18.

State	Responsible body issuing WWCC	Valid for
NSW	Office of Children’s Guardian	5 years
Qld	Blue Card Services	3 years
Vic	Working with children check Victoria	5 years
SA	Department of Human Services	5 years
WA	WA Government Working with children check	3 years
NT	Working with children clearance	2 years
Tas	Consumer, Building and Occupational Services	5 years
ACT	ACT Government	3 Years

A Working with Children Check (WWCC) cannot be accepted as an alternative to a Police Check.

1.3 NDIS Worker Screening Check

Social Carers who intend to work with NDIS participants must provide a valid NDIS Worker Screening Check.
This check must be current and valid for the duration of their registration on the platform.

1.4 Additional Checks

Like Family may require additional probity checks based on the nature of the services provided or the specific needs of Members.
Social Carers must comply with any additional probity requirements as notified by Like Family.

2. Submission and Verification

Social Carers must submit their Police Check, NDIS Worker Screening Check, and any other required probity checks through the Like Family platform during the registration process.
Like Family will verify the authenticity and validity of all submitted checks.
Social Carers may be required to resubmit updated checks periodically, as determined by Like Family.

6. Non-Compliance

Failure to provide valid and current Police and probity checks will result in the suspension or termination of the Social Carer's registration on the Like Family platform.
Social Carers found to have provided false or misleading information will be permanently banned from the platform and may be reported to relevant authorities.

7. Privacy and Confidentiality

Like Family will handle all personal information, including Police and probity checks, in accordance with its Privacy Policy.
Information will be stored securely and only accessed by authorized personnel for verification and compliance purposes.

8. Review and Updates

This policy will be reviewed annually or as required to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
Like Family reserves the right to amend this policy at any time. Social Carers will be notified of any significant changes.

Assessing Disclosable Court Outcomes

The following items are assessed as ‘disclosable court outcomes’:

Record of court convictions
Findings of guilt

Like Family will not discriminate on the basis of a criminal record when making a decision to accept or reject an independent Social Carer sign-up request. It is not an act of discrimination to find a Social Carer unsuitable if their criminal record is relevant to the provision of support work. Like Family considers a range of factors to strike a balance between allowing those with criminal records to find work and upholding the safety of those receiving support through Like Family in an unsupervised environment.

When reviewing disclosable court outcomes on a Police Checks, Like Family will comply with:

All applicable legislation of the Commonwealth, or any state and territory or local authority, legislation which prevents discrimination based on criminal records;
Privacy laws, any Approved Provider’s Privacy Policy and take into consideration the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cth), Commonwealth Spent Convictions Scheme and the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth).

i) Precluding offences

There are certain offences that will preclude a person from providing support services through the Like Family platform. This follows legal requirements, industry guidelines (including the Aged Care Worker Screening Guidelines and the NDIS Risk Assessment Guidance from each State) and works to safeguard support recipients. These offences are:

Murder or sexual assault
Assault offences carrying an imprisonment sentence
Any offence involving harm or exploitation of children, people with disabilities or seniors
Serious alcohol and/or drug related offences that indicate a recent pattern of dependence or substance abuse
Serious dishonesty offences, or a pattern of offences involving dishonesty
Drug trafficking that results in a prison sentence
Terrorism

ii) Assessing disclosable court outcomes

Where a disclosable court outcome does not fall within the precluding offences listed above, Like Family assesses the relevance of the offending to providing support through the Like Family website. As part of this process, Like Family will offer the applicant an opportunity to explain the surrounding circumstances of the offence, outline any rehabilitative steps taken and provide the reasons that they believe they are still suited to independent service delivery on the Like Family website.

When conducting this assessment, Like Family places strong emphasis on customer safety and the unsupervised nature of the services offered through the Like Family platform. In addition, the following factors are considered:

The unsupervised nature of the services provided
The relevance of the police history information to the work
The seriousness of the conviction or offence
The severity of any penalty imposed
Whether excluding the person is proportionate to the type of conviction(s)
The number of offences recorded
The employment history of the applicant
Whether the offence has been decriminalised or removed from the statutes
Whether or not a conviction was recorded
The age of the applicant when the offending occurred
The period of time that has elapsed since the offending took place
The circumstances in which the offence took place
Whether the applicant’s circumstances have changed since the offence was committed, for example, they have rehabilitated from previous offending
The attitude of the applicant to their previous offending behaviour
The likelihood of an incident occurring if the applicant was accepted
The likely impact of an incident if the person was accepted to perform their duties.

In the event that there is an ongoing investigation relating to an offence and the offence is one that is relevant to the provision of support work which would likely result in exclusion from the Like Family platform, Like Family will await the outcome of the investigation before drawing a conclusion on suitability.

iii) Assessing driving offences for Social Carers

Social Carers that have recently incurred multiple minor traffic offences, a serious traffic offence, or a driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol conviction, may not be able to list transport as a service on their profile.

Social Carers with serious traffic offences (including high range driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol) may be excluded, after consideration of the nature of the offence and the other considerations listed in ii) above

iv) Assessing renewed Police Checks

If an existing Social Carer or employee renews their Police Check and new disclosable court outcomes are listed on their Police Check, the offences will be assessed using the same factors outlined above. On the balance of these factors, if Like Family concludes that the court history presents an unreasonable risk to our clients, Like Family will remove the Social Carer from the platform and encourage clients to engage alternative support.