Worker screening looks simple until an auditor asks for the register and three names on your current roster have lapsed clearances. The check is only half of it — the other half is proving, on the day, that everyone working with your participants is cleared, oriented and trained. This is how that holds together.
Who this is for
You run SIL houses with staff or contractors. Worker screening and training sit inside the new Practice governance outcome, so a clean register does double duty.
Who needs a clearance
A clearance is required for anyone in a risk-assessed role or a key personnel role at a registered provider:
- Key personnel — directors, the CEO, anyone making operational decisions
- Anyone who directly provides supports to participants
- Anyone likely to have 'more than incidental contact' with participants
If someone's in the house around your participants, assume they need one until you've checked otherwise.
The five-year clock
- When a clearance is issued — it's valid for up to 5 years from issue, unless cancelled or revoked.
- Before a worker starts — they must hold a valid clearance, or have applied in jurisdictions that allow working on application.
- 90 days before expiry — the window to renew. Don't wait for the lapse.
- Ongoing — link each worker to your org in the NDIS Worker Screening Database (NWSD) so you're notified if their status changes.
That last point is the one providers miss: the NWSD tells you when a clearance is suspended or revoked mid-term — but only if the worker is linked to your organisation.
Beyond the check: orientation and training currency
A clearance isn't training. Each worker also needs the NDIS Worker Orientation Module and current role-based training — typically CPR (yearly), first aid (every three years), manual handling, medication, and any participant-specific training. The new standards lift the bar on worker competence, so a training matrix — who needs what, who has what, what expires when — is the evidence that ties it together.
Where it goes wrong at audit
The register and reality don't match. Three workers on the current roster with expired clearances; one casual still listed whose clearance lapsed months ago.
Expiries live in someone's head. No matrix, no 90-day renewal plan, so the first-aid cohort lapses in the same month and nobody notices.
Workers aren't linked in the NWSD. A clearance gets revoked, the provider never hears, and the worker keeps working.
Common questions
How long is an NDIS Worker Screening Check valid?
Up to 5 years from the date of issue, unless it's cancelled or revoked.
Who needs an NDIS Worker Screening clearance?
Anyone in a risk-assessed role or key personnel role — directors, anyone who directly provides supports, and anyone likely to have more than incidental contact with participants.
When can I renew an NDIS Worker Screening Check?
Up to 90 days before the current check expires.
Where Clearline fits — honestly
Aura OS by Clearline Health keeps a worker register with every clearance number, expiry and training item in one place, and prompts you before anything lapses — not after. When the auditor asks, the 60-second audit test packages it: pick a participant or a date and a Practice Standard, and a branded PDF is in their inbox in two clicks.
Flat $49 a month, same price for two houses or twenty. The free tier is unlimited — workers, participants and houses — with every audit-ready feature included. Audit-ready on free. AI for admin, humans for care. Australian-owned and Sydney-hosted; the few US sub-processors we use — error reporting, payments, AI — are each named in our privacy policy.
Honest about the limit: we don't issue clearances or run the screening database — that's the Commission and your state. What we do is make sure nothing lapses unnoticed and the register stands up on audit day.
Pass your audit without losing your weekend.
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General information drawn from the NDIS worker screening rules and the Commission's guidance, not legal advice. Risk-assessed role definitions and work-on-application rules differ by state and territory — check the current requirements with the NDIS Commission and your state screening unit.