NDIS Worker Screening and the Code of Conduct

Worker compliance is the easiest part of an NDIS audit to get right and one of the most common places providers fail anyway: lapsed clearances, unlinked workers, missing orientation records. Here is how screening works, what the Code of Conduct requires of everyone, and the records that keep you clean.

Last updated: 12 June 2026

How the NDIS Worker Screening Check works

The NDIS Worker Screening Check is a national clearance for people working in risk-assessed roles with NDIS participants. Workers apply through their state or territory screening unit; the assessment draws on police, workplace, and disciplinary information, and produces either a clearance or an exclusion. Key mechanics:

Five-year validity, portable between employers and recognised in every state and territory.
The Worker Screening Database. Registered providers must verify each worker's clearance and link the worker to their organisation in the NDIS Commission's database, which then notifies the provider of any suspension or revocation.
Risk-assessed roles. Key personnel, workers delivering specified supports, and anyone with more than incidental participant contact. When in doubt, screen, the cost asymmetry between an unnecessary check and an unscreened worker finding is enormous.
In-progress applications. Jurisdiction-specific rules sometimes allow supervised work while an application processes; document the conditions and the supervision if you rely on them.

The Code of Conduct covers everyone

The NDIS Code of Conduct applies to all providers and workers, registered and unregistered alike. It requires acting with respect for individual rights, integrity and transparency, delivering supports safely and competently, taking steps to prevent and respond to violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and not engaging in or tolerating sexual misconduct. Two practical consequences:

The Commission can investigate and act on Code breaches by unregistered providers, being outside registration is not being outside the regulator's reach.
Your induction, supervision, and disciplinary procedures should reference the Code explicitly; auditors and the Commission both look for it, and workers are personally bound by it.

Orientation and training obligations

Registered providers must ensure workers complete the Commission's worker orientation module ("Quality, Safety and You") and hold the competencies for the supports they deliver. In practice that means a training register that records, per worker: orientation completion, induction, first aid and CPR currency where relevant, medication and manual handling competencies, restrictive practices awareness where behaviour support plans are in play, and the descriptor-specific competencies for high intensity supports.

What auditors verify

Every risk-assessed role holds a current clearance, linked to your organisation in the database.
A screening register tracking clearance numbers, expiry dates, and verification evidence.
Orientation and training records matching each worker's actual duties.
Recruitment files showing screening was verified before unsupervised work began.
Workers who, in Stage 2 interviews, know the Code of Conduct exists and what it asks of them.

These are register-and-routine problems, not intellectual ones, which is exactly why they account for so many findings: they decay silently. A monthly fifteen-minute review of the screening and training registers prevents nearly all of them.

Where to get the documents

Our 220+ document package includes the worker compliance set: screening and training registers, recruitment and induction checklists, supervision templates, Code of Conduct policy, and disciplinary procedures, ready to drop into your onboarding flow. For where this sits in the wider registration journey, see the audit preparation checklist.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which workers need an NDIS Worker Screening Check?

For registered providers, every worker in a risk-assessed role: key personnel, anyone directly delivering specified supports, and anyone likely to have more than incidental contact with participants. That captures most support workers, many coordinators and managers, and often the owner. Unregistered providers' workers aren't legally required to hold clearances, but participants and plan managers increasingly ask for them anyway.

How long does a clearance last and does it transfer between employers?

A clearance lasts five years and belongs to the worker, not the employer. It's recognised nationally and works across multiple providers: each provider links the worker's clearance to their organisation in the NDIS Commission's Worker Screening Database, which also notifies you if a clearance is revoked or suspended.

Can someone work while their screening application is in progress?

In limited circumstances, states and territories allow a worker to start under supervision while their application is processing, subject to conditions that vary by jurisdiction. Build the rules that apply in your state into your recruitment procedure, and record the supervision arrangements, because auditors check exactly this scenario.

Does the NDIS Code of Conduct apply if I'm not registered?

Yes. The Code of Conduct applies to all NDIS providers and workers, registered or not, and the Commission can take compliance action against anyone covered by it. Registered or otherwise, your induction should cover the Code, and your service agreements and policies should reflect it.