NDIS Worker Screening Checks: Renewals and Rules

The short version

• Clearances last up to 5 years, and the first ones are already running out. The first NDIS worker screening checks were issued from February 2021 and started expiring from February 2026 (NDIS Commission renewal FAQs).
• Registered providers must screen every risk-assessed role. Unregistered providers don't have to, but the Commission recommends it (Commission, unregistered providers).
• An expired check means off the job. For a registered provider, a worker whose check expires must be removed from all risk-assessed roles immediately, unless a "work on application" renewal rule covers them (renewal FAQs).
• The rules for working while you wait differ by state. NSW gives no extensions on renewals. Victoria, Queensland and SA don't let first-time applicants start until cleared. WA and the NT do, with conditions.
• The portal changes on 12 October 2026. Verifying, linking and unlinking workers moves to the new NDIS Commission Portal (Commission portal checklist).

Everything below is sourced and checked on 2 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

What the check is

An NDIS worker screening check is where a state or territory worker screening unit assesses whether a worker poses a risk to people with disability, and decides whether they are "cleared" or "excluded" from certain roles. The units do it on behalf of the NDIS Commission (Commission, worker screening).

It's a national check. A worker applies in one state or territory only, the clearance works everywhere, and they don't reapply if they move interstate, change employers or change business structure. They only reapply if it expires or is cancelled (Commission, worker screening). Cleared workers are continuously monitored for new offences while the clearance is in force (WA Screening Unit).

It isn't a Working With Children Check. Some people need both (Victoria).

Who needs one

Risk-assessed roles

The legal test is in the NDIS (Practice Standards: Worker Screening) Rules 2018. A risk-assessed role is (Worker Screening Rules, section 5):

1. a key personnel role, such as a CEO or board member
2. a role whose normal duties include direct delivery of the supports or services the Commissioner has specified, or
3. a role whose normal duties are likely to need "more than incidental contact" with a person with disability.

"More than incidental contact" includes physical touch, building rapport as a normal part of the job, and contact with several people with disability in specialist disability support or specialist disability accommodation. Contact covers face to face, phone, written and electronic communication (Worker Screening Rules, section 6).

The Rules' own examples help. Someone who delivers mobility equipment and trains customers to use it is in a risk-assessed role. A back office accountant who nods hello to customers in the foyer isn't (Worker Screening Rules, section 6).

Risk-assessed roles can be filled by staff, volunteers, contractors and students. Sole traders who are registered are both key personnel and in a risk-assessed role, so they need a clearance themselves (Commission, registered providers).

Registered vs unregistered providers

Sources: Commission, registered providers, Commission, unregistered providers, F2026L00802.

Two changes widen this. SIL providers have had to be registered since 1 July 2026, which brings their workers under the screening rules (see our SIL mandatory registration guide). And for registered digital platforms, the new rules apply from 1 January 2027: a platform must not let anyone offer supports through it unless they have given evidence that they, and the workers they engage, hold a clearance that is in force (F2026L00802, Schedule 1 item 9). If you're an unregistered provider who gets work through a platform, expect to need screened workers from that date.

The 2026-27 Budget also funded mandatory registration for all high-risk supports from 1 July 2027. That is announced, not law yet (NDIA news, 30 June 2026). The Commission's summary of the Securing the NDIS for Future Generations Act, passed 19 August 2026, lists no changes to worker screening (Commission news, 28 August 2026).

Exceptions

Apart from leftover transitional arrangements for older state checks, a registered provider can have someone in a risk-assessed role without a clearance only if (Worker Screening Rules, section 14; Commission, registered providers):

• they are a secondary school student on formal work experience, directly supervised by a cleared worker, or
• they are waiting on their application, the state or territory allows working on application, a cleared person supervises them, and you are running a written risk management plan.

University and TAFE students on placement do need a check, but their institution handles the employer side (Commission, registered providers).

How long a clearance lasts, and the 2026 renewal wave

A clearance is valid for up to 5 years from the date of the outcome, unless it's cancelled or revoked (renewal FAQs). The ACT is the odd one: an NDIS clearance added to an existing Working with Vulnerable People registration ends when that registration does, which can be less than 5 years (Access Canberra).

National screening started in February 2021, so the first clearances began expiring from February 2026 (renewal FAQs). Anyone cleared in 2021 is renewing this year or early next.

How renewal works:

• Workers can lodge a renewal up to 90 days before expiry (Commission, worker screening). NSW and SA say 3 months (NSW OCG; SA).
• They renew with the unit in the state or territory where they now live, not every state they work in (Commission, worker screening).
• A renewal is a full application. They supply ID again and must name their current employer's Employer ID, and you must verify it before it goes anywhere (renewal FAQs).
• The database notifies linked employers when a worker's check is within 90 days of expiry (renewal FAQs).
• Renewing early doesn't cost time. In NSW and Tasmania the new clearance starts when the old one ends, and SAFE NT extends the current expiry by 5 years (NSW OCG; Tasmania; SAFE NT).

Units are busy. Victoria's page gives anywhere from 3 to 12 weeks after verification, Tasmania says renewals may take longer than its usual 6 weeks, and the ACT's average is 8 weeks (Victoria; Tasmania; Access Canberra).

Where to apply or renew, and what it costs

Fees are set by each state and territory and paid by the worker (renewal FAQs). Treat these as indicative: they're what each unit's site showed on 2 October 2026, and most change every 1 July.

Fees are generally non-refundable (SA). In the NT, if the employer doesn't verify within 30 days the application is cancelled and the worker loses the fee (SAFE NT). The Commission says only to hand out your Employer ID if you genuinely intend to employ the person (Commission, unregistered providers).

Working while an application is pending

This is where most rostering mistakes happen. Even where a state allows it, the Rules still require a registered provider to have a cleared person supervising and a written risk management plan in place (Worker Screening Rules, sections 12 and 14).

The Commission's national rule for renewals is that working on application only applies where the state has the policy, the worker applies to the unit that issued the original check (unless they've moved), lodges before expiry, and the employer verifies before expiry (renewal FAQs). Where a state page is silent, assume a gap and ask the unit.

SA flagged a glitch where some renewals covered by an extension show as expired in the database. Its advice: if the "Eligible to work" field says Yes, the worker can keep working, even if the clearance shows as expired (SA).

The database and what providers must do

Verify, link and check

The NDIS Worker Screening Database (NWSD) is the national register of everyone who has applied for or holds a check (Commission, unregistered providers). Registered providers use it through the Commission's portal, and unregistered providers can apply for access too.

A worker's clearance is current when their status is "Clearance", the expiry is in the future and "Eligible to work" says Yes (Commission, registered providers). Your jobs are to:

• Verify applications that name your Employer ID. In NSW, Victoria and the NT you have 30 days, or the application stalls or is cancelled (NSW OCG; Victoria; SAFE NT).
• Link workers when they start and unlink them when they leave. Unlinking also stops expiry notices for people you no longer employ (renewal FAQs).
• Acknowledge status changes. In the new portal you get an alert when a worker's status changes and must open it and confirm you've seen it (Commission, worker verification map).

The new portal from 12 October 2026

From 12 October 2026, verification requests, linking, unlinking and managing worker records happen in the new NDIS Commission Portal. Anything started in the old portal before then gets finished there. Make sure at least one active staff member holds the Worker Screening Officer role (Commission portal checklist).

Records you must keep

Registered providers must keep, for 7 years from when each record is made (Worker Screening Rules, sections 17 to 21):

• A list of risk-assessed roles: title, which part of the definition applies, a description, the date assessed and who assessed it. Update it within 20 business days of identifying a new role or reclassifying one.
• A list of workers in those roles: full name, date of birth, address, role, application number, clearance number, outcome and expiry, and any suspension or revocation.
• For anyone working under an exception: which exception, the start and end dates, and the supervisor's name.
• Copies of records about any interim bar, suspension or exclusion and what you did about it, plus misconduct allegations and your response.
• For contractors: the contract, how you administered it and the steps you took to check their clearance.

The worker list must let an auditor see who was in a risk-assessed role on any day in the past 7 years. Keep it outside the portal, because it has to survive a worker being unlinked (Commission, registered providers). Screening records are a standard audit check (see our audit preparation guide).

Interim bars, suspensions and exclusions

Source: Commission, unregistered providers.

An interim bar or suspension takes effect immediately (NSW OCG). In WA a suspension can follow new offences or pending charges, and a person can seek internal review after it has been in place for six months (WA Screening Unit). An excluded person generally can't reapply for 5 years, and never if they are a disqualified person (NSW OCG).

For a registered provider, the moment one of these lands:

1. Take the worker off every risk-assessed role, including shifts already rostered.
2. Acknowledge the alert in the portal.
3. File a copy of the notice and a note of what you did.
4. If it involves one of your participants, check whether it's a reportable incident (see our reportable incidents guide).

Banning orders are separate from screening and made by the Commission. Search its register of banning orders when you hire too.

Checklist for admins

1. Write down your risk-assessed roles with all five details, and update the list within 20 business days of any change.
2. Pull every linked worker from the database. Anyone in a risk-assessed role needs "Clearance", a future expiry and "Eligible to work: Yes".
3. Unlink everyone who has left.
4. List every clearance expiring in the next 120 days and tell those workers today. Renewals open at 90 days.
5. Hand out your Employer ID and verify renewals the same week. A late verification can cost a worker their right to keep working.
6. Know your state's gap rule. In NSW, plan cover for anyone whose renewal won't be finalised in time.
7. Before anyone works on application, write the risk management plan and roster a cleared supervisor alongside them.
8. Keep your own worker list for 7 years, in a form that shows who held which role on any given day.
9. Set up the Worker Screening Officer role in the new portal from 12 October 2026.
10. Act on status alerts the same day: off the roster, acknowledge, record.

Most of this goes wrong because expiry dates live in a spreadsheet nobody opens. Orangised keeps each worker's screening clearance with its status and expiry date, flips a verified check to Expired when the date passes, and emails and alerts your admins in the app about two weeks out, a week out and on the day. It doesn't look anything up in the NDIS Worker Screening Database, and the roster won't stop you booking someone whose check has lapsed, so the database is still your source of truth and taking them off shifts is still your call.