An NDIS Worker Screening Check is a national check, run by a screening unit in each state and territory, that decides whether a person is cleared or excluded from working in risk-assessed roles with people with disability. A clearance lasts up to five years and is recognised everywhere in Australia. What differs between states is the agency you apply to, how you prove your identity, the fee, and whether you can start work before your clearance comes through.
This guide covers all eight states and territories, with each one’s fee, application steps and rules on working while you wait, checked against the official sources on 1 October 2026. It also covers who needs a check, how renewal works, and what registered providers must record.
The NDIS Worker Screening Check at a glance
- One national check: apply once, in the state or territory where you live. The result is recorded in the national NDIS Worker Screening Database.
- Two outcomes: cleared or excluded.
- Up to five years: a clearance lasts up to five years unless it is cancelled or revoked. Renew from 90 days before it expires.
- Fees from free to $163: paid workers pay between $112 (NSW) and $163 (ACT). Volunteers pay nothing or a small fee, depending on the state.
- Starting work: Victoria, Queensland and South Australia require a clearance before a new worker starts. NSW, WA and the NT allow work on a verified application, with conditions.
What the check is
The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission sets the rules, but it does not run the checks. State and territory worker screening units assess applications on its behalf and decide whether a worker poses a risk to people with disability. The decision is recorded in the NDIS Worker Screening Database, where every employer the worker is linked to can see it. You do not upload your clearance anywhere: you give a new employer your worker screening number and they confirm its status in the database.
Who needs an NDIS Worker Screening Check
You need a check if you are an employee, volunteer, contractor or student working for a registered NDIS provider in a risk-assessed role or a key personnel role. You also need one if a registered provider has decided all its workers need one, or an unregistered provider or a self-managed participant has decided their workers need one. Self-employed workers and sole traders who are registered providers need one too.
The NDIS Commission defines a risk-assessed role as one that is:
- involved in the direct delivery of specified supports or services to a person with disability, or
- likely to require more than incidental contact with people with disability: physically touching a person with disability, building a rapport with them as an ordinary part of the job, or having contact with several people with disability in a specialist support or specialist disability accommodation setting. Contact includes face to face, phone, written and online contact.
Key personnel roles also need a check. These include the CEO, directors listed with ASIC, executive staff, managers and board members.
How to apply, in five steps
- Get your employer’s NDIS Commission Employer ID. You must name an employer on a first application and on every renewal. Some forms let you search for the employer instead.
- Apply to the screening unit in the state or territory where you live. The check is national, so you apply in one place only.
- Prove your identity and pay the fee. Depending on the state this is online with your phone’s camera, or in person at a service centre.
- Your employer verifies the application in the NDIS Worker Screening Database. The request reaches them within 48 hours and expires after 28 days, so tell them it is coming.
- The screening unit decides whether you are cleared or excluded, and records the decision nationally.
Sole traders are both the worker and the employer. They first get access to the NDIS Worker Screening Database through the NDIS Commission’s portal, generate their own Employer ID, apply, then verify their own application within 28 days. The Commission is moving portal sign-in from PRODA to myID and the Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM), so follow its current instructions.
Fees and rules in every state and territory
| State | Screening unit | Paid worker | Volunteer | Start before clearance? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | Office of the Children’s Guardian (via Service NSW) | $112 | Free | Yes, on a verified application if the employer agrees |
| VIC | Victorian Worker Screening Unit (via Service Victoria) | $139.20 | Fee waiver on application | No |
| QLD | Disability Worker Screening | $161.30 | Free | No (“no card, no start”) |
| WA | Department of Communities (via DoTDirect) | $145 ($80 concession) | $11 | Yes, once identity and employer are verified |
| SA | Department of Human Services Screening Unit | $145 ($73.50 tertiary student) | Free | No for new applicants |
| TAS | Department of Justice (RWVP with NDIS endorsement) | $137.20 | Free (volunteer class) | Confirm with the unit |
| ACT | Access Canberra (WWVP with NDIS clearance) | $163 | Free (volunteer only) | Confirm with Access Canberra |
| NT | SAFE NT, NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services | $149 | $14 | Yes, supervised by a cleared worker |
Fees are set by each state and territory and usually change on 1 July. Most are non-refundable. Confirm the current fee with the screening unit before you apply.
New South Wales
The NSW NDIS Worker Check (NDISWC) is run by the Office of the Children’s Guardian. Start the application online in your MyServiceNSW account, then visit a Service NSW centre within 28 days with your application number and three original identity documents: one from each of Categories A, B and C. At least one must show your photo and one your signature, all in the same name. Service NSW takes your photo and the fee: $112 for paid workers, free for volunteers. The Office of the Children’s Guardian does not give a processing timeframe; you can follow your application’s status in MyServiceNSW. Arrangements exist for a person to work while their application is assessed, once their employer has verified it, so speak to your employer. The clearance is a digital credential, valid for five years.
Victoria
Apply through Service Victoria: create or log in to your account, verify your identity with your documents and your phone’s camera, enter your employer’s Employer ID, consent to the checks and pay. The fee is $139.20; volunteers in risk-assessed roles can apply for a fee waiver. Victoria requires an NDIS clearance before a worker starts in a risk-assessed role. The NDIS check does not replace Victoria’s Working with Children Check. If your NDIS role also involves child-related work you may need both, and if you already hold an NDIS check your WWC fee may be refunded.
Queensland
Queensland’s Disability Worker Screening unit takes applications online through the Worker Screening website. The fee is $161.30 for paid workers (as at 1 July 2026) and free for volunteers, including students on unpaid placement. If you also need a blue card for child-related work, a combined NDIS and blue card application costs $176.30 for paid workers and is free for volunteers. It must be lodged through the Worker Screening website, not Blue Card Services. Queensland has a “no card, no start” rule: you must hold a clearance before you start. If you cannot apply online, phone Disability Worker Screening on 1800 183 690 for a paper form.
Western Australia
WA’s Department of Communities runs the NDIS Check, with applications lodged through the Department of Transport. Start online in your DoTDirect account, then attend a Department of Transport Driver and Vehicle Services centre with four identity documents: one commencement-of-identity document, one primary and two secondary use-in-the-community documents. If you cannot travel, you may be eligible for alternate lodgement. Fees are $145 for paid workers, $80 for eligible concession card holders and $11 for volunteers. In WA most people can start in a risk-assessed role while the application is processed, if all of these are true: the application is complete and your identity verified; your employer has verified you as an NDIS worker; the application has not been withdrawn; you have no previous exclusion; and no interim bar has been imposed.
South Australia
The Department of Human Services Screening Unit handles NDIS Worker Checks, applied for online, and you need your NDIS provider’s or self-managed participant’s Employer ID. The fee is $145 for employees, $73.50 for tertiary students and free for volunteers. In South Australia it is an offence to work with people with disability without a current check, so new applicants must wait for their clearance. If you are renewing a check granted by the South Australian Screening Unit and apply before it expires, you may be able to keep working while the renewal is processed.
Tasmania
In Tasmania, the NDIS Worker Screening Check is part of the Registration to Work with Vulnerable People (RWVP), run by the Department of Justice. You apply for, or amend, your RWVP with an NDIS endorsement and give your NDIS employer’s details: ABN, trading name or NDIS Employer ID. The Employment/Volunteer class costs $137.20; the Volunteer class is free under fee relief that started on 1 January 2026 for two years. The NDIS check lasts five years or for the length of your registration. The official pages we checked do not say whether you can start before the NDIS endorsement is granted, so confirm with the Department of Justice before starting.
Australian Capital Territory
In the ACT, NDIS worker clearances are part of the Working with Vulnerable People (WWVP) scheme run by Access Canberra. When you apply for or renew your WWVP registration with an NDIS clearance, you nominate at least one employer listed in the NDIS Worker Screening Database. That can be a registered or unregistered provider, a self-managed participant, or yourself if you are self-employed. Applying online needs an ACT Digital Account; you can also apply at an Access Canberra service centre. The fee is $163 for paid work and free for volunteer-only registration. NDIS activity is a regulated activity in the ACT and working without the required registration is an offence, so check with Access Canberra (13 22 81) before you start.
Northern Territory
SAFE NT, part of NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services, runs NDIS Worker Screening Checks. Apply online with four identity documents, a selfie holding your ID, and your address history for the past five years. From 1 July 2026 the fee is $149 for workers and $14 for volunteers, who also upload a volunteer declaration. The NT is a work on application jurisdiction: you can work while your application is processed if it is complete, paid and verified by your employer, your employer agrees and has risk management in place, and you are supervised by someone with a clearance. The NT Working with Children Clearance (Ochre Card) is a separate check with its own rules.
Working while your application is processed
Where a state or territory allows “working on application”, the NDIS Commission still expects the registered provider to:
- check the rules in every state or territory it operates in
- keep a written risk management plan for how it protects participants from workers waiting for a clearance
- make sure the worker is always supervised by someone with an NDIS clearance
- record the worker as a worker without a screening clearance.
If a screening unit imposes an interim bar because of information of concern, the person cannot work in the role while their application is pending.
How long a check lasts, and renewing
A clearance is valid for up to five years from the date it is issued, unless it is cancelled or revoked. You can apply to renew up to 90 days before it expires, with the screening unit in the state or territory where you live at the time, and you only renew in one place. Employers get a notification when a worker linked to them has a check that is about to expire.
You do not need to reapply because you move to another state or territory, change employer, or change your business structure, for example from sole trader to company. You only reapply when your check expires or is cancelled.
What registered providers must record
Registered NDIS providers must keep a written record of every risk-assessed role, showing:
- the role’s title and a description of it
- which paragraph of the risk-assessed role definition in the Worker Screening Rules it falls under
- the date it was assessed, and the name and title of the person who assessed it.
The record must be updated within 20 business days of identifying a new risk-assessed role or reclassifying an existing one. Providers must also keep an up-to-date record of each worker in a risk-assessed role, separate from the NDIS Commission portal so it survives a worker being unlinked, kept for seven years, and organised so it can be produced at audit.
How Rostery helps
Expired clearances are a rostering problem before they are a compliance one. In Rostery each worker’s clearance and expiry date sit on their profile, the office is warned before a check runs out, and a worker whose required clearance has lapsed cannot be rostered into a shift. That gives you the evidence an auditor asks for and stops a lapsed check reaching a participant’s home. Book a demo to see it with your own team.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an NDIS Worker Screening Check cost?
It depends on where you live. For paid workers the fee is $112 in NSW, $139.20 in Victoria, $161.30 in Queensland, $145 in Western Australia and South Australia, $137.20 in Tasmania, $163 in the ACT and $149 in the Northern Territory. Volunteers pay nothing in most states, $11 in WA and $14 in the NT. In Victoria volunteers can apply for a fee waiver. Fees usually change on 1 July.
How long does an NDIS Worker Screening Check last?
Up to five years from the date it is issued, unless it is cancelled or revoked. You can renew from 90 days before it expires.
Can I start work before my NDIS Worker Screening Check is approved?
In NSW, Western Australia and the Northern Territory you can work on a verified application, with conditions including supervision by a cleared worker. In Victoria and Queensland you cannot start until you hold a clearance, and in South Australia new applicants must wait for theirs. In Tasmania and the ACT, confirm with the screening unit before you start.
Is my NDIS Worker Screening Check valid in another state?
Yes. It is a national check, so it stays valid if you move, and a new employer confirms it using your worker screening number in the NDIS Worker Screening Database.
Does the NDIS Worker Screening Check replace a Working with Children Check?
No. They are separate checks. If your NDIS role also involves child-related work you may need both, although some states, such as Queensland, let you apply for both at once.
Do unregistered providers need workers to have a screening check?
It is mandatory for risk-assessed roles at registered providers. Unregistered providers and self-managed participants can choose to require it, and many do.
Related reading
- NDIS Worker Screening Check: the short version
- The NDIS Commission and what it regulates
- How to become a registered NDIS provider (2026)
- NDIS verification vs certification audits
- NDIS Core Supports explained
Sources
Checked on 1 October 2026. Fees and rules change; each screening unit is the authority for its own state or territory.
- NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission: Worker screening
- NDIS Commission: Worker screening for registered providers
- NSW Office of the Children’s Guardian: How to apply
- Victorian Government: NDIS Worker Screening Check
- Queensland Disability Worker Screening: Fees
- WA Department of Communities: Applying for an NDIS Check
- SA.GOV.AU: Apply for an NDIS Worker Check
- Tasmanian Department of Justice: Apply for a NDIS Worker Screening Check
- Access Canberra: WWVP and the NDIS
- SAFE NT: NDIS Worker Screening Check
