Every check and document an independent support worker needs, and how long each lasts

If you work for yourself as a support worker in Australia, the core set is: an NDIS Worker Screening Check (valid for up to five years), a Working With Children Check if you support anyone under 18 (five years in NSW and Victoria), the NDIS Worker Orientation Module certificate, current first aid and CPR, an ABN, public liability and professional indemnity insurance, and a signed service agreement with each client. Depending on who engages you, add a National Police Check, infection control training, and proof of your driver's licence and vehicle insurance. Almost all of these expire, and on different clocks. That is what this post is really about.

What is the NDIS Worker Screening Check, and who issues it?

The NDIS Worker Screening Check is a national assessment of whether you are cleared or excluded from working in certain roles with people with disability. The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission oversees it, but you apply to the worker screening unit in your state or territory, and the result goes into a national database that providers check against your worker screening number.

Three things matter for a sole trader:

• It is valid for up to five years from the date of issue, unless it is cancelled or revoked.
• It is portable. The Commission says you do not need to reapply if you move interstate or your business structure changes, say from sole trader to a company. You only reapply when it expires or is cancelled.
• The application asks who is engaging you. Line up the provider or self-managed participant first; the form wants their details on a first application and on renewal.

The law requires it for risk-assessed roles with registered providers. In practice, unregistered providers, plan managers and self-managed participants can all insist on it, and most do. If it lapses, you cannot be engaged in a role that requires it until a new clearance is issued.

Do I need a Working With Children Check as well?

Only if you do child-related work as your state defines it, which for a support worker usually means supporting participants under 18. It is separate from the NDIS check, state-issued, and not portable across borders.

• In NSW, the Office of the Children's Guardian issues the clearance. It lasts five years and is continuously monitored, even if you change jobs.
• In Victoria, a Working with Children Clearance is valid for five years unless it is suspended, cancelled or surrendered.

Other states and territories set their own periods and fees, so check with the issuer. Child-related work without a current clearance is an offence everywhere.

When is a National Police Check asked for on top?

The NDIS check already includes a criminal history assessment, so the NDIS itself does not require a separate police check. You will still be asked for one by some Support at Home and other aged care providers and by some plan managers and insurers.

It is a point-in-time document. The Australian Federal Police says a certificate is valid from the date of your application but will not record any court outcomes after that date, and that it is up to the organisation asking how long they will accept it. Three years is a common cut-off.

What first aid and CPR do I need, and how often?

No single NDIS rule requires every worker to hold first aid, but a provider, an insurer or a service agreement very often does. The training is the nationally recognised first aid unit, which includes CPR, delivered by a registered training organisation. Ask the trainer for the current unit codes and keep both statements of attainment.

On renewal, the most quoted guidance is Safe Work Australia's model code of practice: refresher training in CPR should be carried out annually and first aid qualifications renewed every three years. That is workplace guidance rather than an NDIS rule, but it is what providers and insurers copy, so treat it as the practical standard. Once either is past its date, expect a provider to stop booking you until you refresh.

What is the Worker Orientation Module, and does it expire?

"Quality, safety and you" is the Commission's free online orientation module. It explains your obligations under the NDIS Code of Conduct from a participant's point of view and ends with a certificate of completion to share with whoever engages you. It is mandatory for workers of registered providers and one of the first documents a plan manager asks a new worker for.

The Commission does not put an expiry date on the certificate; some providers ask for it to be redone on a schedule of their own, so ask when you join one. The Commission publishes infection control modules on the same portal; where a client or provider asks for that training, the certificate goes in the same folder.

What does the NDIS Code of Conduct actually ask of me?

The NDIS Code of Conduct applies to registered providers, unregistered providers and the workers of both, so as a sole trader it applies to you twice over. It asks you to act with respect for individual rights, respect privacy, provide supports safely and competently, act with integrity, honesty and transparency, raise and act on concerns about quality and safety, prevent and respond to violence, exploitation, neglect and abuse, and prevent sexual misconduct.

There is no certificate for the Code itself. What providers and plan managers usually want is a signed acknowledgement that you have read it. Sign one, date it, and keep it. If you are still deciding whether to register, registered versus unregistered walks through what changes.

Driving, insurance, ABN and agreements

Driver's licence and vehicle insurance. If you transport participants, expect to show a current licence and a certificate of currency for your car insurance, and check with your insurer that the policy covers business use.

Public liability and professional indemnity. Ask a broker for a policy that names disability support work, personal care and transporting clients, and get a certificate of currency you can hand to a plan manager. It renews yearly, and an expired certificate is one of the quickest ways to have a booking refused. Cover amounts are a question for the broker.

ABN and GST. An ABN is free from the Australian Business Register and does not expire. GST registration becomes compulsory once your GST turnover reaches the ATO's threshold, currently 75,000 dollars a year; many NDIS supports are GST-free, but turnover still counts, so talk to your accountant. Both go on your invoices, which what an NDIS invoice must include covers.

A signed service agreement per client. This one expires with the plan rather than on a calendar. It should say what you provide, at what rate, how travel and cancellations work, and how either side ends it. Get it signed before the first visit and again when the plan rolls over. In HarvestFlow Care an agreement can be sent to the client to sign on their phone, without a login, and the signed PDF keeps the terms exactly as they were that day.

The full list at a glance

Document	Issued by	Typical validity	What to keep on file
NDIS Worker Screening Check	Your state or territory worker screening unit; recorded nationally	Up to 5 years from issue	Screening number, clearance letter, expiry date
Working With Children Check	State or territory issuer (NSW: Office of the Children's Guardian; VIC: Working with Children Check Victoria)	5 years in NSW and VIC; other states vary	Card or digital clearance, number, expiry
National Police Check	AFP or an accredited body	No official expiry; commonly accepted up to 3 years	The certificate and its issue date
First aid	A registered training organisation	Commonly renewed every 3 years	Statement of attainment
CPR	A registered training organisation	Commonly refreshed every year	Statement of attainment
Worker Orientation Module	NDIS Commission learning portal	No expiry set by the Commission; a provider may ask for a redo	Certificate of completion
Infection control training	NDIS Commission modules or a provider's own	As the provider or client specifies	Certificate
Code of Conduct acknowledgement	You sign it	Per provider or engagement	Signed, dated copy
Driver's licence and vehicle insurance	State licensing body; your insurer	Licence per state; insurance yearly	Licence copy, certificate of currency
Public liability and professional indemnity	Your insurer or broker	Yearly	Certificate of currency, cover summary
ABN and GST registration	Australian Business Register; ATO	No expiry; GST from the turnover threshold	ABN, GST registration date
Service agreement	You and the client	The life of the plan	The signed copy

Why are most lapses calendar problems, not compliance problems?

Look at the validity column. Twelve documents, and between them a one-year clock, a three-year clock, a five-year clock, a plan-length clock and a couple with no clock at all. Nobody loses work because they are unfit to do it. They lose it because CPR quietly turned thirteen months old, an insurance renewal went to an old email address, or a screening check that felt permanent was issued four years and eleven months ago.

Every issuer lets you renew ahead, often months ahead. The problem is never the renewal; it is knowing the date early enough to book a course or chase a broker. If you are still setting up, how to become an independent support worker puts these documents in the order you actually need them.

How HarvestFlow Care tracks credentials

In HarvestFlow Care every worker has a credential record for each document category the workspace requires, and a sole trader is a workforce of one, so that includes you. The category decides whether an expiry date is asked for: an insurance certificate is, a signed acknowledgement is not. Each credential is then missing, pending, verified and valid, expiring, or expired.

The part that fixes the calendar problem is the nightly check. It looks at every verified credential with an expiry date and, 30 days before that date, raises an alert in the app to the workspace admin, with the option of also notifying the person responsible. It is on by default, on every plan, and you can switch it off or widen who receives it. A worker with their own sign-in sees their own certificates and expiry dates without seeing anyone else's.

One deliberate choice: a missing or expiring document never blocks a booking. The coordinator is told, the visit goes ahead, and the fix is a piece of work to finish rather than a wall. To see it running, the quick start guide sets up a workspace in an afternoon.

General information, not legal or financial advice. Requirements differ by state and by the participants you support.