What are Disclosable Court Outcomes (DCOs)?

When you apply for a national police check, your result will show one of two outcomes:

What appears in Disclosable Court Outcomes? #

Your police check may include:

• Convictions — court findings where you were found guilty and convicted
• Findings of guilt without conviction — where the court found you guilty but did not record a conviction (e.g. Section 19B Commonwealth, Section 10 NSW)
• Pending charges — matters currently before the courts
• Traffic convictions — driving offences convicted in court (not infringement notices)
• Sexual offences — all sexual offence convictions
• Serious assault offences — violent offence convictions
• Other serious matters — offences not covered by spent conviction schemes

What is not included in your police check? #

The following will not appear on your check:

• Spent convictions — convictions that meet spent conviction criteria (see below)
• Infringement notices — traffic fines and parking tickets paid without court
• Overseas convictions — offences outside Australia
• Diversion programs — successfully completed diversion agreements
• Dismissed or withdrawn charges — matters that did not proceed to conviction
• Professional sanctions — disciplinary actions by professional bodies or unions

Understanding spent convictions #

Australia has spent conviction schemes that allow certain convictions to be removed from your record after a waiting period.

Automatic spent convictions #

Convictions may become spent automatically if:

• 10 years have passed since conviction (for adults)
• 5 years have passed since conviction (for juvenile offenders — 3 years in NSW)
• No further offences were committed during the waiting period
• Waiting-period commencement varies by jurisdiction — in some states it starts from the date of conviction, in others after any imprisonment term is completed

Convictions that can never be spent #

Some serious offences remain on your record permanently:

• Sexual offences (in most jurisdictions — Victoria allows court applications to spend serious convictions, including sexual offences)
• Convictions with prison sentences over 30 months (Commonwealth/VIC) or 6 months (NSW) — thresholds vary by state
• Convictions of corporate bodies
• Certain regulatory offences specified by legislation

Court application required #

For serious convictions (violence, sexual offences, longer sentences), you may need to apply to a Magistrates’ Court for a spent conviction order. This requires:

• meeting the waiting period
• demonstrating rehabilitation
• court approval

Understanding “without conviction” findings #

If your check shows “Without conviction discharged” (e.g. Section 19B Crimes Act 1914), this means:

• the court found you guilty of an offence
• no conviction was recorded
• you were likely placed on a good behaviour bond or recognisance
• this finding still appears on your police check, even though it’s not technically a “conviction”

These findings are different from spent convictions and may require legal advice to address.

No Disclosable Court Outcomes (NDCO) #

A result showing “No Disclosable Court Outcomes” means:

• you have no convictions or pending charges, or
• any convictions you had are now spent and not disclosable

This is a clear police check result.

Where does this information come from? #

A national police check searches:

• all Australian state and territory police databases
• Australian Federal Police records
• court records from Magistrates’, Children’s, County and Supreme Courts
• all jurisdictions where you have lived in Australia

This is a nationwide check — convictions from other states will appear.

What are police checks used for? #

Police checks are commonly required for:

• Employment screening — financial roles, healthcare, childcare, aged care
• NDIS worker screening — disability support workers
• Working with children — teachers, coaches, childcare workers
• Working with vulnerable people — aged care, disability support
• Licensing — firearms, security, real estate, rideshare drivers
• Visa and citizenship applications
• Volunteer positions — community organisations, sports clubs

Do police checks expire? #

A police check is a “point in time” check and shows your criminal history at the time it was issued.

Validity #

• police checks don’t technically “expire”
• most organisations accept checks less than 3 months old
• some industries (NDIS, childcare) may have specific timeframes
• your check remains available in your CheckHub portal for 3 months

When to get a new check #

• when applying for a new job or role
• if your previous check is older than 3 months
• if you’ve been convicted of a new offence
• when required by your employer or industry

Who can apply? #

Anyone over 18 can apply for a police check. Getting your own check helps you:

• understand what’s on your record
• be prepared for employment applications
• identify any errors that need disputing
• apply for spent convictions if eligible

Processing time #

Standard processing #

• 80% of Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Checks are completed within 1–3 minutes
• delivered to your personal CheckHub portal, with instant email and SMS notification

Delayed checks (manual vetting) #

• around 20% of applications require manual vetting via state police services, coordinated by ACIC
• usually due to name matches or multiple records
• can take several business days, and occasionally longer

Can I choose not to share my result? #

If your check contains a Disclosable Court Outcome, Worker Checks will not share your result without your explicit consent.

Our consent process:

1. we notify you by email and SMS when your result is ready
2. you can view your result privately in your CheckHub portal
3. you can then choose to:
   • approve release to the organisation that requested it
   • not approve release and keep the result private
   • dispute the result if you believe it contains errors