Policy 8.6 : Police Clearances for Employees and Volunteers

Community Enterprise Inc. is a non-profit organisation established for the purpose of supporting people with disabilities and their families living in the Shire of Hidden Valley.

The services offered by Community Enterprise include group home accommodation, in-home respite, out-of-home respite, home help and community access.

Community Enterprise is a non-profit, community organisation which is governed by a management committee elected annually by the members. Community Enterprise receives all of its operating funds from the Western Australian Government in the form of an annual grant.

The purpose of this policy is to safeguard the agency and its clients against recruiting employees or volunteers who have been convicted of criminal offences that would raise reasonable doubts about their suitability to provide care and support to people with disabilities. The policy recognises the agency's legal and moral duty of care obligations to its clients under Standard 8 of the Disability Services Standards (1993).

This policy applies to all of the agency's programs and activities.

The following procedures are to be implemented to ensure that employees and volunteers have appropriate clearances prior to undertaking any duties for the agency.

The agency will:

1. Inform all prospective applicants for paid or voluntary positions with the agency that they will be required to provide a satisfactory police clearance.
2. Require short-listed applicants (employees or volunteers) to provide documentary proof of identity, such as a passport or driver's licence, when attending the selection interview.
3. Require applicants to complete and sign a standard "Authority to Release Record of Convictions" form at the interview, including any former names or aliases they have lived under in the past ten years, and witness the signature.
4. Return the signed and witnessed form to the applicant and require that they submit it to the Police Department, at their own expense, if they become the recommended candidate.  This expense will be re-imbursed by the agency only if the recommended candidate is subsequently appointed as an employee or volunteer.
5. If the recommended applicant has resided in other police jurisdictions (i.e., other States of Australia or overseas), require the recommended applicant to supply similar police clearances from the relevant jurisdiction(s). These costs will also be re-imbursed if the recommended applicant is subsequently appointed.
6. If the recommended applicant has any recorded criminal convictions, refer the matter to the Management Committee for a determination as to whether the specified conviction would be likely to place the clients of the agency at any risk or breach the agency's duty of care obligations.
7. Base its determination on whether the conviction has been for an offence which directly relates to the duties, whether the position being sought would offer unsupervised opportunities for a similar offence to take place, whether the offence has occurred recently, whether there are single or multiple convictions and whether the conviction(s) reflect generally on the suitability of the person to become an employee or volunteer with the agency.

The following performance standards must be met to ensure that the procedures specified in Section 4 are implemented effectively:

1. All prospective employees and volunteers have been informed in writing of the requirement of successful candidates to provide a satisfactory police clearance.
2. Applicants have provided proof of identity at the interview and the nature of those documents are recorded in the interview notes.
3. The recommended applicant has submitted the "Authority to Release Record of Convictions" to the relevant authorities in all jurisdictions in which they have resided over the past ten years and copies have been stored on the personal file.
4. In the event of any criminal convictions having been recorded against the person, the Management Committee has made a formal determination about the person's suitability as an employee or volunteer and a copy of the determination has been stored on the personal file.