We have received the following letter notifying that MSIC card applicants may currently be experiencing delays in receiving their Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check, commonly known as a police check.
Members are advised to start the process for MSIC renewal as early as possible before the expiry date.
Official Notification of Check Processing Timeframes
To Whom It May Concern,
This letter is to inform you that applicants may currently be experiencing delays in receiving their Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check, commonly known as a police check. The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission is responsible for facilitating the National Police Checking Service (NPCS or Service) in partnership with State and Territory police by managing the system that organisations use to submit police checks.
In response to Australia’s COIVD-19 recovery, the NPCS is currently experiencing an unprecedented demand for police checks. Police are working to capacity to process checks but delays are being experienced. Checks normally take up to 10 business days to complete. Currently, applicants are experiencing delays upwards of 1-month to complete.
A delayed police check is in no way an indicator that an applicant has any criminal history to be disclosed. The ACIC strongly urges employers not to discriminate against applicants who are experiencing delays in receiving their check.
The following page explains how police checks are processed and provides information about the manual nature of the Service which is a contributing factor to the delays.
Applicants wishing to follow-up on their specific check must contact the Accredited Body who submitted the check. Processing may take some time due to the reasons listed on the next page. Please note that all Accredited Bodies have equal access to the system and one organisation cannot provide faster results than another organisation, submitting multiple checks will not facilitate a faster outcome. A list of ACIC Accredited providers can be found at: https://www.acic.gov.au/services/national-police-checking-service/find-out-more-information/accredited-bodies
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