By Luke Benson. Last reviewed 13 September 2026, against Support at Home program manual V4.4 (section 3.5) and the Department's screening requirements page.
The same screening as your own staff, and it is your responsibility, not the subcontractor’s. Section 152 of the Aged Care Act 2024 requires a registered provider to comply with the worker screening requirements in the Rules and to ensure its aged care workers and responsible persons comply too. Section 3.5 of the program manual sets out what that means today.
Every aged care worker must hold one of:
- A police certificate that is not older than three years and does not record certain convictions or offences.
- An NDIS worker screening check, for workers who also work, or have worked, in the NDIS sector.
Section 11.5 of the manual applies this to third-party workers directly. The provider must ensure the worker meets worker obligations under the Act, including screening, and can refuse to engage a worker where those obligations cannot be met. The manual’s own case study describes the provider conducting “a thorough screening” before a participant’s chosen physiotherapist starts.
What is changing. The Department is working with the states and territories to extend NDIS-style screening to aged care. Its published position is that a new aged care worker screening check will be recognised in the NDIS and vice versa, that final arrangements depend on agreement with the states and territories, and that it will not commence before mid-2026. As at this review there is no start date. You may have read about a national aged care worker registration scheme with penalties for engaging unregistered workers. That was a design consultation, not a scheme in force.
The evidence question sits behind the screening question. Screening shows that a named person was cleared. It does not show that the cleared person is the one who turned up. For a subcontracted workforce, you need both: the clearance on file and a delivery record that identifies the worker at the visit.
How DidYouGo fits. A worker registers once with their phone number, and every check-in is tied to that identity. The delivery record names the worker, so the clearance on file and the person at the door can be matched.
