Serious Criminal Convictions

The Scheme has a special assessment process for people with serious criminal convictions. A person has a serious criminal conviction if they have been sentenced to imprisonment for 5 years or more for an offence against a law of the Commonwealth, a State, a Territory or a foreign country.

In your application for redress, you will need to let us know if you have received a single sentence to imprisonment for five years or more.

To start the special assessment process, you will be asked to complete the Serious Criminal Convictions Additional Information Form. Make a copy for your own records and return it to us. If you are unable to return this form within 8 weeks, the Scheme will put your Application for redress on hold until we hear from you. You may submit your application for redress and the Serious Criminal Conviction Additional Information Form to the Scheme at the same time if you wish.

There are two parts to the Serious Criminal Convictions Additional Information Form:

Part A: may ask information you could have already provided the Scheme, we need it again so we can undertake a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check (NCCHC).

Part B: asks you to give information about the factors relating to your criminal conviction and any rehabilitation you would like us to consider.

The results from the NCCHC, along with what you write in Part B, will be included in the request for advice sent to the Specified Advisor in the jurisdiction where you experienced abuse and in the jurisdiction where your offence occurred.

The Scheme Operator will look at the advice provided by the relevant Specified Advisor and also take into account:

  • the nature of your offence and the length of imprisonment it carried, and
  • the period of time since you committed the offence, and
  • your rehabilitation, and
  • any other relevant information.

The Scheme Operator will use this information to decide whether the Scheme providing you redress would be in line with community expectations.

If the Scheme Operator makes a determination that you are able to access redress, your application will continue to be assessed as normal.

If the Scheme Operator makes a determination that you are not able to access redress, the Scheme will write to you and inform you of this outcome.

Identity requirements

If you have received a serious criminal conviction, we will undertake a Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check (NCCHC). There are certain identity requirements you must meet for the NCCHC process.

Please note, this does not affect the requirements of any other processes related to the Scheme.

There are two ways you can meet the identity requirements for the NCCHC process:

  1. You can verify your identity through Centrelink. Find out how to verify your identity with Centrelink. 
  2. If you are unable to verify your identity through Centrelink, you must provide three certified copies of identification documents, including:
  • one commencement of identity document,
  • one primary use in the community identity document, and
  • one secondary use in the community identity document.

Find out about the different types of identification documents.

If you are unable to meet the above identity requirements please contact the Scheme on 1800 737 377 Monday to Friday 8am-5pm, to discuss your special provision options.