Insurance, Police Checks and Vetting: What to Ask Before You Book

A police check is one element of a much larger picture, and on its own it tells you less than most people expect.

What Is a Police Check in Australia?

A police check, also known as a National Criminal History Check or National Police Certificate, is administered through the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and produces a report of a person’s disclosable court outcomes for offences in Australia. A police check does not confirm whether an individual is qualified or licensed to work, nor does it verify an individual’s identity or whether they hold the appropriate insurance. A police check confirms one thing, and one thing only: does the individual have a criminal history?

Some regulated work, such as supporting NDIS participants or aged-care residents, carries its own worker screening. For everyday household services such as lawn mowing, house cleaning or removals, whether a provider must hold a police check usually comes down to the platform or business you book through.

There are platforms and agencies that stipulate that their service providers must hold police checks. In general, the better operators do require them. Urgent Pro requires a current police check for providers doing handyman work, in-home cleaning, and any job with unsupervised access to the property. Those jobs warrant the most scrutiny because the provider goes into your home, sometimes when you are not there.

The Five Checks That Cover More Ground

A police check only reveals a service provider’s criminal history. It does not check whether the provider is insured, whether they have an active ABN and GST registration, or whether the person who turns up is the same person whose application was assessed. The questions that actually reduce booking risk are broader.

The better platforms make their standards public. Across all Urgent Pro services, including cleaning, removalists, rubbish removal, lawn mowing, and handyman services, the following five checks are mandatory before a provider is activated on the platform:

Providers doing handyman work, in-home cleaning or any job with unsupervised property access also complete a current police check before activation. After that, insurance currency is tracked annually. A lapsed Certificate of Currency means the provider is automatically suspended from receiving new bookings.

Where You Source Your Provider Matters as Much as Who You Choose

Three main ways exist for Australian homeowners to source home service providers: free classifieds, personal referrals, and verified booking platforms. Each carries a different level of risk, and the difference goes beyond personal preference.

With free classifieds, there is no identity verification. Anyone can post a cash-upfront listing and leave before the job is done. Reviews cannot always be relied upon and are easily manipulated. With no confirmed insurance, no oversight, and no paper trail, an unsupervised job inside your home carries real risk.

Personal referrals feel safer because the recommendation comes through someone you trust. But a policy that was current at the time a job was performed may have since lapsed, and ABNs can be deregistered. A provider your friend used may no longer be operating to the same standard. A referral is a good starting point for due diligence, but should not replace it.

Verified booking platforms have processes in place to ensure providers hold current ABNs and insurance before taking a booking. Payment is collected and held digitally. If things go wrong, there is a documented process and a single point of contact. The trade-off is that a platform’s verification is only as strong as its requirements, which is what makes the five checks above important when choosing which platform to use.

What Your Booking Confirmation Shows You

Every Urgent Pro booking confirmation provides the name and ABN of the provider assigned to the job. This is not marketing copy. It is the legal and tax identity of the business contracted to do the work.

You can verify any ABN yourself in under two minutes at the Australian Business Register’s ABN Lookup tool at abr.business.gov.au. This returns the business name registered to the ABN, the entity type, GST registration status, and current ABN status. A current, active ABN with GST registration is the bare minimum threshold for any professional home services engagement.

If you are booking directly with a provider, or through a platform that does not provide the ABN automatically, ask for it before confirming the booking. Any legitimate provider or business can produce their ABN on request.

What $10 Million Public Liability Insurance Actually Covers

Public liability insurance covers property damage or personal injury caused by the negligent actions of a service provider. A cleaner breaking a lamp, a removalist damaging a door frame, or a handyman drilling into a water pipe are all situations where a public liability claim would apply.

Public liability does not cover damage to goods being transported (that is goods-in-transit insurance, which removalists and rubbish removal providers carry separately). It does not cover damage caused by pre-existing conditions of items being moved, or damage to goods in transit caused by the customer leaving fragile items unsecured. It covers third-party property damage, not everything that could go wrong during a job.

The $10 million figure is the limit per occurrence. This is the minimum cover Urgent Pro requires of every provider. A provider working inside your home without current public liability insurance, or with a policy below this limit, is a meaningful risk.

You have the right to ask any provider for a copy of their Certificate of Currency before work starts. A professional operator will produce it without hesitation. For a full picture of your recourse when a home service fails, Australian Consumer Law provides a separate layer of statutory protection on top of the provider’s insurance.

Six Questions to Ask Before Any Booking

The following questions are useful regardless of how or where you make your booking, whether through a platform, an agent, or a provider directly:

1. Does the provider have a current, active ABN?
2. What public liability insurance do they hold? Is their Certificate of Currency current?
3. What, if anything, does the platform or agency verify before listing a provider?
4. What is the re-attendance or complaint process for work not completed to the required standard?
5. How do reviews work? Are they tied to confirmed, completed bookings?
6. What is the cancellation policy, and how much notice is required from each side?

These questions help identify any issues before work starts. A provider who cannot clearly explain what happens next has no process in place. A platform that cannot articulate its provider standards is unlikely to have ones worth knowing about. These questions apply whether you use a platform, a referral, or go direct. A provider who answers all six without hesitation is operating professionally.

On the Day: What to Confirm Before Work Starts

Even with a verified booking, a few quick checks when the provider arrives can prevent the most common causes of end-of-job disagreement.

Confirm who you are dealing with. The person at the door should match the name in your booking confirmation. Any discrepancy warrants a call to the platform before granting access.

Walk through the scope before work begins. A quick conversation at the start can save hours of disagreement later. Confirm what work will be done, which areas are included, and what is excluded. For a cleaning job, check what is and is not in scope, since exactly what’s included in a standard house clean varies from booking to booking. For a handyman job, confirm the materials being used and the expected finish standard.

Take photos before work begins to document the condition of the property. This is not a reflection on the provider’s character. It is good practice that protects both parties if anything is questioned after the job is done.

Clear the work areas and secure pets. A dog or cat following the provider through rooms extends the job and puts the animal in an unfamiliar situation. Securing pets and clearing the area allows the provider to work more efficiently.

Keep all scope changes, variations, and extension requests in writing. Any additions or changes to the job mid-way should be communicated and recorded on the platform’s messaging channel. Verbal changes during a job are harder for either party to account for later.

Inspect the completed work before you sign off. Walk through the finished work with the provider. For a clean, check each room. For a repair, test the installation before the provider packs up. On an Urgent Pro booking, any balance is due at Service Completion, before you sign off. Do not confirm completion until you are satisfied.

Watch for off-platform payment requests. If a provider asks for off-platform payment for extra work not in the original quote, ask for it to be processed through the platform instead. Off-platform payments for variations have no dispute trail.

If You Are Booking Directly With a Provider

If you are booking directly with a provider, the verification above falls to you. Ask for their ABN and check it. Ask for their Certificate of Currency for public liability insurance and verify the limit and expiry date. Ask whether they hold a police check if the work involves unsupervised access to your home. A professional operator who does this work full-time will have all of this ready. Someone who hesitates or cannot produce these documents is not set up for this work to a professional standard.

One practical marker: a sole trader with a current ABN is running a registered business and can provide a tax invoice showing their ABN. If someone asks for cash-in-hand work with no ABN and no receipt, that is the flag, not the absence of a police check certificate.

Booking Through Urgent Pro

Booking through Urgent Pro means all the checks above are completed at onboarding. You do not have to chase them. Every booking confirmation includes the provider’s name and ABN. As the single point of contact for complaints and re-attendance requests, Urgent Pro handles payment as the authorised agent on the provider’s behalf. This means you deal with Urgent Pro throughout, rather than tracking down an individual provider to resolve an issue.

For more information, see how provider verification and booking works. For information on the business model and provider standards, see how Urgent Pro vets its providers.