Sex offender register: how to check staff
Sex offender register: how to check an employee, trainee or contractor at a physiotherapy practice, step by step.
You are hiring a second therapist or a receptionist, or taking on a trainee. Children are also in your schedule. Before anyone starts work, a question arises: must you check this person in the register of sex offenders, and how do you do it so that you can prove it later?
This article walks through the procedure, which is based on the Act on Counteracting Threats of Sexual Crime and the Protection of Minors. You will learn when the check is mandatory, how the registers differ, how to set up an account and submit a query, and what to do with the printout. We described Child Safeguarding Standards (Standardy Ochrony Małoletnich, SOM) as a whole separately, in the article on child safeguarding standards at a practice. Here we go deeper into one thread: verifying a person before they start work.
Key takeaways
- You run the check before entering into an employment relationship or before allowing a person into any other activity related to treating minors (Article 21(1) of the Act).
- The employer or other organiser obtains information from the Restricted-Access Register, and also from the register of persons entered by the State Commission (Article 21(2)).
- The public register is not enough, because it covers only some of the entries (Article 6(2)).
- The result, as a printout, goes into the personnel file or the records of the person allowed into the activity (Article 21(9)).
- The candidate presents information from the National Criminal Register (Krajowy Rejestr Karny, KRK) themselves, and a foreign national presents additional documents or declarations (Article 21(3)-(8)).
When you must check a candidate or employee
Article 21(1) of the Act places obligations on an employer or other organiser of activity "related to upbringing, education, recreation, treatment, providing psychological advice, spiritual development, practising sport or pursuing other interests by minors, or to caring for them." Physiotherapy falls within the word "treatment". The obligation arises before entering into an employment relationship or before allowing a person into such activity.
Two remarks worth writing into your own procedure:
- The provision speaks of activity related to the treatment of minors. If your practice sees only adults, the provision as worded may not apply to you, but you set that boundary yourself. If in doubt, ask a lawyer, because we do not settle that boundary here.
- Article 21(10) exempts from the check a member of a minor's family and a person personally known to the parent or guardian, when that person looks after their child and the parent is the one allowing it. An ordinary member of a practice's staff does not fall under this exception.
For allowing a person to work without obtaining information from the register, the Act provides a penalty of detention, restriction of liberty or a fine of no less than PLN 1,000 (Article 23(2)). For allowing a person you know is listed in the Register, the penalty is the same (Article 23a). The court also orders a monetary payment of up to PLN 10,000 (Article 24a(2)).
Two registers: public and restricted-access
The Register of Sex Offenders consists of three separate databases (Article 4(1)). It is kept by the Minister of Justice.
| Database | Who has access | What is in it |
|---|---|---|
| Restricted-Access Register | Authorised entities after setting up an account, including employers and other organisers (Article 12(6) and (7)) | Persons finally convicted of offences under Article 2 of the Act and several other groups (Article 6(1)) |
| Public register | Anyone, without restriction, on the Ministry of Justice's BIP (Public Information Bulletin) website (Article 16) | Some of the persons from the first database, specified in Article 6(2) |
| Register of persons entered by decision of the State Commission | Anyone, without restriction (Article 16) | Persons in respect of whom the State Commission issued a decision on entry (Article 6(3)) |
For you the conclusion is simple: merely checking a name in the public database does not meet the obligation in Article 21(2), because that database contains only selected cases. The employer is to obtain information from the Restricted-Access Register and from the register of persons entered by the State Commission.
How to check the register: access and query step by step
The procedure is described in the Minister of Justice regulation on the manner, method and scope of obtaining and providing information from the Restricted-Access Register. The system is available at rps.ms.gov.pl, and in the help section you will find manuals for the individual and institutional user and the terms of use of the system. Obtaining data is free of charge (Article 15 of the Act).
- Choose an account type. Information can be obtained through an individual user account or an institutional one (§ 2(2) of the regulation). For an entity that is not a natural person, for example a company running a practice, the regulation provides an institutional account (§ 4). A natural person entitled to the information, for example a physiotherapist running a practice as an employer, uses the institutional account of an entitled person (§ 5). Check which variant applies to you in the manual on the system's website.
- Set up the account. For an individual account you give your first name, surname, PESEL number (if assigned), email address, identifier and password, accept the terms and activate the account with a link from an email (§ 3). An institutional account additionally requires a notification signed by the person authorised to represent the entity and sent to the information office, which activates the account (§ 4-5). The regulation gives no activation time in days, so do not plan a hire at the last minute.
- Fill in the query to the system. You give the PESEL number of the person being checked and the task in connection with which you are asking. You may add the first name, surname, maiden name, parents' names and date of birth (§ 14). If the person has no PESEL, you give these personal details.
- Sign the query with an electronic signature. The regulation provides for a qualified electronic signature, a personal signature (e-ID card) or a trusted signature (podpis zaufany) (§ 1(9) and § 12).
- Read the response. The employer receives one of three responses: "LISTED" together with the data from the query, information that the Register contains no information on persons meeting the conditions in the query, or a message that proceedings are under way to establish the correct data (§ 17-19).
- Print it. The system makes the response available in a form that can be printed, bearing the address of the system, the date and a unique identifier (§ 20).
Keep the purpose in mind: you may use information from the Register only for the purposes for which you asked for it, in particular the protection of minors (Article 13(1)). Obtaining information about a person without authorisation is an offence (Article 24).
What else the candidate must provide
The Register is one part of the procedure. The other is documents from the person themselves (Article 21(3)-(8)):
| Who | What they present |
|---|---|
| Every candidate | Information from the National Criminal Register (KRK) covering offences from Chapters XIX and XXV of the Criminal Code, from Articles 189a and 207 of the Criminal Code and from the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction |
| A citizen of another country | Additionally, information from the criminal register of the country of citizenship, obtained for the purposes of working with children |
| A person who lived abroad in the last 20 years | A declaration of the countries of residence and information from the criminal registers of those countries |
| A person from a country that does not issue such information | A declaration of that fact together with a declaration of no criminal record and no professional ban |
Declarations are made with a clause on criminal liability for a false declaration (Article 21(8)). You record the printout from the Register and attach it to the personnel file or to the records of the person allowed into the activity, and you attach there also the information and declarations from paragraphs 3-7 (Article 21(9)).
What to do with the result and how to document it
Data on convictions is particularly sensitive information. Article 10 of the GDPR allows processing data on criminal convictions only under the control of official authority or when national law permits it with appropriate safeguards. Here the Act permits it, but only to the extent that it specifies. In practice:
- keep the printout with the person's file, in a restricted-access folder, not in a general binder at reception,
- do not copy the result into other documents and do not pass it to people who do not handle HR matters,
- write down the date of the check and the date work started, so that it is visible the check came first,
- authorise in writing the people who have access to the files (we describe authorisation templates in the article on authorisations to process staff data).
In this article we did not check retention periods for personnel files or the Labour Code provisions on the scope of candidate data.
Whom to check: employees, contractors, trainees, volunteers
Article 21(1) covers both people with whom you enter an employment relationship and those you allow "into other activity" related to the treatment of minors. So the same rigour applies to:
- employees on an employment contract,
- physiotherapists on a B2B contract or a contract of mandate (umowa zlecenie) working in your practice,
- reception and other people you allow into the practice's activity involving minor patients (this too is our reading of the text of the provision, not a court ruling),
- trainees and interns, as long as they work with patients; this is our reading of the provision, not a ruling, so for placements with a university agree the procedure in writing (student placements at a practice),
- volunteers.
Add new people to your checklist when you hire. A ready list of starting documents is in the article on documents when hiring at a practice, and we cover forms of cooperation with a therapist in the guide to hiring a physiotherapist and qualifications.
Who checks that you did it
The obligation in Article 21(2) can be inspected by the National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy, Article 22y), the President of NFZ within their remit (Article 22z) and local government bodies such as the wójt, mayor, starosta or marshal (Article 22x). In an inspection, the printouts from the Register are the first thing they may ask for. A missing printout, even if you really did the check, makes it harder to prove it.
Common mistakes
- Checking after work has started. The provision requires the check before entering into an employment relationship or allowing the person into the activity.
- Checking only the public register. It does not cover all entries.
- No printout in the file. Without it, it is hard to show that the check took place.
- Skipping people on contracts and trainees. The provision is not limited to employment contracts.
- No KRK information from the candidate. This is the person's obligation, but you check that the document is in the file.
- Using the result for other purposes. Article 13 limits the use of the information.
Frequently asked questions
Is checking the sex offender register mandatory for every practice?
The obligation in Article 21 applies to employers and organisers of activity related to the treatment of minors. If you see children, treat it as an obligation. If your practice serves only adults, the provision as worded may not cover you, but it is worth confirming that boundary with a lawyer.
Is the public search on the ministry's website enough?
No. The public register contains only selected cases specified in Article 6(2). You obtain information from the Restricted-Access Register through an account in the system and a query signed electronically.
Do I need to check myself if I run a one-person practice?
Article 21 concerns the relationship between an employer or organiser and a person they employ or allow into the activity. Anyone can, however, check whether their own data is in the Register (Article 12(8)). It is good practice to keep such a printout with your SOM documentation, but the provision does not expressly require it.
What should I do if the response says "LISTED"?
Do not allow that person to work or into activity related to the treatment of minors. Allowing a person you know is in the Register is punishable (Article 23a). We do not describe further HR steps, for example towards an ongoing employment relationship, in this article; consult a lawyer on those.
How long is a printout from the register valid?
The regulation requires the response to be printable with a date and identifier (§ 20), but does not set its "validity". The obligation concerns the check before work starts. Whether and when to repeat the check is not addressed by the Act in Article 21, so we give no frequency here.
Legal status as of: 2 November 2026
Legal basis: Act of 13 May 2016 on Counteracting Threats of Sexual Crime and the Protection of Minors (consolidated text Journal of Laws 2026 item 110, as amended by Journal of Laws 2026 items 187 and 421, which do not change Article 21), Articles 4, 6, 12-16, 21, 22x-22z, 23, 23a, 24 and 24a; Minister of Justice regulation of 31 July 2017 on the manner, method and scope of obtaining and providing information from the Restricted-Access Register (consolidated text Journal of Laws 2024 item 1516), § 1-5, 12-14 and 17-20; Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (GDPR), Article 10. We did not check: the Labour Code, retention periods for personnel files, rules for obtaining information from the National Criminal Register (fees, procedure), details of operating the rps.ms.gov.pl system, case law, or how the term "treatment of minors" is interpreted for practices that see only adults.
Last reviewed: 2 November 2026
GDPR documentation for a practice is organised by the PREMIUM package: a privacy notice, a privacy policy, a record of processing activities, a processing agreement, authorisations and a breach procedure. The packages do not contain SOM documents or a ready-made register of candidate checks. See the PREMIUM package or compare packages.
Related articles:
- Child Safeguarding Standards at a physiotherapy practice
- Safeguarding standards for children: short version
- Training staff in child safeguarding standards
- Documents when hiring at a physiotherapy practice