Policies and Procedures Templates

Purpose of the Library

The Policy and Procedures Templates Library has been developed to support NSW Specialist Homelessness Services in:

The Manual was reviewed in 2023 in alignment with Version 9 of the ASES Evidence Guide and changes to NSW and Commonwealth legislation, alongside amendments to improve usability, consistency, and currency.  

This current version was updated in 2026 and made available as an online template library, making it easier for organisations to find, access, customise and maintain the policies most relevant to their services.

Library structure

The Policy and Procedures Templates Library contains 94 policy templates. The templates are organised into the following nine themes:

• 1: Governance and Board (10 documents) 
• 2: Planning and Strategy (7 documents) 
• 3: Financial and Contract Management (8 documents) 
• 4: Human Resources and Employment (16 documents) 
• 5: Workforce Development and Welling (12 documents) 
• 6: Work Health and Safety (15 documents) 
• 7: Client Services (12 documents) 
• 8: Information, Privacy and Communication (11 documents) 
• 9: Environmental and Facilities (3 documents). 

Navigating the library

To find a policy template, browse the themes below or use the right-hand sidebar. Each theme page contains the associated policy templates, available for download as individual Microsoft Word documents. A cross-reference table at the bottom of each page provides the original policy titles and numbers for users familiar with the previous Policy and Procedures Manual structure.

Template contents

Each policy template contains:  

• Introductory table outlining the policy title, relevant standards and requirements, relevant contractual obligations (i.e., the NSW DCJ Human Service Agreement, and related policies within the template library
• Scope of the policy
• Purpose of the policy
• Definitions (if required)  
• Procedures  
• Legislation  
• Suggested appendices  
• Further resources (relating to the topic)  
• Version control table (for the service to complete as appropriate).  

You will need to tailor the policies and procedures in this manual to suit your organisation in the following instances:  

• All wording in square brackets (e.g., ‘[example]’) refers to service names, position names and time frames that you will need to replace with the names, titles and other details that are applicable to your organisation. For example, a sentence such as ‘[Service Name] is committed to promoting equal employment opportunities and embracing diversity’ would become ‘The South West Youth Outreach Service is committed to promoting equal employment opportunities and embracing diversity’. Look for all generic wording within square brackets and replace it with wording that applies to your service.  

• The policies and procedures refer to the governing body as ‘the Board’. If your governing body has a different title (e.g., ‘the Management Committee’), you will need to replace references to ‘the Board’ with the appropriate title.  

• The policies and procedures use the term ‘clients’. If your organisation refers to end users differently—such as by using the term ‘young people’ or ‘service users’—you will need to make the necessary adjustment in all the policies and procedures.  

• The headers of the policies and procedures have been left blank so that you can insert your own logo or header graphics.  

• You can add or amend the procedures section to suit your organisation. When doing so you will need to exercise caution as excessive alterations could result in the procedure no longer being aligned with the ASES, QIC or Te Wana.  

• The policies and procedures are linked to the ASES, QIC and Te Wana standards. If you are required to, or wish to, comply with other service standards, you will need to check how closely these policies and procedures comply with the other service standards and make any necessary amendments.  

Forms, registers and other supporting documents are not part of the manual. You will need to add any such applicable documents; these can be listed under the title of ‘Appendices’ in each of the policies with templates and/or hyperlinks to the location of the documents inserted.  

Disclaimer: While much care has been taken in the preparation of this template library, the templates are living documents which require review and updating. The information within these template resources will need to be tailored to each organisation depending on the service types provided. These resources do not substitute for legal advice.  

Organisation of the templates

The policies were previously arranged in alphabetical order and numbered from 1 to 90. To make the policy library easier to navigate, they have now been reorganised into nine themed sections and renumbered accordingly.   

For example, former Policy 26 is now Policy 6.1 Critical Incident Management under the Work Health & Safety theme.

To assist users familiar with the previous structure, a reference table is included at the bottom of each themed page showing the original policy titles and numbers.

Alignment with QIC and AAA-NZ standards

Each policy now shows which standards it relates to in both QIC Health and Community Services Standards 8th Edition (QIC Standards), and the Te Wana (AAA-NZ Quality Standards for Community Based Services) Standards 3rd Edition, as well as the current ASES certificate level standards version 9.1. 

Legislative change

Major changes that impact on SHSs have been: 

• Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 (Cwlth)  
• Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cwlth)  
• Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Act 2022 (Cwlth) and  
• NSW Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025.  

Ten policies were substantially updated in response to these legislative changes (new policy number in brackets).  

• Board Recruitment (1.6) 
• Operational Planning (1.11) 
• Whistleblower (5.10) 
• Work Health and Safety (6.13) 
• Case Management (7.1) 
• Child Protection (7.4) 
• Notifiable Data Breaches (8.8) 
• Privacy, Confidentiality and Decision-Making (8.9) 
• Facilities Management (9.1) 
• Environmental Sustainability (9.2).  

New policies

Five new policy templates have been added in response to both changes in legislation or the operating context for services: 

• Modern Slavery—to ensure compliance with reporting obligations outlined in the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cwlth) as requested by the Anti-Slavery Commissioner in 2025 (1.10). 
• Prevention of Sexual Harassment—to support compliance with Positive Duty in line with the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Guidelines for Complying with Positive Duty (2023, Policy 6.10). 
• Client Participation and Co-Design—to reflect the centrality of client participation and co-design to the operations of specialist homelessness services (7.8). 
• Culturally Safe and Inclusive Practice—responds to the significant changes that have occurred in the sector across the last decade, with a clear expectation across services that culturally safe an inclusive practice be implemented in future decision making (7.11). 
• AI and Automated Decision-Making—responds to the increasing prevalence of Artificial Intelligence, this policy acts as a guide for responsible usage of AI agents in the workplace in a period of development (8.1).  

Deleted

• The Environmental Audits Policy has been integrated into 9.2 Environmental Sustainability to remove duplication.