How to Request a Welfare Check in New South Wales

If you can't reach a loved one in New South Wales and you're worried something is wrong, you can ask the police to carry out a welfare check (also called a wellbeing or wellness check). An officer visits the address to confirm the person is safe. Here's exactly how to request one, what to expect, and how to make sure it never comes to this.

How to request a welfare check in New South Wales

1. If it's a life-threatening emergency, call 000. If someone may be hurt, unconscious, or in immediate danger, that is an emergency, not a routine welfare check.
2. Otherwise, contact the local police station, or your state police assistance line. Search "[their city or area] police non-emergency number" to find it. Ask for a welfare check and explain why you're worried. Do not use 000 for a non-urgent check.
3. Give the call handler the details: the person's full name, address, age, a description, why you're concerned, when you last had contact, and any medical conditions or risks in the home.
4. Stay reachable. Officers may call you back after they visit.

Welfare checks in New South Wales are carried out by the NSW Police Force. For non-urgent help you can contact your local police station or the Police Assistance Line; call Triple Zero (000) only if the person may be in immediate danger.

In New South Wales, policing is provided by the the NSW Police Force. For a welfare check you want the team that covers the person's local area, which they can direct you to.

What happens during a welfare check

An officer goes to the address and tries to make contact. If the person answers and is fine, that's the end of it. If nobody answers but there are signs of distress, officers can force entry to help. They may also contact local hospitals or follow up with you afterwards. A welfare check is about safety, not getting anyone in trouble.

When it's about ongoing concern, not a one-off

If your worry is ongoing neglect, self-neglect, or the risk of harm to an older or vulnerable adult rather than a single can't-reach-them moment, adult safeguarding is often the better route. Contact the local council or health service that covers the person's area and ask about an adult safeguarding referral. A welfare check is for the urgent moment; safeguarding is for the longer-term risk.

The problem with waiting until you're worried

By the time you're worried enough to call the police, hours or days may already have passed. A welfare check is a last resort. The better answer is a system that notices a missed day automatically and tells the right people straight away, before anyone has to call New South Wales police at all.

Don't forget the pets at home

It's easy to overlook in the moment: if someone lives alone with a pet and can't be reached, that pet may be alone too, with no one who knows it's there or how to care for it. Officers carrying out a welfare check won't know about a cat in a back room or a dog that needs medication unless someone tells them. With AssureOkay, your pet's care details are kept on file, so if a check-in is missed your emergency contacts are told there's a pet at home and exactly how to look after it. You can also build a free pet emergency plan in minutes.

A daily check-in means it never comes to this

AssureOkay sends a gentle daily check-in by app, text, or automated phone call. One tap and your family knows you're okay. Miss it, and your chosen emergency contacts are alerted the same day by push notification, SMS, email, and AI phone call, with your address and any details they need to act fast. No equipment, no contracts, works on any phone.