ASSI Information Pack

Download this pack as a PDF if you would rather keep a copy or print it.

This pack tells you what the training involves, what it costs, how long it takes and what happens next, so you can decide before you commit to anything.

Read it alongside the ASSI Student Handbook, which sets out your rights, our obligations and the full refund policy. Both are on our website.

About ASSI

ASSI International Pty Ltd is a Registered Training Organisation, provider number 40477, regulated by the Australian Skills Quality Authority. We train people for work in the investigation industry, and our training is delivered by working investigators with law enforcement and private investigation backgrounds.

We deliver two qualifications and nothing else. We do not use any third party to deliver training or assessment on our behalf.

Working as an investigator

Before you commit to the training it is worth understanding what the work actually is, because it is not much like the version on television.

Almost all investigation work in Australia is paid for by someone other than the person being investigated - usually an insurer, a law firm or an employer. That is worth knowing early, because it tells you where the work sits and who you would be working for.

The two kinds of work

The Certificate III covers both, and most people end up doing more of one than the other.

• FACTUAL INVESTIGATION. You interview claimants, witnesses and treating practitioners, take statements and write a factual report. Most of your day is on the phone, on the road and at a keyboard. It suits people who write well and can talk to anyone.
• SURVEILLANCE. You observe a person to establish their level of activity. Long hours alone in a vehicle, early starts, a lot of nothing punctuated by five minutes that matter. It suits patient people who are comfortable with their own company.

Many firms put a new investigator into factual work first, because the risk of a poor outcome is lower and you learn faster.

The kinds of matter you would work on

Insurance claims are the largest single source of investigation work in Australia, and they are where most new investigators start. They are nowhere near the whole of it. The Certificate III qualifies you across the range below, and an investigator in private practice will usually handle several of these.

Insurance and claims	CTP motor injury claims, workers compensation, public and product liability, life and income protection, and general insurance covering property, motor, theft and fire. The highest volume work in the industry.
Counterfeiting and intellectual property	Identifying counterfeit goods, tracing where they are made, stored and sold, and gathering the evidence a brand owner needs to act on.
Fraud	Corporate, insurance and internal fraud. Establishing what happened, who was involved, and what can actually be proved.
Locating persons	Skip tracing for creditors and lawyers, finding witnesses, tracing next of kin, and locating people who do not want to be found.
Workplace investigations	Complaints of harassment, bullying, discrimination and misconduct, usually for an employer or a law firm. Careful interviewing and a report that will stand up to challenge.
Theft and loss within a business	Stock loss, internal theft and misappropriation, often working alongside an employer’s own loss prevention people.
Family and relationship matters	Including infidelity enquiries. Private clients rather than corporate ones, and work that needs particular care with surveillance and privacy law.
Background and pre-employment enquiries	Verifying what a person has claimed about their history, their qualifications and their employment.
Process serving and field calls	Serving legal documents and attending addresses for law firms and mercantile agents.
Criminal defence work	Locating and interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence for defence solicitors.

The mix you see depends on who engages you. An investigator working files for a firm that holds scheme contracts may do almost nothing but insurance claims. An investigator in their own practice usually handles a much wider spread, because the enquiries arrive from whoever walks through the door.

Who engages investigators

Insurance investigation firms	Where most new investigators start and where most of the ongoing work is. These firms hold contracts with insurers and allocate files to investigators as employees, casuals or subcontractors.
Loss adjusters and claims managers	They assess claims and run schemes on behalf of insurers and government, and buy investigation services in. A step removed from the insurer, but they control real volume and are often more approachable.
Law firms	Locating and interviewing witnesses, serving documents, background enquiries and field work solicitors cannot do themselves. Work usually comes through a relationship with one solicitor. Slower to build, but it lasts.
Mercantile agents, process servers and skip tracers	Serving legal documents, field calls and locating people who do not want to be found. The lowest barrier to entry in the industry, and it teaches you address work and doorstep conversation. Many established investigators started here.
Corporate and in-house	Retailers, banks, insurers, universities and health services run internal investigation and loss prevention teams. These roles usually want experience first.
Government	Regulators, councils and departments employ investigators and compliance officers. Most require the Certificate IV in Government Investigations rather than the Certificate III.

The honest picture

None of the following is meant to put you off. It is what we would tell you if you asked us privately, and you are better off knowing it now than six months in.

• With no experience behind you, you start at the bottom of the trade and entry level pays modestly. A skill you already have can sometimes place you higher. A builder might find work in building compliance, for example, an accountant in fraud, or someone from a medical background in injury claims. It depends on what a client needs at the time, so there is no guarantee in it. But if you already know an industry, tell us, because that knowledge can be worth more to a client than investigation experience.
• A car is an advantage and surveillance work needs one, but it is not mandatory for everything. Some investigators work almost entirely on locating people and on enquiries conducted online or by telephone, where a vehicle barely comes into it. Where you do use your own car, work out what running it actually costs before you agree a rate, including the kilometres you will not be paid for.
• Most entry-level work is subcontract rather than salaried. That means an ABN, your own insurance, no leave and no guaranteed volume.
• Report writing decides who gets the next file. Firms re-allocate to investigators whose reports need no editing. Your writing is your reputation, and it is why so much of this course is writing.
• Surveillance is mostly boredom. If the version in your head is from television, spend a day sitting in a parked car before you commit to it.
• It is a small industry and people talk. How you leave a firm matters as much as how you arrive.

We are often asked what investigators earn and whether we can guarantee work. Rates vary widely by state, by client and by the type of work, and we are not in a position to quote a reliable figure. We cannot guarantee employment, and no training provider can. What we can tell you is what the qualification is, what it allows you to apply for, and what the work actually involves.

The qualifications we deliver

Qualification	How it is delivered	Who it suits
CPP30619 Certificate III in Investigative Services	Taught course, delivered online with practical assessments you record yourself. Recognition of Prior Learning is also available.	Anyone entering the investigation industry. This is the qualification the licensing regulators ask for.
PSP40416 Certificate IV in Government Investigations	Recognition of Prior Learning only. We do not deliver this as a taught course.	Experienced government, regulatory or corporate investigators seeking formal recognition of work they already do.

Please note that we are not taking Certificate IV applications until early 2027. If you are interested, write to us and we will contact you when it opens.

The rest of this pack is about the Certificate III.

What the Certificate III covers

CPP30619 is a nationally recognised qualification made up of 16 units of competency – 5 core and 11 electives. The electives we deliver cover both factual investigation and surveillance, so you finish qualified for both kinds of work rather than one.

Code	Unit	Type
CPPINV3026	Work effectively in investigative services	Core
CPPINV3027	Develop investigation plans	Core
CPPINV3028	Investigate and locate subjects	Core
CPPINV3029	Provide quality investigative services to clients	Core
CPPSEC3124	Prepare and present evidence in court	Core
BSBESB305	Address compliance requirements for new business ventures	Elective
CPPINV3030	Conduct factual investigations	Elective
CPPINV3031	Conduct interviews and take statements to support investigations	Elective
CPPINV3032	Develop factual investigation reports	Elective
CPPINV3033	Conduct covert surveillance operations	Elective
CPPINV3034	Organise and operate surveillance vehicles	Elective
CPPINV3035	Develop surveillance investigation reports	Elective
HLTWHS003	Maintain work health and safety	Elective
PSPCRT007	Compile and use official notes	Elective
PSPREG006	Produce formal record of interview	Elective
PSPSEC009	Handle sensitive information	Elective

How the course is delivered

Stage 1 – the written units

You work through the learning material, readings, videos, knowledge questions and case-study assignments in the ASSI online student interface, at your own pace and in your own time. You also receive the Investigating Made Simple textbook, the ASSI Online Training Manual and an Investigator diary, posted to you.

Every assignment is assessed by your assessor, who gives you written feedback on what you did well and what needs work. That feedback is where most of the teaching happens.

Stage 2 – the practical assessments

You carry out a series of practical tasks and record each one on your own phone, uploading it through the ASSI app. Your assessor reviews the recording and assesses your performance against the requirements.

The practical tasks cover taking a formal statement and conducting an interview, conducting a recorded record of interview, carrying out covert surveillance using a surveillance vehicle, and a video investigation assignment.

You do not attend a training room and nothing is streamed live. You record each task when it suits you and upload it. Your assessor may ask to observe a task live, or ask you to repeat part of one, where that is needed to confirm the work is your own or to check you are working safely.

If you cannot safely complete a task remotely, or you need an adjustment for a disability or medical condition, tell us and we will agree an alternative arrangement with you in writing.

How long it takes

Enrolment period	You have 12 months from enrolment to complete both stages. Extensions are considered case by case and must be applied for in writing before the 12 months ends.
Amount of training	The course is designed for about 581 hours of learning, practice and assessment for someone new to the industry.
At a steady pace	About 15 to 22 hours a week over 6 to 9 months.
If you have experience	Recognition of Prior Learning or Credit Transfer may reduce what you have to complete.

What you need

• A computer or laptop with word processing software, and reliable internet.
• A smartphone that can run the ASSI app – ASSI Practical Assessments on Android, or ASSI Video Interface on iPhone (iOS 16 or later) – with a good camera and enough data to upload video.
• A current driver’s licence and a registered, insured vehicle for the surveillance vehicle tasks.
• A volunteer to play a role, such as an interviewee or a subject, for some of the practical tasks.

If you do not have something on this list, contact us before you enrol and we will discuss the options with you.

What it costs

Stage	What it covers	Fee
Stage 1 – Online units	Access to the student interface and the written assignments, the textbook, training manual and Investigator diary, assessment and feedback	$900
Stage 2 – Practical assessments	The practical assessments recorded and submitted through the ASSI app, with assessor review, feedback and certification	$695
Total		$1,595

All fees are in Australian dollars. This is the total you pay for the training and assessment, and there are no enrolment or material fees on top of it. Two separate charges can apply if the situation arises: a $100 administration fee where you withdraw and a refund is due, and $25 for a replacement qualification document. Both are set out on the Fees and Refunds page.

You are not asked to pay for the practical stage until you have finished the written assignments and are ready to start it. That is deliberate. It means ASSI never holds more than $900 of your money for training that has not yet been delivered, which keeps the amount held in advance well below the $1,500 threshold that applies to prepaid fees in vocational education and training.

The full refund policy is in section 5.3 of the Student Handbook, and on the Fees and Refunds page of our website. Please read it before you pay anything. In short: if you withdraw in writing before we give you access, your payment is refunded less a $100 administration fee, and once we have opened a stage to you the fee for that stage is not refundable.

Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer

If you already have the skills and knowledge a unit requires, you should not have to be taught them again. There are two ways that is recognised and both are open to every student.

Recognition of Prior Learning

This recognises skills and knowledge you have gained through work, life experience or training – for example in police, military, insurance, security or corporate investigation. You list your evidence against each unit and the assessor assesses it against the full requirements of that unit.

Evidence is a CV and copies of any qualifications you hold. Scans or clear photographs are fine and documents do not need to be certified. Where your documents do not cover everything, we send you a short set of written questions about how you have done the work, which you answer in writing in your own time. That is a normal part of recognition and not a sign that your application is weak.

What it costs depends on how many units are recognised and how many you still complete, so it is worked out for your application and put to you in writing before you commit. You pay nothing to have your evidence looked at.

Credit Transfer

If you have already completed the same unit, or an equivalent one, with any Registered Training Organisation, you receive credit for it and do not complete it again. Credit Transfer is free, needs no evidence beyond your certificate or statement of attainment, and no questions are asked.

Licensing

Most states and territories require investigators to hold a licence. Licences are issued by government regulators, not by ASSI, and completing this course does not guarantee you will be granted one.

New South Wales	Class 2E (Private Investigator) security licence, NSW Police Security Licensing and Enforcement Directorate
Victoria	Victoria Police Licensing and Regulation Division. Victoria Police has confirmed in writing that ASSI’s online delivery of this course is acceptable.
Queensland	Office of Fair Trading
Other states and territories	Check the current requirements with your local regulator

Regulators also check your age, identity, criminal history and whether you are a fit and proper person. If you have any concern about your eligibility, please check with your regulator before you enrol rather than after.

How to enrol

1	Read this pack and the Student Handbook.
2	Complete the online enrolment form, including your Unique Student Identifier. If you do not have a USI it is free at usi.gov.au and takes a few minutes. We cannot issue your qualification without one.
3	Complete the Language, Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Skills check. This helps us make sure the course suits you and plan any support you need.
4	Complete the pre-training review, which asks about your experience, the time you have to study, your equipment, any support needs, and whether you would like to apply for Recognition of Prior Learning.
5	We give you written advice on whether the course suits you, any support we will provide, and your recognition options.
6	Accept the enrolment, confirm you have read the refund policy, and pay the $900 Stage 1 fee. Your student interface login follows within 24 to 48 hours.

If the LLN check or the pre-training review shows a gap, we will talk with you about the support we can provide, or suggest something more suitable, before you pay anything.

Support while you study

You contact your trainer through the message system in the student interface, or by email, and we aim to reply within two business days. We ask you to use the message system or email rather than telephoning, so that you have the answer in writing and we can answer it properly.

Your trainer checks your progress at least monthly. Help is available with report writing, study skills and using the student interface, and if you need more help with reading, writing or numeracy we can provide extra support or refer you to a program.

Reasonable adjustments change how you are assessed, not the standard you have to reach – for example extra time, oral rather than written answers, assistive technology, or a different arrangement for a practical task. Adjustments are agreed with you in writing.

Contact us

Enrolment, fees, payments, the student interface and records	Amy Fourie, Student Coordinator
Training, assessment and recognition	Adrian Francis, Training Director – adrian@assi.com.au
Everything else, and anything formal	reception@assi.com.au
Postal address	PO Box 154, Kalamunda WA 6926
Telephone	0417 189 341
Website	www.assi.com.au
Office hours	Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, Perth time (AWST)

This pack is general information about the qualifications and the training. Where it differs from the ASSI Student Handbook, the Handbook applies.

Download this pack as a PDF  |  Student Information and Policies