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Managing renewals and expirations

Summary

Training and Police Checks do not last forever. Safe Pathways tracks each one’s lifecycle, flags what is coming due, and assigns training renewals on its own. This article covers what expires and when, how the At Risk, Renew, and Expired states appear, and how to re-order a Police Check or reassign training.

Who this is for

  • Church Administrators
  • Account Owners

What you’ll need

Make sure you have:

  • Admin access
  • The Police Check page for screening, Assign Pathways for training, and the Notifications and Screening Rules tabs in Settings

Before you start

Two clocks run for every volunteer. Training renews on your church’s schedule, 12 months by default. Police Checks renew on your church’s schedule, 60 months (five years) by default. Both periods are set on the Screening Rules tab in Settings.

Safe Pathways re-checks every volunteer overnight and flags what is coming due, so most of this runs without you. Your job is mainly to watch the dashboard and re-order or reassign the few items the platform cannot renew on its own.

Steps to stay on top of renewals

1. Read the states on your dashboard

A volunteer moves to At Risk about a month before something is due, and to Expired once it has lapsed. On a volunteer’s own pathway card the action reads Renew when a refresher is waiting. On your side, the people who need attention gather on the Admin Dashboard. See Getting Started: Your Admin Dashboard. [VERIFY: confirm the exact dashboard labels (At Risk, Renew, Renewal due, Expired) as they currently render.]

2. Let training renew itself

About a month before a pathway’s renewal date, Safe Pathways flags the volunteer At Risk and assigns a fresh renewal pathway automatically, as long as auto-renew is on for that pathway. The volunteer can jump straight to the quiz and only review what they have forgotten. If you turned auto-renew off for a pathway, reassign it yourself from Assign Pathways. See Assigning Pathways.

3. Re-order Police Checks before they lapse

A Police Check does not renew itself. Within about a month of its renewal date the volunteer is flagged At Risk, and once the date passes the status reads Expired. Re-order the check from the Police Check page exactly as you did the first time. See Police Checks: how ordering works.

4. Let the reminders do the chasing

Reminder emails go out automatically on the days-before-due you choose on the Notifications tab; the default schedule is 14, 7, 3, 2, 1, and 0 days before. Set your renewal periods on the Screening Rules tab. See Advanced settings. [VERIFY: confirm the reminder cadence applied to renewals specifically, and whether the default 14, 7, 3, 2, 1, 0 day schedule applies to both training and Police Check renewals.]

5. Stop renewals for someone who is leaving

On a volunteer’s pathway you can turn off renewal reminders so a lapsed credential stops prompting. For someone who has actually left, suspend them instead. See When a volunteer leaves: suspend, deactivate, and billing.

What happens next

As long as renewals are assigned and reminders are on, volunteers renew themselves and your dashboard stays current. Check it weekly. Anyone showing At Risk or Expired is who needs a nudge, and for what each screening status means, see Screening status: what Pending means. [VERIFY: how often Police Check statuses refresh from Canpro SOS.]

Troubleshooting

A volunteer shows Expired but is still serving

  • Their training or Police Check passed its renewal date. Reassign the pathway, or re-order the Police Check, and the status updates once they complete it.

Someone got a renewal pathway they didn’t expect

  • That is auto-renew working about a month before their due date. It is normal, and the renewal is quicker than the first time through.

Reminder emails are not going out

  • On the Notifications tab, check that reminders are enabled, at least one days-before-due value is set, and your church timezone is correct.

The renewal periods are wrong for our church

  • Change them on the Screening Rules tab: the training renewal period and the Police Check renewal period are both set there.

Notes

  • Defaults: training renews every 12 months, Police Checks every 60 months (five years); both are configurable on Screening Rules.
  • A volunteer is flagged At Risk about a month before a due date and Expired after it passes.
  • Training renewals are assigned automatically when auto-renew is on; Police Checks must be re-ordered.
  • Reminder emails are configurable on the Notifications tab, defaulting to 14, 7, 3, 2, 1, and 0 days before due.
  • Re-order Police Checks from the Police Check page; reassign training from Assign Pathways.

Last reviewed

June 16, 2026