News
Clarifications on vetting and barring scheme announced
You may have already heard in the press that Children’s Secretary Ed Balls has accepted all of Sir Roger Singleton’s change recommendations for the Government’s Vetting and Barring Scheme, pledging to ensure the rules strike the right balance between protecting children and vulnerable adults without being unnecessarily burdensome.
Whilst these new rules should lead to more clarity around the implementation of the vetting and barring scheme and when it applies, in my opinion, whilst the safety of vulnerable is paramount, these rules are still likely to adversly affect the motivation of potential volunteers and cause unecessary disruption.
Sir Roger, the Chief Adviser on the Safety of Children and Chair of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), was asked to review the scheme rules after they were revealed to be confusing - when Ofsted banned two mothers from swapping childcare in a friendly arrangement.
In his report, Drawing the Line, published today (see attached), he recommends that private arrangements between parents and friends should continue to remain outside the scheme. But where an organisation makes the decisions on which adults should work with their children then the requirement to register will apply.
Sir Roger’s recommendations include:
Where organisations such as schools, clubs or groups make the decisions as to which adults should work with their children then the requirement to register with the VBS should apply, subject to the frequent and intensive contact provisions
The frequent contact test should be met if the work with children takes place once a week or more (at present the test is if activity happens as often as once a month). The intensive contact test should be met if the work takes place on 4 days in one month or more or overnight (this change is designed to make the scheme easier to understand and put into practice, since at present the test is 3 times in every 30 days or overnight)
Individuals who go into different schools or similar settings to work with different groups of children should not be required to register unless their contact with the same children is frequent or intensive
The minimum age of registration for young people who engage in regulated activity as part of their continuing education should be reviewed. The Government will make immediate changes to the rules so that 16, 17 and 18-year-olds in education will not be required to register
Overseas visitors bringing their own groups of children to the UK e.g. to international camps or the Olympics, should have a three months exemption from the requirement to register for the work they do with children they have brought to the UK
Exchange visits lasting less than 28 days, where overseas parents accept the responsibility for the selection of the host family, should be regarded as private arrangements and will not require registration
Ed Balls said, “A robust vetting and barring system that prevents people who are known to be a threat working with children is crucial, but we also need to make sure we draw the line in the right place and that we do not interfere in private arrangements that are rightly made between friends and family.
“Where parents have no control over which individual is able to work regularly with their children, it is right that we have a system that checks people’s suitability for a role, whether it is paid or unpaid.”
Further recommendations made by Sir Roger Singleton mean that the Government will also take action to:
Consider whether private health practitioners, such as chiropractors and homoeopathists should be required to register. Current legislation allows them to register but does not require them to
Review the continuing need for ‘controlled activity. ‘Controlled activity’ is defined as a small number of activities where there might be opportunity for contact with children or vulnerable adults, such as working as a hospital or school receptionist, but falls short of the opportunities open to other roles such as nurses or teachers. This review will be launched in the New Year;
Review the law and the Government’s advice on when, in the future, workers who have already secured ISA registration, will have to get CRB checks.
The Government will also be renewing its work on communicating the details of the scheme.
The law is changing
From November 2010, all new employees and volunteers who want to work with children and vulnerable adults in a wide variety of settings must be ISA-registered before they can be legally employed. Obtaining ISA-registration is the employee’s responsibility. It is not a difficult or time-consuming process and there is a one-off cost of £64 (£28 ISA/£36 CRB administration costs). ISA-registration for unpaid volunteers is free. There are two areas of ISA-registration, one covering working with children and one covering working with vulnerable adults. Once successfully ISA-registered, for either or both groups, an individual is ISA-registered for life in most cases and does not need to reapply. For employers wanting to hire that person they will need to first check their registration status. This can be done online for free. Only then, when a candidate’s ISA-registration has been confirmed, can they be taken on. At first, the Scheme will affect new employees and volunteers only. Over time, the registration process will be phased in to include current employees and volunteers.
How employees and employers are affected
To find out who is affected by these changes and what, if anything, needs to be done, please visit www.isa-gov.org.uk
Together we can help prevent the unsuitable from working with the vulnerable.
As an organisation or individual who undertakes work in a paid or unpaid capacity with children or vulnerable adults, these changes to the law will affect you. If your organisation has an HR or a finance department, then those staff should be made aware of the Scheme and the legal requirements around ISA-registration. Smaller organisations, without these departments, must familiarise themselves with the new rules to ensure that they too comply with the changes. We appreciate that you may not have done anything like this before so we are here to help you every step of the way.
For more information about the Vetting and Barring Scheme, the Independent Safeguarding Authority, the registration process, who is affected and how, please visit www.isa-gov.org.uk or call 0300 123 1111*.