LSCB - Professionals

Safe Recruitment

This page contains guidance for professionals who are recruiting staff or volunteers who will have access to children and young people.

Latest Developments.

From the 10^th of September 2012 changes to disclosure and barring services have been introduced by the Coalition Government which will affect employers and other organisations working with vulnerable groups, including children.

These changes include:

Amendments to the definitions of regulated activity with vulnerable groups including children.
Controlled activity; planned - but not implemented - registration and continuous monitoring have all been abolished.

Other important changes include:

The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) can only bar a person from working in regulated activity if it believes the person is, has been or might in the future, engage in regulated activity. The only exception to this is where a person is convicted or cautioned of a relevant (automatic barring) offence and is not eligible to submit representations against their inclusion in a barred list.
Where a person is cautioned or convicted of a relevant (automatic barring) offence with the right to make representations, the ISA will ask the person to submit any representations before making a final decision.
Local Authorities, Keepers of Registers and Supervisory Authorities will have a power to refer to the ISA rather than a duty.
The ISA has additional duties and powers to share information with professional bodies such as the General Medical Council, the Care Quality Commission etc. and other organisations.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) can only bar a person from working in regulated activity if it believes the person is, has been or might in the future, engage in regulated activity. The only exception to this is where a person is convicted or cautioned of a relevant (automatic barring) offence and is not eligible to submit representations against their inclusion in a barred list.

The Vetting and Barring Scheme:

The vetting and barring scheme was one of the previous Government’s key responses to the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman by Ian Huntley, which focused public attention on the way that we vet people who work with children. The resulting Bichard Inquiry recommended a new scheme under which everyone working with children or vulnerable adults should be checked and registered.

The inquiry led to The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Order (Northern Ireland) 2007 which set up the scheme. This scheme was aimed at everyone who worked with children aged under 18 or vulnerable adults. It was developed in conjunction with the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Executive as the scheme applied to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Parallel arrangements were being developed by the Scottish Government.

The Home Office was responsible for delivering this scheme in partnership with the Department of Health and the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The scheme recognised the need for a single agency to vet and register all individuals who want to work or volunteer with vulnerable people, and to bar unsuitable people.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) and Registration:

The ISA was created to fulfil this role. The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) was to be made responsible for managing the system supporting the VBS and for processing the applications for ISA registration. The scheme provided significant safeguards but did not remove the need for employers to have robust recruitment procedures, involving interviews and references.

Disclosure and Barring Service Commences December 2012.

In December 2012 the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) will merge into the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). This new organisation will provide a joined up, seamless service to combine the criminal records and barring functions. Further legislative changes will come into force during 2013 and 2014. These details will be published on the forthcoming DBS website.

For more information on the scheme, please visit the ISA website http://www.isa-gov.org.uk/

The registration element of the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) has been halted as part of the Coalition Government's VBS review.

There is no longer a requirement for those working or volunteering with vulnerable groups to register with the ISA. The Coalition Government has confirmed that until all the appropriate legislation has been introduced and the new arrangements are established, the existing responsibilities of employers and the ISA will remain.

These include:

A person who is barred from working with children or vulnerable adults will be breaking the law if they work or volunteer, or try to work or volunteer with those groups.
An organisation which knowingly employs someone who is barred to work with those groups will also be breaking the law.
If your organisation works with children or vulnerable adults and you dismiss or remove a member of staff or a volunteer because they have harmed a child or vulnerable adult, or you would have done so if they had not left, you must tell the ISA.