Update - Independent Safeguarding Authority, Vetting & Barring, CRB checks

 

The new scheme is "on-hold" so organisations will now work under an amalgamation of the original CRB checking regime and the legislation linked to the new ISA that was passed during the previous parliament.

This legislation created several new criminal offences which will still continue to apply, including:

  • Allowing someone you know to be barred to volunteer/work in a Regulated Activity.
  • Someone who is barred applying for or doing Regulated Activity.
  • An obligation to pass on information to the ISA about someone you suspect of causing harm to vulnerable groups, whether they are dismissed them or they leave before investigation is complete.

 

Regulated Activity:

Check the specific definitions for any roles you're not sure about with the ISA, but generally it's any frequent work with children or vulnerable adults, or work in a school, nursery or care home.

 

Vulnerable groups are defined as:

Children - anyone who is under 18 years old
or
Vulnerable Adults (over 18's) are defined as vulnerable if they are:

  • disabled
  • have a mental health condition
  • receiving drug or alcohol rehabilitation treatment
  • receive care at home (domiciliary care)
  • in a care home
  • participating because they have particular needs due to age or disability
  • receiving medical treatment
  • on parole
  • in custody
  • pregnant or nursing mothers in residential care
  • receiving Direct Payments

 

Barring decisions:

The Vetting & Barring Panel, set up as part of the new ISA will continue to operate and make the decision on barring people for past criminal activity or a pattern of suspicious activity.

The ISA will continue to maintain the lists of barred people, which were formed from the previously kept List 99, the Protection of Children Act (PoCA) list and the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (PoVA) list.

 

So where does this leave us now?

Using CRB checks organisations risk being sued for "over-checking" - groups weren't committing Breach of Trust by over-checking ISA Registration, but they will be if they incorrectly ask someone to complete a CRB check as it discloses spent convictions, which they're entitled to keep private unless they're doing a genuine Regulated Activity.

The new ISA Registration included "constant monitoring" so groups would be notified if someone committed an offence which barred them from working with vulnerable groups. The CRB checks only show recorded information so regular checks will be necessary to ensure new offences are disclosed. The frequency of these checks (and associated cost and admin) appears to be up to your organisation to decide on.

Before the creation of the ISA an organisation could fulfil its safeguarding responsibilities by ensuring un-checked people didn't do unsupervised work with vulnerable groups. Under ISA rules supervision was not relevant; everyone doing Regulated Activity needed registration whether supervised or not.

It's not clear if a CRB check (and its results) will now be needed prior to carrying out Regulated Activity, or if people waiting for results can start while being supervised.

The ISA Registration was guaranteed to be complete within a couple of weeks, CRB checks have been known to take 6 months.

 

So what's a sensible way forward?

We'll all need to study how the new regime will work and take action accordingly to ensure we comply with the law, but we still have our obligations, which have never changed, to apply a sensible recruitment process, not discriminate unduly against ex-offenders who want to turn their fortunes around, and design roles responsibly to minimise the risk of harm to anyone.

Overall, it's essential that organisations ensure that the management of their volunteer team creates an open and mutually beneficial environment, where situations in which abuse is possible are minimised, and properly training, supervision and support is given.

Equally vital is good communication with the "clients" (those receiving the volunteers' support) so that an atmosphere is created that ensures they're confident that they can pass on any concerns, worries or indeed gratitude that they feel regarding the volunteers.

This will provide far greater safeguards against exploitative behaviour than ISA Registration or Criminal Record checks.

Further info:

This information is a simplified version of the guidance and has been written to be specifically relevant to Volunteer Involving Organisations, it does not cover all situations; if you have further questions please call me on 020 7424 9990 or email jack@volunteercentrecamden.org.uk

Please also note that this is a condensed form of the information available, and I recommend you check your organisation's specific circumstances with the ISA on 0300 123 1111 http://www.isa.homeoffice.gov.uk/

Also, ensure you comply with any regulatory body's regulations (e.g. Ofsted) and your funders' requirements.