Vetting and Barring Scheme
Background
The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 contains legislation to create the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) who will enact the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS).
Under the VBS, staff and volunteers engaged in positions defined as ‘Regulated’ or ‘Controlled’ will be required to register with the ISA who will vet them using information from criminal records, List 99, Protection of Children Act (PoCA) and Protection of Vulnerable Adults (PoVA) and referrals from employers and public agencies and will decide whether to bar them from work with vulnerable people. The person or organisation responsible for the management of Regulated or Controlled activity is known as the Regulated Activity Provider (RAP) (e.g. the school or the Council or a charity etc). Once registered the individual remains registered for life (unless the ISA subsequently decide to bar them or the individual voluntarily decides to remove themselves from the Register), and there is no need to re-register when going to a new organisation (fully portable).
Who is covered and the consequences
STOP PRESS…15/6/2010… Government have announced a review of the scope of the Scheme which will mean that the following is subject to change:
| Category | Defining Criteria | Offences | |||
| Regulated Activity
(employment or voluntary) | Specific Activity | Teaching, training, supervision, transport, care, advice in single or multiple settings/groups | Opportunity for contact must occur Frequently (more than once a week (once a month for personal care)) or Intensively (more than 4 days in a month) or Overnight (employer decision but must record & revisit decision-making if deemed not Regulated Activity) | Criminal offence for the RAP to hire someone who is not registered, and for the individual to engage in the activity if barred. | Statutory duty on the RAP to refer if withdrawn permission for someone to undertake regulated or controlled activity on the grounds that they have caused harm or posed risk of harm (or if they resigned under investigation). |
| Or in Specific Settings | Schools, children's homes, adult care homes, children's centres | ||||
| Specific Roles | School Governors, Directors of Children's Services/Adult Social Care, Elected Members including exec, portfolio holders, committees in social care or education and Foster Carers, Childminders, ContactPoint users. | ||||
Controlled Activity*
| Opportunity for contact but not regulated positions, or access to individual social care or education records, or contact through making direct payments. | Frequently (once a week or more) or Intensively (more than 4 days in a month) | If barred can only be engaged 'with safeguards'. | ||
Referrals
It is a legal requirement for RAP’s to refer individuals to the ISA if they:
1. withdraw permission for an individual to engage in regulated or controlled activity, or would have done so had that individual not resigned, retired, been made redundant or been transferred to a position which is not regulated or controlled activity; AND because
2. they think that the individual has:
- engaged in relevant conduct;
- satisfied the Harm Test (specific abusive exploitative or negligent actions taken against children or vulnerable adults); or
- received a caution or conviction for a relevant offence.
This would obviously include acts of gross misconduct against vulnerable people, and the guidance suggests that this could also include acts of misconduct where the employee was suspended but where it was subsequently determined that a formal warning was more appropriate than dismissal.
Registration
Individuals must obtain their registration through an ‘Umbrella Body‘ in the same way as they would for a CRB check. It is not possible for an individual to register direct with the ISA. The ISA charge £64 for employees and registration is free for volunteers. This fee also includes an Enhanced CRB check. The Umbrella Body conducting the registration will charge a fee for administering the check and the CBC School Buyback Agreement quotes a fee of £18 for each registration.
Checking someone’s registration
STOP PRESS…15/6/2010… Government have announced a review of the scope of the Scheme which will mean that the following is subject to change:
Authorised staff in RAP’s will be able to check whether or not someone is registered online and can at the same time formally ‘Subscribe’ to that person. Once the RAP has subscribed to that person, they will automatically be contacted if the ISA is considering barring the individual. It is possible for more than one RAP to subscribe to an individual simultaneously.
Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) Checks
RAP’s will still conduct CRB checks on new staff and volunteers and conduct renewals as the decision to employ someone in a particular position could be based upon different criteria than that used by the ISA to decide on registration. Furthermore the requirement to conduct a CRB on Recruitment is embedded in many regulatory requirements. DfE are consulting on the need for CRB checks and renewals in the light of the VBS.
Implementation in Central Bedfordshire
STOP PRESS…15/6/2010… Government have halted the implementation of the registration phase of the Scheme, pending a review of the Scheme.
Further Information
Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)
Philip Howard
HR Project Manager: Vetting and Barring.
Tel: 01234 228765
Mobile: 07920 536697
Email:philip.howard@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk