New ISA Vetting and Barring Sceme
2009-10-11
The new vetting and barring scheme
The vetting and barring scheme The recruitment practices of many employers and voluntary organisations stand to be significantly affected by the introduction, from October 12, of the new vetting and barring scheme for those working with children or vulnerable adults. The scheme will apply in England, Wales and Northern Ireland with an aligned scheme in Scotland. Anyone included on a barred list in Scotland will be barred from working with children and/or vulnerable adults across the UK. A single agency, the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), has been created to vet and register all individuals wanting to work or volunteer with children or vulnerable adults and will work hand in hand with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), which will be responsible for the application and monitoring features of the scheme. The government has recently announced that Sir Roger Singleton is to review the new scheme., The new scheme will ultimately affect everyone (employers, employees, workers and volunteers) who works or volunteers with children aged under 18 or vulnerable adults in a "regulated" or "controlled" activity. In the long term, all those who work or volunteer or wish to work or volunteer with children and/or vulnerable adults in these activities will have to be registered with the ISA and their employers will have to check their registration status. The new scheme involves the creation of two new barred lists covering the childrens’ and vulnerable adults’ sectors, which will replace the three current barring lists (PoCA, PoVA and List 99) and will be administered by the ISA rather than by several government departments. A vulnerable adult is a person aged 18 + who is in need of community care services because of age, illness or a disability and may include learning difficulties, a mental illness or with a person with a physical disability. Regulated activity includes: Controlled activity is much more limited in scope than regulated activity and applies broadly to the work of ancillary support workers in FE , the NHS and adult social care, provided the work is done frequently and gives the opportunity to have any form of contact with children or vulnerable adults and people who work frequently for specified organisations in roles which give them the opportunity to access certain records about children or vulnerable adults. Controlled activity might, for example, cover the work of cleaners, caretakers and catering staff in a further education institution. Barred people can sometimes be employed in controlled activity, subject to safeguards (such as stringent supervision) being in place. From 12 October, checks of the two new barred lists (one which lists people barred from working with children and the other those barred from working with vulnerable adults) will be possible. These are meant to replace the existing lists (PoCA, PoVA and List 99), although we understand that these lists will now continue to be updated and will remain for checking for the purposes of education institutions until November 2010. There will also be criminal sanctions for barred individuals who seek work with vulnerable groups and for employers who know or have reason to believe a potential employee is barred but takes them on anyway. However, there will be no legal obligation on employers to check the lists until November 2010, by which time any potential recruit wishing to work in “regulated activity” is required to have registered with ISA. Finally, employers will have a duty to make a referral to the ISA if a person is removed from regulated or controlled activity (or would have been removed had they not left voluntarily) because they harmed, or posed a risk of harm to a child or vulnerable adult. When this duty applies, the employer making the referral must provide all the information it has from a prescribed list which will include items of information about the identity of the individual and about the conduct or allegation. Note that the ISA have stated that it is their intention to explain the meaning of “harm” as fully as possible in guidance. From 26 July 2010, employees, workers and volunteers who are new to working with vulnerable groups or who switch jobs will be able (but not obliged) to register with the ISA and be CRB checked by using one new application form. Once registered, their status will be reassessed against any new information. Also from this date, employers will be able (but not obliged) to register an interest in an individual’s ISA status and will then be informed of any change in that status. From November 2010, it will be a legal requirement for new entrants into regulated activity or those who change roles to perform a regulated activity to be registered with the ISA. Further, it will be a legal requirement for employers to check the status of these individuals before they commence work in such a role by carrying out an ISA check. From this date, there will be tough criminal penalties (imprisonment and/or fine) for any employers who fail in their responsibility to carry out the necessary checks or who recruit individuals who are not ISA registered or who are barred. It is proposed that members of the existing workforce will be phased into the scheme from January 2011. This will begin with employees who have no CRB check, then those staff whose CRB checks are the oldest and so on. It is anticipated that employers will have until 2015 to ensure that all current employees and volunteers working in a regulated activity have gone through the registration process. It is currently proposed that new and existing staff carrying out controlled activity will not have to apply for ISA registration until this time. The need for employers to perform a CRB check is unaffected by the introduction of the new scheme. Whilst the ISA check will reveal if a person is barred from working with children and/or vulnerable adults, that person could be registered with the ISA but still have a criminal record that would make him or her otherwise unsuitable to do a particular job. The enhanced level CRB check will reveal if a person has a criminal record or any non-conviction information. Guidance was promised from the ISA in time for the 12 October launchWho will be affected?
The barred lists
Who is a vulnerable adult?
What is regulated activity?
What is controlled activity?
Next phase
Legal requirements
What will the future hold?
CRB checks
Guidance