Government halts Vetting and Barring scheme

Published: 15 June 2010

The Government announced on 15 June 2010 that the new registration system by the Independent Safeguarding Authority has been put on hold while a review of the entire vetting and barring scheme is carried out.

Brief summary of the changes which take immediate effect

Applications for ISA registration have been suspended until further notice and all timescales previously published regarding the phasing in of the ISA system are also suspended. Therefore the CRB system used for many years will remain in place with a few amendments which we need to bring to your attention.

CRB can start accepting applications for Enhanced CRB checks for both new applicants and renewals from 28 June 2010. These applications however will only be processed by CRB after the 26 July 2010.

Please ensure your old stocks of the forms are destroyed. Stocks of the new-style forms are available from Lesley Whittaker.

Completing the new-style CRB forms

Applicants do not need to complete the following when filling in the new style form:

Section A, Question 28 - 'Do you have an ISA registration number' will not be a mandatory field and can be omitted.

Section D -'apply for registration with ISA' can be omitted - you should not complete this section until further notice.

Verifiers when completing the new-style forms these are the changes you must adhere to:

Section X, Question 61 - 'Position applied for' - only the first 30 characters of this field will be recognised (complete the first line only)

Section X, Questions 64 and 65 - 'are your entitled to know whether the applicant is registered to work with children/ vulnerable adults?' - continue to answer YES or NO if you require a check of the relevant ISA barred lists.

ISA Safeguarding regulations which are still in force

Any person you are employing or wanting to take on in a volunteer role must complete the recruitment process in full and cannot be appointed in the role applied for until a satisfactory CRB has been received.

It is still an offence to employ or take on a volunteer that is barred from working with children or vulnerable adults. It is also still mandatory to report to ISA anyone who has been removed/suspended from employment/a voluntary post due to a safeguarding incident.

For any further information please contact Su Foster, Child Protection Adviser on 01704 540516 (07849 517351 out of hours and emergency use) or by e-mail sufoster@fsmail.net.


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