Home Office releases detailed guidance on Vetting and Barring Scheme

The Home Office has issued its guidance to employers and voluntary groups on how to implement the Vetting and Barring Scheme which comes in to effect on 25 July.

The guidance document contains detailed information about the responsibilities of employers and employees under the scheme and what they should do to prepare for its implementation, including:

• The scope of the scheme;
• Barring arrangements;
• Responsibilities and duties for both employers and volunteer organisers, and the duties for those individuals taken on;
• Timescales for the phased implementation of the scheme;
• Explanation of transitional arrangements around scheme introduction.

The Vetting and Barring Scheme, which is managed by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), is intended aims to prevent people who could pose a risk of harm to children or vulnerable adults from being able to work for or volunteer with these groups.

From July, employees or volunteers working with vulnerable groups can register with the ISA on a voluntary basis, before mandatory registration begins November 2010, when new entrants must register with the ISA before starting work. Existing workers can start to register with the scheme from from April 2011, ahead of mandatory registration for existing employees and volunteers which is scheduled for July 2015.

The Home Office claims that the “vast majority” of applicants will be registered within seven working days. Registering with the scheme will be free of charge for volunteers and cost £64 for those in paid employment

The ICA now maintains two lists of barred individuals - the ISA Children’s Barred List and the ISA Vulnerable Adults Barred List – which replaced the three previous barred lists (POVA, POCA and List 99).

Since October, 2009, the range of posts working with children or vulnerable adults closed to barred individuals has been extended and employers also face criminal sanctions for knowingly employing a barred individual across a wider range of work.

Employers, local authorities, professional regulators and inspection bodies also have a duty to make referrals to the ISA. They must pass on information - such as why they stopped, considered stopping or moved an individual working with vulnerable groups where they consider them to have caused harm or pose a risk - ensuring threats to vulnerable groups can be identified and dealt with.

The Home Office Minister responsible for the VBS, Meg Hillier, said: "The benefits of the VBS are clear – better sharing of information, portable registration status for employers and volunteers, and clear decisions on who is unsuitable to work with vulnerable groups."

A copy of the guidance is available by clicking here.