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Home | News & events | Legal updates | Government orders Vetting and Barring Scheme rethink
Government orders Vetting and Barring Scheme rethink
15 June 2010
Voluntary registration with the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) due to begin next month has been halted to allow the new coalition government to fundamentally remodel the scheme.
Following the official inquiry into the Soham murders, the VBS was designed to enable better information sharing by the police and vetting organisations.
It was intended to safeguard children and vulnerable adults by preventing those who pose a known risk from gaining access to such groups through their work.
However, it has been hugely controversial with businesses, community groups and many parents arguing the scheme was overly burdensome and would unduly interfere with well-meaning adults who came forward to volunteer to work with young people.
The new government is concerned that the VBS is not proportionate and has today undertaken to remodel it back to ‘common sense levels’.
The scope of the remodelling process is still being finalised and will be coordinated by the Home Office.
The VBS was being phased in and certain requirements, including those which came into force last October, will remain in place, including:
- The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) will continue to make independent barring decisions and maintain two constantly updated lists, one for those barred from working with children, the other for those barred from working with vulnerable adults (these replace the three previous barring lists, POVA, POCA and List 99). Since October 2009, checks of these two lists can be made as part of an Enhanced CRB check.
- Employers are still legally obliged to refer information to the ISA if they have moved or removed an individual because they have harmed or there is a risk of harm to a member of a vulnerable group.
- Employers, local authorities, professional regulators and inspection bodies have a duty to refer to the ISA any information on an individual working with vulnerable groups where they consider them to have caused harm or pose a risk.
- Additional jobs and voluntary positions are covered by the barring arrangements, including moderators of children's internet chat rooms, and a large number of NHS staff.
- It is now a criminal offence for barred individuals to apply to work with children or vulnerable adults in a wider range of posts than previously. Employers also face criminal sanctions for knowingly employing a barred individual across a wider range of work.
- Existing requirements concerning Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Access Northern Ireland checks will remain in place, and those entitled to such checks can continue to apply for them.
Latest information on the VBS can be found at www.direct.gov.uk/vetting or www.businesslink.gov.uk/vbs
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