This page contains information that has appeared on Sandy Adirondack's legal update website for voluntary organisations at www.sandy-a.co.uk/legal.htm. For current updates, including potential changes that are in the pipeline, see the legal update website.

These websites for each chapter update the 3rd edition of The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook by James Sinclair Taylor and the Charity Team at Russell-Cooke Solicitors, edited by Sandy Adirondack (Directory of Social Change, 2009). The websites are not intended as a comprehensive update and should not be treated as such.

To order a copy of The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook, print out the order form at www.sandy-a.co.uk/bookserv.htm or send an email order by clicking . It costs £60 for voluntary organisations or £90 for others, plus 10% p&p.

Chapter 41
SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND VULNERABLE ADULTS

CRIMINAL RECORD CHECKS

Updated 20/6/10. This information updates s.41.4 in The Russell-Cooke Voluntary Sector Legal Handbook (VSLH3).
The Criminal Records Bureau issued on 6 April 2009 a revised code of practice for registered bodies and other recipients of CRB disclosure information. The revised code is intended to ensure organisations do not breach the spirit and requirements of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 by submitting ineligible disclosure applications. It also seeks to ensure registered and umbrella bodies correctly verify the identity of disclosure applicants; sensitive and personal data in disclosures is correctly managed and used by registered and umbrella bodies and others; and registered bodies and others treat their applicants fairly when considering sensitive disclosure information. Registered bodies which fail to comply with the code may be suspended or deregistered. The code is at www.crb.homeoffice.gov.uk/PDF/Code%20of%20practice%20Apr%2009.pdf.

The CRB website includes detailed guidance on the code's obligations. Guidance on other aspects of CRB checks is at www.crb.homeoffice.gov.uk/guidance.aspx.

The fee for CRB checks is £26 for standard disclosures and £36 for enhanced. The fee is waived for checks on volunteers, defined in the Police Act 1997 (Criminal Records) Regulations 2002 as "a person engaged in an activity which involves spending time, unpaid (except for travel and other approved out-of-pocket expenses), doing something which aims to benefit some third party other than or in addition to a close relative".

A standard disclosure (also referred to as a criminal record certificate) lists convictions which are "spent" under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, unspent convictions and cautions. For work with children (defined in most cases as under 18) or vulnerable adults the disclosure is enhanced (called an enhanced criminal record certificate), listing in addition police information such as suspicions that did not lead to a caution or conviction, and information about whether the person is barred from working with (as appropriate) children or vulnerable adults.

Standard and enhanced checks are available only in relation to professions or positions specified in various exception orders made under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 — mostly positions involving access to children or vulnerable adults, work in health or education, and certain professions such as accountancy. The CRB can provide information about positions for which disclosures can be obtained.

In exceptional cases a care worker may be allowed to start work in a care home, for a domiciliary care agency, or as an adult placement carer before a CRB check has been issued, provided an AdultFirst check has been done by the CRB (fee £6).

Because of widespread concern about CRB checks being carried out where there is no statutory entitlement to do so — in particular in relation to volunteers, where the checks are free — the Office of the Third Sector issued guidance in 2008 on CRB checks for organisations that use volunteers. Although the guidance is no longer available, it warned that organisations which carry out free checks when they are not entitled to do so could be required to pay the fee for the checks. For guidance on trustee checks (currently being revised), see the Charity Commission's CC30 Finding new trustees: What charities need to know at www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publications/cc30.aspx.

CIPD (the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development) updated in March and April 2009 its guidance on employing people with criminal records, risk assessment in relation to employing people with criminal records, and recruitment of people working with children and vulnerable adults. These are at www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/dvsequl/exoffenders/crimrec.htm,
www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/dvsequl/exoffenders/crimrecra.htm and
www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/recruitmen/general/recruitypw.htm.

SANDY ADIRONDACK
Governance and legal training and consultancy
for the voluntary sector
39 Gabriel House, 10 Odessa Street, London SE16 7HQ
Tel 020 7232 0726; fax 020 7237 8117
Email:
Web: www.sandy-a.co.uk